In wind-powered Iowa, Trump blasts wind energy as a bird killer

Speaking in one of the top wind-producing states in the country, President Trump on Wednesday attacked wind energy for harming birds and being unreliable.

"I don't want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and your factories," Trump said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. After pausing for applause, he said, "As the birds fall to the ground." This alluded to a favorite attack he has aimed at the rapidly growing wind power industry since his campaign, which is that turbines are responsible for harming birds.

The wind energy criticism was odd given that Iowa has policies aimed at encouraging the development of wind power in the state. While Texas generated more wind energy than any other state in 2016, according to the Energy Information Agency, Iowa's wind and solar output had the highest share of the state's total electricity generation.

The two renewable sources accounted for 37 percent of the state's electricity generation last year, the EIA found.

Tom Kiernan, the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, fired back at Trump on Twitter.

Though he touts his commitment to an "all of the above" energy policy, Trump has a long history of criticizing wind turbines as unreliable generators of energy and bird killers. He has gone so far as saying that wind turbines kill "all the birds."

In a 2016 appearance on his radio show, Trump told 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain that wind turbines are responsible for killing prized eagles in California.

"And it kills all the birds. I don’t know if you know that," Trump said. "Thousands of birds are lying on the ground. And the eagle. You know, certain parts of California – they’ve killed so many eagles. You know, they put you in jail if you kill an eagle. And yet these windmills [kill] them by the hundreds."

In a campaign speech focused on energy in May of last year, Trump made sure to mention that wind turbines "kill eagles" in large numbers. During that speech he instead promised to favor development of fossil fuel resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

Trump's affinity for our avian friends is noteworthy, considering how many environmental and energy regulations he has already moved to roll back, potentially harming species ranging from whales to the endangered sage grouse.

According to a 2013 study published in the journal Biological Conservation, wind turbines cause between 140,000 and 328,000 bird deaths per year. This compares to between 365 and 988 million birds that are killed annually by building collisions in the U.S., according to a 2014 study by some of the same researchers.