August 17, 2014
Missouri

Wind farms granted 30-year permits to kill bald eagles

The Examiner | Posted Aug. 16, 2014 | www.examiner.net

The guest speaker for the Eagle Nature Foundation 2014 International Bald Eagle Days in Kansas City Oct. 10 through 12 will be George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy in Plains, Va.

The American Bird Conservancy has filed a law suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for them allowing wind farms to have a 30-year “take” permit for killing bald eagles. Normally, such take permits are only granted on a 5-year basis, but Fish and Wildlife has agreed to grant 30-year permits to all wind farms. Some wind farms located in the Rocky Mountains are killing many golden eagles each year.

If the wind farms are located in the wrong place, they could impact many bald eagles and the Conservancy does not feel the bald eagle population is strong enough to withstand such killing of many birds each year. The birds are already under assault from lead, mercury, West Nile Virus and many other chemicals getting into their bird systems. One more assault, “wind farms,” added to this growing list may be just enough to send the population reeling once more back towards extinction.

The Friday night discussion will be on the “Future of the Missouri River.” On Saturday, different speakers from across the nation will present information on their own regions bald eagle population. There will be a bus trip Sunday morning to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge.

Information and prices may be found in a IBED brochure, which can be gotten by calling the Eagle Nature Foundation office at 815-594-2306 or by visiting eaglenature.com. The public is invited to participate and the deadline to register is Sept. 7.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/08/17/wind-farms-granted-30-year-permits-to-kill-bald-eagles/