The Blades of Progress

by Andy Caldwell

Source: Ross Mayfield

I recently suggested that the City of Santa Maria, among other cities, should head for the hills as they plan for future development. That is because our valley floors have the best soils for agriculture, and we need to preserve this sector of our economy. 

Death of Eagles, Whales, and the Conservation Movement

However, there is something lurking in those hills, namely an aberration of the once highly touted Endangered Species Act of 1973, which was created to prevent species from going extinct. Unfortunately, the ESA morphed into a tool used by bureaucrats and activists to prevent farming, logging, and housing as a component of what is called the Wildlands Project (WP). The WP seeks to lock up as much land as possible to keep it “wild.” This is achieved by creating bogus listings via the ESA, and subsequently designating millions of acres as critical habitat thereby protecting the land in its natural state. The rationale being the species needs its own space to recover.

The local poster child for this ruse is the tiger salamander. It lays claim to some 180,000 acres as its critical habitat. It has affected the Santa Maria Airport, farming operations, a significant farm worker housing project, along with the future potential for development in the hills east of Santa Maria. Yet, the species is not endangered. You can buy tiger salamanders for bait in other states by the bucket. This all has to do with fake listings by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). A recent exposé by Robert Gordon demonstrated that the ESA, after 50 years, has produced twice as many wrongly listed species than recovered species. Furthermore, most of the species the USFWS claims were recovered were wrongly listed to begin with.

Salud Carbajal, please take note!

“Take” Permits Galore

What’s worse is that the so-called green energy movement is sacrificing various endangered species on the altar of greenhouse gas-free energy sources, including onshore and offshore wind.

Consider the wind energy facility in Lompoc. The take permit (the license to kill bald and golden eagles), should entitle the facility to kill upwards of 12-14 birds each year. That spells total local annihilation. I discovered this by filing a Freedom of Information Act request to the USFWS. That is, in a letter by the USFWS to the County of Santa Barbara, giving the final green light for this project, the number of birds that were expected to meet their demise was struck from the final draft of the letter at the request of the wind turbine operator, BayWa. These types of projects violate the intent of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 which sought to protect these magnificent raptors.  

Up the road, off the coast of Morro Bay, there are plans for three massive floating wind farms each with some 50 or more wind turbines that will tower 900 feet above the surface of the ocean each requiring one square mile to operate, totaling 376 miles of ocean waters. Each of these facilities will be tethered to the ocean floor with steel chains and cables thereby creating an underwater maze and hacksaw ridge for seagoing life, including whales that are protected by various federal laws. But here, just like on the East Coast, you can bet the USFWS, and the National Marine Fisheries Service will be handing out take permits like candy to wind farm operators while doing everything in their power to shut down lobster fishing operations.

Airports, farming and farm worker housing, development, and fishing is treated as a threat to endangered species on a mostly hypothetical-threat basis. But wind energy, which needs and obtains a permit to kill endangered species on a routine basis is somehow considered green and renewable.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture.