Posted on 04/06/2022 10:34:22 AM PDT by george76
A U.S. wind power developer pleaded guilty to multiple violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act after its wind turbine blades allegedly killed more than 135 bald and golden eagles across the country.
The company, ESI Energy, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of violations in the form of golden eagle deaths. Prosecutors said the birds were documented to have been killed by blunt force trauma after being struck by its wind turbine blades at its facilities in Wyoming or New Mexico, where ESI had not applied for the necessary permits.
As part of the settlement, ESI “acknowledged that at least 150 bald and golden eagles have died in total” at its 50 U.S. facilities since 2012, federal prosecutors said, including at least 136 deaths that were “affirmatively determined to be attributable to the eagle being struck by a wind turbine blade.”
As part of its plea deal, ESI also agreed to pay a hefty settlement, which includes nearly $1.9 million in fines, $6.2 million in restitution, and an additional fee of up to $27 million, payable over the next five years, to help mitigate future eagle deaths at its facilities.
...
ESI is also tasked with applying for federal permits at each of its 50 facilities across the U.S. where future bald or golden eagle deaths have been documented or are otherwise predicted.
Bald and golden eagles are currently protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the killing and wounding of eagles without permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has a long history of working closely with the wind power industry to identify best practices in avoiding and minimizing the impacts of land-based wind energy facilities on wildlife, including eagles,” said Edward Grace, assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement.
This agreement holds ESI and its affiliates accountable for years of unwillingness to work cooperatively with the Service and their blatant disregard of wildlife laws, and finally marks a path forward for the benefit of eagles and other wildlife resources entrusted to the Service’s stewardship," Grace added.
That was one of the arguments submitted in the defense against banning DDT, which was accused of being responsible for the decline of not only eagles but all raptors.
" William Ruckelshaus, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who made the ultimate decision to ban DDT in 1972, was a member of the Environmental Defense Fund. Ruckelshaus solicited donations for EDF on his personal stationery that read “EDF’s scientists blew the whistle on DDT by showing it to be a cancer hazard, and three years later, when the dust had cleared, EDF had won.”
100 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DDT:
https://junkscience.com/100-things-you-should-know-about-ddt/#ref1
Just like going fishing and getting busted for not paying the state for the privilege.
You in a whooooole lotta trouble, boy.
I wish they’d get rid of the stupid things. They are over-priced, useless and unreliable.
so much for any profit on that job...
Meanwhile, Witch Hitlery was only fined about 140,000$ in an attempted coup of a US President!
Does anybody know if these wind turbine things are bullet-proof?
They should built those only over water, to get rid of the evidence.
Exactly.🤔
Restitution so uncle sugar can repair the damaged windmills for more killing dontchaknow!
Dunno but they claimed they could withstand an F5 tornado in wind tunnel tests - for my money I’d rather see it - on video of course.
No need foxes and other predators have learned to scavenge the ground for a free lunch. I’m sure this won’t have unintended consequences either, what’s that...
never mind /
bttt
Thank you for that. I remember that piece and this whole subject made me want to search and post it here. You saved me the trouble. I don’t think Rush wrote it but that’s where I first heard it.
Every commercial windmill erected will indiscriminately kill hundreds of endangered birds annually. And their noise actually attract bats (which in some parts of the US are invaluable to agriculture as agents of cross-pollination), then beats them to death.
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