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Page added on December 8, 2013
U.S. to issue eagle-killing permits to wind industry
Nobody said green energy was going to come easy.
In an attempt to encourage the growth of wind power, the Obama administration announced Friday that it is offering wind farms 30 years of leeway to kill and harm bald and golden eagles. The new regulations, which were requested by the wind industry, will provide companies that seek a permit with legal protection, preventing them from having to pay penalties for eagle deaths.
Last week, in the first decision of its kind, Duke Energy Renewable agreed to pay a $1 million fine after its wind turbines were linked to the deaths of over 160 birds, including 14 golden eagles.
As wind turbines are essentially, if inadvertently, designed to take down eagles, some bloodshed might be inevitable. Duke Energy was charged after the Justice Department determined that it had failed to take all possible measures to reduce bird deaths. The new regulations will require that companies do the same. According to the AP, however, the rules make it clear that permits will only be revoked as a last resort.
Torn between green energy and wildlife conservation, some environmental groups are now distancing themselves from the wind industry. The National Audubon Society said it would challenge the decision. ”Instead of balancing the need for conservation and renewable energy, Interior wrote the wind industry a blank check,” Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold said in a statement.
Both birds are protected under federal law, but are not considered endangered.
12 Comments on "U.S. to issue eagle-killing permits to wind industry"
surf on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 6:42 pm
this article came up earlier in the forums.
According to this article
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/environment-report-reveals-top-causes-bird-deaths-canada-182231599.html
Cats kill 200 million
buildings kill 25 million
power lines kill 25 million
Cars kill 14 million
Wind turbines kill about 16,700 a year. The wind turnbins in the original article killed about 160 birds and only 14 were raptors.
DC on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 8:26 pm
But General Motors, Ford, and Wall St dont need to get bird-kill waivers, oddly enough….
PrestonSturges on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 8:58 pm
Coyotes are extremely beneficial for native birds because coyotes eat cats.
PrestonSturges on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 9:21 pm
>>…But General Motors, Ford, and Wall St dont need to get bird-kill waivers, oddly enough….
Because the coal companies and Kochs (who own much of America’s pipelines) have professional anti-wind lobbyists.
baptised on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 10:10 pm
A complete B.S. article. The blades are moved by the wind, not propelled from the turbine. More birds would be killed if it was not moving. So let’s look at cell towers that have guide wires. Now their is a bird killer. But just making cell towers free standing, not a big change, is not gonna happen.
PrestonSturges on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 10:18 pm
Television towers kill millions of birds in foggy conditions when they get disoriented by the lights and start circling the tower, which can result in hundreds of birds hitting the support cables.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/million-birds-killed-transmission-towers-year-confused-warning/story?id=16262167
Stilgar on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 1:44 am
Why can’t the wind industry be given 3 years to come up with a way to greatly reduce raptor deaths, instead of carte blanche to kill as many as they like for 30 years (without fear of prosecution)?
BillT on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 2:26 am
When you kill off the predators (raptors), you have plagues … check out history if you don’t believe me.
rollin on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 3:01 am
It’s quite possible that fireworks kill birds too. http://phys.org/news/2011-01-wisconsin-lab-blackbird-die-off.html
Poisoning blackbirds by the USDA has been going on for decades.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031084_bird_deaths_holocaust.html
pik on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 4:26 pm
Lets not kill birds with wind turbines, its much more effiecient to fry them off the planet with CO2 instead!
GregT on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 4:28 pm
The only truly green energy source, is the Sun. All of the rest are manmade, and require finite resources in their use. The only way that the others could be green, would be for us to paint them that colour.
Bob Inget on Mon, 9th Dec 2013 9:13 pm
Ya gotta love Preston Sturges. However
this time I feel pressure from the YouTube community to disagree. Coyotes,
even puppies are ugly so will never get the number of ‘hits’ as kittens.