An anti-Occupy Wall Street movement (who call themselves "Occupy Occupy D.C.") protested bird killing wind turbines today at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. The group gathered "to highlight the threat that wind, a celebrated alternative energy source, poses to the American bird community," according to a press release sent out by the National Center for Public Policy Research, which sponsors Occupy Occupy D.C.
The target of today's protest are environmentalists who believe wind energy is a viable substitute to other forms of energy, such as coal or nuclear energy.
The National Center for Public Policy Research "estimate[s] that wind turbines kill approximately 100,000 birds every year. The American Bird Conservancy claims the number could be triple that estimate -- affecting the songbird community most of all."
That's why the environmentalists' approach is wrong, according to today's protesters.
"If I was a bird, I'd be an angry bird right now," executive director David Almasi says in the statement announcing today's protest. "Countless innocent birds that only want to be with their eggs die every year from crashing into wind turbines. The environmentalists who promote wind energy at the expense of the birds are green pigs!"
Bonner Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank, says, "At some point the slaughter of birds and bats by taxpayer-subsidized wind turbines is going to trigger serious legal action. ... If the full force of the Migratory Bird Treaty and the Endangered Species Act were brought to bear on these unsightly killing machines, investors would turn their backs on this artificial industry in a heartbeat."
