LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME



[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

GOP senators cry foul in wind-energy company’s settlement for killing eagle 

Credit:  By Andrew Johnson | The Corner | National Review Online | November 25, 2013 | www.nationalreview.com ~~

After pleading guilty for killing more than 150 birds, the Duke Energy Corporation settled with the federal government for $1 million last week. Even though Duke Energy is the first wind-energy company to be pursued on the grounds of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, two Republican senators raised questions about whether the Obama administration is playing politics over the law’s enforcement.

In May, senators David Vitter of Louisiana and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for clarification about why it was not charging or prosecuting wind-energy companies for killing federally protected birds. The senators accused the administration of “hand-picking” which companies to pursue for violating the law, noting that wind-energy companies had been given “a free pass” amid reports that windmills had killed several birds.

The DOJ did not reply to the senators’ letter until the day of the settlement, which Vitter found suspicious. “We definitely don’t want to see any sort of energy providers killing federally-protected birds indiscriminately, but we also don’t want to see politically motivated actions by DOJ,” he said in a statement. “The instances of wind energy’s favoritism have been so egregious under this Administration, and DOJ’s settlement and response still don’t explain the Administration’s obvious bias.” Vitter pointed out that several oil and gas producers as well as electric-utility companies had been charged over the year

Duke Energy pleaded guilty to killing 14 eagles and 149 other birds at two of its sites in Wyoming, the state with the most eagle death’s by wind turbine since 2008. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 440,000 birds are killed annually from wind-energy production.

Source:  By Andrew Johnson | The Corner | National Review Online | November 25, 2013 | www.nationalreview.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky