Posted on 03/31/2013 12:48:40 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
May 21, 2012: Wind turbines operate at a wind farm near Milford, Utah. (Reuters)
ELY, Nev. – An eastern Nevada wind farm could face a fine of up to $200,000 over the death of a golden eagle.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the bird's death at the Spring Valley Wind Farm near the Utah border, 350 miles east of Reno, spokesman Jeannie Stafford said.
San Francisco-based Pattern Energy, owner of the 152-megawatt wind energy project that sells power to Las Vegas-based NV Energy, turned over the dead eagle to federal authorities within 36 hours of its discovery in February.
Despite reporting the death, the wind farm could face a fine because it does not hold a federal "take" permit that would allow the incidental death of a golden or bald eagle, the Las Vegas Review-Journal
reported.
Eagles receive special protection under federal law.
Scott Flaherty, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service's southwestern regional office in Sacramento, Calif., said wind energy projects are not required to obtain take permits, but those that don't open themselves up to investigation and possible prosecution under federal law.
Applying for a permit and engaging with the service before any eagles are killed "provides the best possible outcomes for the companies and the wildlife," Flaherty said.
"We really prefer that wind developers work with the Service early on in the process" to identify the best site for a farm and its individual turbines to reduce bird strikes, he told the Review-Journal.
The $225 million facility went online in August as the first utility-scale wind farm in Nevada and the first to be built on federal land anywhere in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The taxpayer will probably subsidize the fine, just like we subsidize the wind farm itself.
I think that in this case, it would be "Slap (with a turbine blade), Shovel, and Shut Up. :)
So the Fish and Wildlife guys watch them build this thing, then go check on their permit and fine them? Sound like a set up to me....
The utility isn't in trouble for killing the endangered animal, it's in trouble for not getting a permit first. Yes, one must get a "permit" to take any of the King's animals.
The wind farm poached.
Are they annual? Do they require paperwork sufficient to employ a lawyer full-time?
I must admit, I find the lefty vs lefty angle pretty amusing.
And who really is going to pay the extortion “fine” ... the power users of course. Maybe there should be a multi-billon dollar grant to breed an eagle smart enough not to fly into spinning wind farm units.
Give me a friggin break.
Sure they are going to kill an Eagle every now and then.
Does the Gubmint expect them to have a guy standing out there with a sign warning Eagles not to fly there?
Do they want these things or not, If they want them they have to accept a casualty every now and then.
Just like when a bird flies into the grill of a car
Interior Looks to Expand Permits for Killing Bald Eagles to Accommodate Wind Energy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2883522/posts
Feds propose allowing wind-farm developer to kill golden eagles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2828782/posts
Maybe Planned Parenthood could throw some babies up there and get a two-fer.
Thanks for adding the links.
Green energy ping.
This must please the liberal minds considerably.
I guess they aren’t aware of the three S’s....... shoot, shovel, shut up.
countersue fedgov. one of their eagles flew into and damaged one of their turbines.
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