Windmill farm seeks first ever permit to kill eagles

Golden-eagle

The wind energy industry, putting renewable energy above treasured wildlife, is seeking America’s first ever permit to kill golden eagles.

The Shiloh IV Wind Project, a large Solano County, Calif., wind farm, would be allowed to kill five golden eagles a year for five years under a draft plan released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

If the plan is approved, the farm would make history as the first renewable energy project afforded a permit to kill eagles, the Chronicle reported.

A 2008 study funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency estimated that 10,000 birds, mostly protected species, are killed every year at a single wind farm in Altamont Pass, Calif, according to Fox News.

The Audubon Society and other organizations have been pushing for stronger regulations.

Now, with proposed measures designed to mitigate the birds’ demise, a piece of paper may be all it takes to give Shiloh’s wind project permission to kill eagles.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported:

“The unusual plan would allow the company’s 50 wind turbines to kill up to five golden eagles over a five year period in exchange for a series of measures to protect big birds, including the retrofitting of 133 nearby power poles to prevent electrocutions.”

America’s native wildlife is already paying an enormous price, in pursuit of alternative energy in the age of “global warming” theorists, who are being laughed at in many circles.

The fact is that windmills do kill birds, which fly into the blades. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that eight eagles die each year at four Shiloh plants, and an estimated 16 are lost in the region due to wind farms.

“Investigations of bird deaths have been initiated and are turned over to the Department of Justice, but there have yet to be any prosecutions under the federal bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act,” Eric Davis, Fish and Wildlife Service’s assistant regional manager, told the Chronicle.

In fact, the whole exercise in seeking the permit is not so that Shiloh can go ahead with its project – but so it can do so at the expense of some big, beautiful birds.

“There is no law out there that says this project requires a take permit, [but] eagles are protected,” Davis told the Chronicle. “If they did not receive a permit, they could build the project and they would be in compliance with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act until the first eagle was taken. Then they would be subject to enforcement action.”

“A violation of the Act can result in a fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase substantially for additional offenses, and a second violation of this Act is a felony,” according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

But with the involvement of the Department of Justice and its leftist ways, would this majestic raptor ever receive justice? Or would Eric Holder consider such a pursuit “for the birds”?

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