I was reading that story about the bald eagles being killed by wind turbines and how truly cavalier that one wind company was – didn’t do anything to protect the environment when it came to constructing those turbines.
Renewable energy isn’t a bad thing, but getting favored status shouldn’t mean it’s above the law, that it’s projects can pollute and harm the environment just because it generates kilowatt hours in a low carbon fashion.
building the wind farms in New Mexico and Wyoming that they would kill birds, but it proceeded anyway and at times ignored advice from federal wildlife officials about how to minimize the deaths, according to court documents.
"For more than a decade, ESI has violated (wildlife) laws, taking eagles without obtaining or even seeking the necessary permit," said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division in a statement.
ESI agreed under a plea agreement to spend up to $27 million during its five-year probationary period on measures to prevent future eagle deaths. That includes shutting down turbines at times when eagles are more likely to be present.
I was washing out the moldy remains of random glass bottles that I got stuck in the back of the refrigerator. Mostly because I was too lazy to wash them out for recycling, and I kind of forgot about them.
I really try my best to avoid buying things in glass, just because they are heavy, they break easily, and take up a lot of room in the recycling trash. To boot, recycling rates for glass remain very low, especially those collected in municipal programs, because glass often breaks and fragments especially in packer trucks, and is little more then shards when it gets to the recycling center, useful for little besides aggregate for building landfill roads.
If I get beer, I will get it in a can. Aluminum is very recyclable, light-weight and fairly durable. Easy to get rid of with the deposit. I try to get everything else in paper or plastic, as that can either be saved for recycled or burnt, and doesn’t take up a lot of weight. Plastic bottles can be compressed, smashed down, and don’t take up nearly the size or weight that glass does.
Glass might be good for crafts, but I still think it’s more of a pain then it’s worth when you get food packaged in metal or plastic, which is lighter and doesn’t break. Maybe you can use it as aggregate, and well separated glass can be recycled over and over again, although it’s difficult outside of bottle deposit and reuse programs for much clean, unbroken glass to be recovered. I could see using glass bottles for various projects when I have my own land, or just for shooting and then aggregate, but it’s still more of a headache when other packaging is available.
In 1953, the vermont State Legislature banned the name of non-returnable bottles. In 1957, the ban was repealed. At that time, the glass manufacturers argued that farmers exaggerated their claims of cows being injured by picking up splinters of glass in their stomach or that farm machinery was being damaged by roadside glass. The industry was being picked on, the manufacturers charged.
In 1971, with a reapportioned legislature and an important tourist economy, Vermont may be on the threshold of repeating its legislative action of almost two decades ago. One of the sponsors of the bill to ban sale of no-deposit beverage container is Frank L. Butnig from Brandon, Vermont.
If you support the legislation, please write Mr. Bunting or Governor Dean C. Davis, Montpellier, Vermont.
Taken on Tuesday September 22, 2020 at Materials and Waste.