January 27, 2014
Maryland

Fish & Wildlife official admits 20 Eagles may be killed annually by proposed Delmarva wind farm

Tom Wasilewski



Download MP4 file (321 MB). [1]

This video (sent by Tammy of Somerset County, Md.) was taken at the January 15th public meeting for the “Great Bay Wind Energy Center”, a 150-megawatt industrial wind turbine project proposed for Somerset County on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay (Delmarva Peninsula).

The developer is Pioneer Green Energy [PGE] of Austin, Texas, which claims to have more than 3,000 megawatts of wind power under development in 16 states.

The video shows a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, Sarah Nystrom, confirming that up to 20 annual incidental taking permits (aka eagle-killing permits) may be issued to PGE at this project. She confirms there are 30 nesting pairs of bald eagles within a 10-mile radius of the project. One nest would be within 3/4 of a mile from a turbine. The turbines will be 599 feet tall. Besides nesting eagles there are hundreds of migrating wintering bald eagles (and some golden eagles) in the general vicinity of the project flying to, from, and between the numerous waterfowl management areas, National Wildlife Refuges, Assateague Island National Seashore, and Chesapeake Bay.

We also know this is perhaps one of the most important waterfowl wintering areas in eastern North America. Click here for the federal register notice [2] explaining the project – comments are due on or before Monday, February 3, 2014. Submit comments at www.regulations.gov or send them to:

Sarah Nystrom
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Northeast Region Ecological Services
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035

The Federal Government is fast tracking this project. The local people opposing this project want the comment period extended to 60 days and they want a full Environmental Impact Statement to be required for this project so please mention that in the comments you send.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/alerts/2014/01/27/fish-wildlife-official-admits-20-eagles-may-be-killed-annually-by-proposed-delmarva-wind-farm/

URLs in this post:

[1] Download MP4 file (321 MB).: https://video.wind-watch.org/Delmarva-eagle-testimony-15-Jan-2104.mp4

[2] Click here for the federal register notice: https://www.wind-watch.org/alerts/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/FWS-R5-ES-2013-0132-0001.pdf