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BE PART OF THE LEGACY

TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

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It’s For the Birds

Wow! Who could have seen this coming?

A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. providers of renewable energy pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states … ESI Energy was also sentenced to five years [sic] probation after being charged with three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

I didn’t know migratory birds had ever signed a treaty with Uncle Sam or vice versa. I didn’t even know migratory birds could read and write. But I did know the skies would be unsafe for flying birds once the wind turbine and solar farm folks got their way.

The answer to the rhetorical question with which this post starts is us. We could have seen this coming. But we weren’t inclined to look, to pay attention, to think critically, or to question anything. Question anything like what? Like this:

The Obama administration [issued 30-year permits for “taking” (killing) bald and golden eagles. The great birds will be legally slaughtered “unintentionally” by lethal wind turbines installed in their breeding territories, and in “dispersion areas” where their young congregate (e.g. Altamont Pass). By chance (if you believe in coincidences), a timely government study claims wind farms will kill “only” 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030. This new report is just one of many, financed with taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing the public that additional mortality caused by wind plants is sustainable. – It is not.

As my maternal grandmother loved to say, “How do you like them apples, Shirley?”

This is Your Wake-Up Call

We don’t have the vaguest idea how much wool is being pulled over our eyes every day. But we should. We have duly elected, would-be representatives whom we pay handsomely to advocate for our interests. In all likelihood, they’re ecstatic over the fact that we don’t seem to have any interests. But we should. And we’d better.

If you don’t want to write to Congress, write to the Audubon Society, support its efforts to save birds and people, support its lawsuits to prevent windfarms that are lethal to birds and bats. Those same efforts also support common sense and everyone’s favorite virtue signal, sustainability.

Destroying life on the planet to save the planet doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense. But that’s exactly what our pals in Washington are doing with our money.

How about now? Can we be angry now?

Mark O'Brien
Mark O'Brienhttps://obriencg.com/
I’m a business owner. My company — O’Brien Communications Group (OCG) — is a B2B brand-management and marketing-communication firm that helps companies position their brands effectively and persuasively in industries as diverse as: Insurance, Financial Services, Senior Living, Manufacturing, Construction, and Nonprofit. We do our work so well that seven of the companies (brands) we’ve represented have been acquired by other companies. OCG is different because our business model is different. We don’t bill by the hour or the project. We don’t bill by time or materials. We don’t mark anything up. We don’t take media commissions. We pass through every expense incurred on behalf of our clients at net. We scope the work, price the work, put beginning and end dates on our engagements, and charge flat, consistent fees every month for the terms of the engagements. I’m also a writer by calling and an Irish storyteller by nature. In addition to writing posts for my company’s blog, I’m a frequent publisher on LinkedIn and Medium. And I’ve published three books for children, numerous short stories, and other works, all of which are available on Amazon under my full name, Mark Nelson O’Brien.

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