www.windaction.org

Feds give wind farm a pass if turbine blades kill endangered condors
May 24, 2013 by Louis Sahagun in Los Angeles Times

In granting a right-of-way, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, with approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will shield Alta Windpower Development from prosecution if a condor is fatally injured at its 2,300-acre site near the high-desert town of Mojave during the projected 30-year lifetime of the project.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| California]

Another Wind Project May Threaten Condors
May 18, 2013 by Chris Clarke in ReWire

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.

Also filed under [ Arizona]

AP IMPACT: Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
May 14, 2013 by Dina Cappiello in Huffington Post

"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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife]

Wind industry still awaits first eagle-take permit under BGEPA
May 3, 2013 by Mark Del Franco in North American Windpower

NAW has learned that West Butte Wind Power LLC has withdrawn its permit application enabling the developer to "take" golden eagles at a proposed wind project in central Oregon.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.

Also filed under [ Oregon]

Eagle expert hired by wind industry locally pleads guilty to illegal Golden Eagle take and failing to file reports on birds he tracked
April 19, 2013 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine

"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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| California]

Research documents Lesser Prairie Chickens
March 26, 2013 in Texas Tech University

"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, ‘what is the world we want to live in?'

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Texas]

Eagle death prompts wind farm investigation
March 17, 2013 by Peter Gardett in AOL Energy

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| California]

Feds ask for help in wind turbine eagle deaths
March 13, 2013 by Chris Clarke in ReWire

"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."

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| California]

Federal agency slammed over 'secretive' eagle-wind energy policy proposal
February 19, 2013 by Chris Clarke in Rewire

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.

Also filed under [ Energy Policy]

Leading Bird Group Wants New DOI Secretary To Review Possible Revised Rule Weakening Eagle Protections For Wind Industry
February 18, 2013 in American Bird Conservancy

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife]

Industry works to avoid listing of prairie grouse
February 12, 2013 by Associated Press in The Daily Times

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Texas]

Potential whooping crane deaths demand EIS for North Dakota wind project, groups say
February 7, 2013 in The Chattanoogan

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| North Dakota]

Vitter, Alexander demand a clear migratory bird policy from Justice Department
January 30, 2013 by Senator David Vitter and Senator Lamar Alexander

“It 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,” said Vitter. “For 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
January 16, 2013 by Kristi Rosenquist

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.

Also filed under [ Minnesota]

Energy industry awaits U.S. ruling on Prairie Chicken
January 13, 2013 by Kate Galbraith in New York Times

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife]

Lesser prairie chicken may get threatened species listing
November 30, 2012 in Enid News and Eagle

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.

Also filed under [ Oklahoma]

Songbird elevated on 'watch' list
August 15, 2012 by North Cairn in Portland Press Herald

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Maine]

Wind farm called threat to Condors
July 5, 2012 by Rebekah Kearn in Courthouse News

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."

Also filed under [ California]

Eagle's Cause of Death Confirmed at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland
July 3, 2012 in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Maryland]

Despite advances in safety, power lines remain a threat to raptors
May 15, 2012 by Jim Anderson in The Source Weekly

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.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife]

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