Striking a blow for wind v. wildlife

There's more than wheat and cattle on the Great Plains of America. There's wind. And that could mean money for the sparsely populated region. South Dakota Senator John Thune (R) has written to he U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of his state's growing wind industry.

The Associated Press reports, Thune "says a recent FWS memo on the potential impact of wind turbines on migrating whooping cranes should not be used as fodder to stymie the development of clean energy."

There's been continued controversy over wind farms and their tendency to slaughter birds, bats and other wildlife. Nobody mentions the zillions of insects that are demolished daily by windmills. So far they've not been implicated inthe disappearance of wild and domestic bees, at least. Here's a recent look at wind and wildlife in Audubon Society's monthly magazine.