§71 —
On windmills
Democrat
1.7 BILLION
The graveyard, counted. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates put annual U.S. bird deaths from wind turbines at 140,438 to 327,586; from power lines, 8 to 57.3 million; from vehicles, 89 to 340 million; from windows, 365 to 988 million; and from cats, 1.7 to 3.4 billion 1. Wind generated 464 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025, about 10.5 percent of U.S. utility-scale electricity 2.
And the farm that got stopped. In August 2025 the Interior Department issued a stop-work order to Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion, 704-megawatt project off New England that was 80 percent complete; in September a federal judge enjoined the order, finding the developer "demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits" 3. The government now forecasts residential electricity at 18.2 cents a kilowatt-hour this year, up from 17.3 cents in 2025 4. The windmill is a graveyard for birds by one ten-thousandth of the cat.
Sources
- Annual bird deaths, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates: turbines 140,438–327,586; power lines 8–57.3 million; vehicles 89–340 million; windows 365–988 million; cats 1.7–3.4 billion — E&E News ↑
- Wind generated 464 billion kWh in 2025, about 10.5 percent of U.S. utility-scale generation — Energy Information Administration ↑
- Stop-work order on the $6.2 billion, 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, 80 percent complete; enjoined on 22 September 2025 — Utility Dive ↑
- Residential electricity forecast at 18.2 cents per kWh in 2026, up from 17.3 cents in 2025 — EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook, 9 September 2026 ↑
Republican
WINDMILLS
The case against, in his own words at a Republican dinner in April 2019: "If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer." And on birds: "It's like a graveyard for birds ... the windmills, they wipe them all out" 1. In September 2025: "Any Country that relies on Windmills is DEAD" 2.
The strongest version of the administration's case is not the birds but the radar. In December the Interior Department paused leases on five offshore projects, citing turbine "clutter" that "obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets" on military radar; the secretary said "the prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people" 3. A national-security reason is a real reason, and it is stated plainly. The birds and the cancer are on the other side.
Sources
- "Your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer"; "It's like a graveyard for birds" — NRCC dinner, 2 April 2019 — FactCheck.org ↑
- "Any Country that relies on Windmills is DEAD" — Truth Social — Newsweek, 8 September 2025 ↑
- Leases paused on five offshore wind projects over radar "clutter" that "obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets"; "The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people" — U.S. Department of the Interior, 22 December 2025 ↑
“I'm a bird man, a little. I keep a feeder on the porch, and the thing that gets the birds at my house is my neighbor's cat, Duchess. So when he said the windmills "wipe them all out," I looked it up. The wildlife numbers: turbines, a hundred forty thousand to three hundred twenty-seven thousand birds a year. Vehicles, eighty-nine to three hundred forty million. Cats, one point seven to three point four billion. Sorry, I'm going — Duchess is probably on the feeder right now. Of the things on that list, which one got the executive order?”— Lou
“Windmills, he says, are "a graveyard for birds." So somebody counted the graveyards: turbines, a hundred forty thousand to three hundred twenty-seven thousand birds a year. House cats, one point seven to three point four billion. Windows, up to nearly a billion. If he wanted to save the birds, he'd have signed an order against the cat. Instead he stopped a wind farm that was eighty percent built, and a judge restarted it. The birds are still waiting on the cat.”
“The president's concern for the birds is sincere and ongoing, and the fact that cats kill ten thousand times more of them only proves the cats have better lobbyists.”