No Bird Shredding Here
March 30, 2005
In a country whose most important industry produces gas-guzzling, planet-polluting vehicles, Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin may seem to be fighting a Sisyphean battle as he strives to reduce Germany's reliance on oil.
The newest challenge to the Green party politician's designs for the country to increasingly shift to alternative energy sources seemed to come from a wolf in sheep's clothing: The business-friendly Free Democratic party's agriculture expert accused the government of pushing the use of wind power without giving any thought to the consequences for Germany's birds.
Trittin, however, set the record straight. In case anyone hadn't noticed, he declared that windmills aren't "bird shredding machines," citing a study recently completed by German environmental organization NABU that refuted this "horror story." He said the alleged threat to birds was only being raised to discredit developing wind power.
The worldwide study said that Germany's more than 16,000 windmills didn't threaten the existence of any bird species, though birds of prey like white-tailed eagles and red kites as well as some kinds of bats were at risk. The collision rate had reached up to 60 birds and 50 bats per turbine yearly, NABU estimated.