, Columnist
Clean Wind Farms Catch Up to Dirty Big Oil
Wind farms used to benefit from a double standard on killing wildlife. No more.
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One energy company has an ugly accident and lots of birds are killed. It pays a huge fine and gets slammed in the news media. Another energy company routinely kills plenty of birds and gets off scot-free.
A double standard? It sure looks that way. Or at least it did before last week, when the U.S. Justice Department settled criminal charges with Duke Energy Corp. for operating wind farms that slaughtered hundreds of birds, leading the energy producer to pay $1 million in fines and restitution. Although oil companies have often been charged with killing birds as a result of spills, it was the first time a wind-energy producer was penalized for deaths of protected birds.