Opening in California earlier this month was the giant Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which the Wall Street Journal reports “…includes three towers as tall as 40-story buildings. Nearly 350,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect sunlight onto boilers atop the towers, creating steam that drives power generators.”
The Wall Street Journal called the system “The $2.2 Billion Bird-Scorching Project,” noting that it “…appears to be scorching birds that fly through the intense heat surrounding the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.” A peregrine falcon, a grebe, two hawks, four nighthawks and a variety of warblers and sparrows were among the dead birds.
The Huffington Post has reported that birds have been “…insta-cooked by the system’s intense heat rays…” “…quite literally getting burned by the system.”
The International Business Times recently ran a piece entitled, “World’s Largest Solar Plant, Partly Owned By Google, Opens In Nevada, Roasts Birds and Angers Environmental Group.”
And a Fox Newsstory on this new solar super site is entitled, “World’s Largest Solar Plant Scorching Birds in Nevada Desert.”
The International Business Times notes, “Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit against the BLM [Bureau of Land Management] in January 2011, alleging it had failed to protect more than 1,000 desert tortoises, along with birds and sheep.A California district court tossed out the case in November 2012, and two weeks ago, Western Watersheds restated its pleas to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
A birder myself, I too think this ought to be reviewed. As U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director for Migratory Birds Eric Davis said, “When you have new technologies, you don't know what the impacts are going to be.”But I couldn’t help but think of a few headlines of my own:
