Endangerment of protected species: FNE assigns EDF Energies Nouvelles

FRANCE -- While the corpses of a rare and protected bird, the Kestrel, accumulate at the foot of the wind turbines in its Causse d'Aumelas park, the company is taking no measures to limit this mortality.

In the heart of Hérault, a few kilometers west of Montpellier, is the causse d'Aumelas, a vast valley covered with garrigue (low-growing vegetation) and punctuated by rocky escarpments. This natural space with breathtaking beauty is a privileged place of development for the feeding and the reproduction of birds among the most remarkable of the French avifauna.

Thus the kestrel, raptor with a light gray head, which has become very rare in Europe. The Causse d'Aumelas is a hunting area for this bird, which flies close to the ground before melting on its prey. Its rarity means that the Lesser Kestrel is a protected species, classified as vulnerable at the national level, and whose destruction is strictly prohibited by the provisions of the Environment Code and a ministerial decree of 2009.

But in the causse d'Aumelas, the falcon is not alone: ​​it is indeed the place of installation of a large wind farm of thirty-one wind turbines, whose manager is EDF Energies Nouvelles. However, hawks which move in the zone run the risk of mortally striking the machines.

A hundred birds killed since 2012, in the greatest silence

This is how close to 30 corpses of kestrels have been found at the foot of wind turbines since 2012. This figure is not, however, representative of the true number of specimens destroyed by wind turbines, which estimates place at… more than 100.

As a protected species, the destruction of these birds is a criminal offense, liable to condemnation, unless they have requested and obtained an exemption order in accordance with the provisions of the Environment Code. 

However, although they were fully informed of the situation, the wind farm managers, as well as the owner companies, did nothing to turn the tide: if a bird scaring system was put in place, it was only late, and it proved to be ineffective.

A deliberate desire not to assume their responsibilities

Above all, despite the destruction of specimens proven since 2011 and the opinion of the Environmental Authority, the managers and owners of the wind turbines have never tried to seriously remedy the situation, nor initiated a procedure for requesting an exemption from the destruction bans protected species. They have therefore caused, and continue to cause today, the death of animals of a protected species, in a perfectly intentional manner.

It is to denounce this situation of intolerable illegality that France Nature Environnement, with the help of its regional federation FNE Languedoc Roussillon, decided to bring the manager EDF Energies Nouvelles as well as the companies owning the wind turbines, before the Court of Grande Instance de Nanterre, in order to obtain compensation for the damage suffered in connection with the destruction of more than a hundred Lesser Kestrels.

If FNE is absolutely not opposed to the development of the wind industry, this should not be done to the detriment of natural habitats, nor at the cost of ignorance of our environmental rules.