Today we’re treated to yet another irony of progressive thought. In his Environment-focused weekly newsletter, JLF’s Roy Cordato relates his experience at the North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher. Here’s what you see after paying your $11 entry fee.
Surprisingly, the first thing that we saw was not a tank full of fish or a cage with indigenous NC birds or a mock pond with different kinds of turtles and frogs. Those things came later. What we were confronted with was a sign proclaiming the evils of coal power and the dangers of global warming. Reading further we were exhorted to support a plan, with a minimum $5.00 contribution, to use 100 percent wind power at the aquarium.
The truth, not mentioned anywhere at the aquarium, is that at no point in the foreseeable future will any of the electricity used to run the aquarium actually come from wind turbines, no matter how many 5 dollar bills are contributed. As the poster notes, the $5 one donates will not go toward actually powering the aquarium with anything. That happens when the state pays the aquarium’s electricity bills. Those donated dollars instead will be used to purchase “renewable energy certificates” (RECs), which are nothing more than subsidies to the wind power industry to produce wind power somewhere — not in North Carolina.
And then, the sad but true irony.
Finally, I’d like to note that one of the aquarium’s exhibits is a bald eagle with an injured wing. Indeed the aquarium boasts about taking the bird in and helping it to survive. Of course, the irony is that wind power is a notorious killer of bald eagles. In fact, President Obama has recently found it necessary to issue an exemption to wind power companies allowing them to kill this endangered species without penalty. By subsidizing wind power, the NC Aquarium will be contributing to the now legalized slaughter of this national symbol.
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