www.windaction.org facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c36+61?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z
Another Wind Project May Threaten Condors .38395 2013-05-18T12:33:31Z 2013-05-18T12:33:31Z According to the project's final EIS, the geographic limits of the Grand Canyon condor population as determined by FWS overlap the project's proposed footprint. Condor can fly up to 160 miles a day in searching for food, and the Grand Canyon "experimental" population is well within that range of the Mohave County Wind Farm. AP IMPACT: Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths .38346 2013-05-14T19:07:52Z 2013-05-14T19:07:52Z "What it boils down to is this: If you electrocute an eagle, that is bad, but if you chop it to pieces, that is OK," said Tim Eicher, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agent based in Cody, who helped prosecute the PacifiCorp power line case. By not enforcing the law, the administration provides little incentive for companies to build wind farms where there are fewer birds. Wind industry still awaits first eagle-take permit under BGEPA .38260 2013-05-03T10:47:34Z 2013-05-03T10:47:34Z NAW has learned that West Butte Wind Power LLC has withdrawn its permit application enabling the developer to "take" golden eagles at a proposed wind project in central Oregon. ...the developer withdrew its take permit request in March due to the difficulty in finding a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project. Eagle expert hired by wind industry locally pleads guilty to illegal Golden Eagle take and failing to file reports on birds he tracked .38137 2013-04-19T21:02:07Z 2013-04-19T21:02:07Z "The lack of data is particularly troubling because it is just this sort of data from permit holders that permits the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service to monitor the health of the eagle populations within the United States, the release notes. Despite lacking a permit, Bittner continued to capture and band 144 migratory birds in the region, including at least one female Golden Eagle. Research documents Lesser Prairie Chickens .37851 2013-03-26T15:47:50Z 2013-03-26T15:47:50Z "What people need to understand is that it's not just prairie chickens. It's really the inter-connectedness of these biotic communities," Boal said. "When we have indicators like a prairie chicken, and there's something going wrong, that's an indication of that biotic community as a whole. We need to think about, âwhat is the world we want to live in?' Eagle death prompts wind farm investigation .37764 2013-03-18T02:30:40Z 2013-03-18T02:30:40Z The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the death of a golden eagle at a wind farm in Kern County, California, and is asking for local resident's help. Feds ask for help in wind turbine eagle deaths .37747 2013-03-13T15:04:19Z 2013-03-13T15:04:19Z "Un-permitted take of eagles is the illegal take of eagles," Birchell said in the release. "We want power companies or any company involved in planning to build wind generation facilities in the Tehachapi range, where a significant golden eagle population exists, to contact the Service well in advance of construction and work with our biologists to develop conservation plans that will avoid take of eagles." Federal agency slammed over 'secretive' eagle-wind energy policy proposal .37465 2013-02-19T16:09:05Z 2013-02-19T16:09:05Z The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering eliminating most public oversight of wind turbine impacts on protected bald and golden eagles by offering developers 30-year permits to kill eagles by accident, as opposed to the current 5-year permits. What's more, they're shaping the implementation of that proposed policy change in a series of private "stakeholders'" meetings to which the public is not invited. Leading Bird Group Wants New DOI Secretary To Review Possible Revised Rule Weakening Eagle Protections For Wind Industry .37454 2013-02-19T03:37:34Z 2013-02-19T03:37:34Z In a letter to the U.S. Department of Interior, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) called on the agency to suspend further consideration of a revised rule that would weaken protections provided to eagles pursuant to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, by allowing private companies to apply for an unprecedented 30-year permit to kill these iconic species. Industry works to avoid listing of prairie grouse .37359 2013-02-12T13:27:38Z 2013-02-12T13:27:38Z Oil, gas and wind energy producers are working to persuade federal wildlife officials not to enact protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a move that could force them to halt or significantly alter their operations to protect the species' dwindling grassland habitat. Potential whooping crane deaths demand EIS for North Dakota wind project, groups say .37324 2013-02-08T04:39:25Z 2013-02-08T04:39:25Z Seventy-six groups led by American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the nation's leading bird conservation organizations, have called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to fully analyze the environmental consequences of a proposed North Dakota wind farm to the endangered Whooping Crane. FWS is considering issuing the first-ever Incidental Take Permit (ITP) to a wind farm for the killing of endangered Whooping Cranes and threatened Piping Plovers. Vitter, Alexander demand a clear migratory bird policy from Justice Department .37238 2013-01-30T22:58:35Z 2013-01-30T22:58:35Z âIt appears the Justice Department is hand-picking which migratory bird mortality cases to pursue with an obvious preference of going after oil and gas producers,â said Vitter. âFor example, while three oil and gas companies are facing fines for killing birds, a wind energy company is applying for permits to kill up to fifteen bald eagles. Bald Eagle Annual Deaths As High As 14 .37047 2013-01-16T21:19:10Z 2013-01-16T21:19:10Z United States Fish and Wildlife Service predicts that between 8 and 14 American bald eagles could be killed annually if New Era Wind Farm is built as currently designed. The outcome of USFWS's eagle mortality models are dramatically higher than one eagle every-other-year as predicted by New Era's consultant Westwood Professional Services. Energy industry awaits U.S. ruling on Prairie Chicken .37013 2013-01-13T15:36:36Z 2013-01-13T15:36:36Z A major problem, biologists say, is that prairie chickens fear tall structures, where predators like hawks can perch and spot them. Wind turbines, transmission towers and drilling rigs are generally the tallest objects on the plains. The Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a hearing next month in Lubbock on the chicken's future, and the public can comment on the issue until March 11. Lesser prairie chicken may get threatened species listing .36627 2012-11-30T20:27:41Z 2012-11-30T20:27:41Z The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it is considering formally listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. The announcement begins a yearlong review ...Fish and Wildlife said it made the decision based on evidence the bird and its habitat are in decline. Songbird elevated on 'watch' list .35786 2012-08-15T14:51:26Z 2012-08-15T14:51:26Z The Bicknell's thrush - a medium-sized migrating songbird - has cleared the first stage of a long route that could lead to it being declared a threatened or endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday. Wind farm called threat to Condors .35399 2012-07-06T03:18:52Z 2012-07-06T03:18:52Z But the groups say the state issued North Sky an incidental take permit and approved a streambed alteration "without considering the impacts of the operation of the project on protected avian species, the majestic golden eagle and the extremely rare California condor and imperiled willow flycatchers, as well as impacts to an important avian migratory corridor." Eagle's Cause of Death Confirmed at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland .35854 2012-07-03T23:03:10Z 2012-07-03T23:03:10Z The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed that a dead bald eagle found below a small 10-kilowatt wind turbine on Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Rock Hall, Md., was killed by blunt force trauma. Despite advances in safety, power lines remain a threat to raptors .34983 2012-05-16T00:43:22Z 2012-05-16T00:43:22Z Birds have no inkling as to the hazards of getting too close to high-powered electricity. As a result, if a bird touches two or more wires, the meeting is fatal. Electricity in wires is similar to controlled lightning; the current is always searching for a way back to the earth.