Two decades ago, a 20,234-hectare wind farm came up in Altamont Pass, California, usa. Then birds began to die. 22,000 birds have died since the farm came up, including hundreds of golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and other raptors. Scythed down by the turbines' blades. The pass falls in these birds' migratory route.

This is why, in the last fortnight, environmental groups opposed the renewal of permits for the wind farm. "Renewing these permits without addressing the cumulative impacts of wind energy on migratory birds...will give a black eye to wind power,' said Michael Boyd, president of Californians for Renewable Energy, a Santa Cruz-based organisation that generally supports alternative energy sources. The Center for Biological Diversity agrees entirely. The two organisations have asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to reverse a recent decision by a local zoning board granting permit renewals to some of the wind power operators. Such protest has blind-sided the wind power industry.