Posted on 04/07/2022 3:00:02 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
Some turbines killed multiple eagles and because the carcasses are not always found, officials said the number killed was likely higher than the 150 birds cited in court documents.
Wind energy company pleads guilty after at least 150 eagles killed in U.S. Some turbines killed multiple eagles and because the carcasses are not always found, officials said the number killed was likely higher than the 150 birds cited in court documents. NextEra Energy was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed over the past decade. NextEra Energy was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed over the past decade.Chris Szagola / AP file
SAVE April 7, 2022, 6:52 AM EDT / Source: Associated Press By The Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. providers of renewable energy pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said.
NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy was also sentenced to five years probation after being charged with three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The charges arose from the deaths of nine eagles at three wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.
In addition to those deaths, the company acknowledged the deaths of golden and bald eagles at 50 wind farms affiliated with ESI and NextEra since 2012, prosecutors said. Birds were killed in eight states: Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois.
NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Florida, bills itself as the world’s largest utility company by market value. It has more than 100 wind farms in the U.S. and Canada and also generates natural gas, nuclear and solar power.
Almost all of the eagles killed at the NextEra subsidiary’s facilities were struck by the blades of wind turbines, prosecutors said. Some turbines killed multiple eagles and because the carcasses are not always found, officials said the number killed was likely higher than the 150 birds cited in court documents.
Prosecutors said the company’s failure to take steps to protect eagles or to obtain permits to kill the birds gave it an advantage over competitors that did take such steps — even as ESI and other NextEra affiliates received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits from the wind power they produced.
NextEra spokesperson Steven Stengel said the company didn’t seek permits because it believes the law didn’t require them for unintentional bird deaths. The company said its guilty plea will resolve all allegations over past fatalities and allow it to move forward without a continued threat of prosecution.
The criminal case comes amid a push by President Joe Biden for more renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources to help reduce climate changing emissions. It also follows a renewed commitment by federal wildlife officials under Biden to enforce protections for eagles and other birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Criminal prosecutions had been halted under former President Donald Trump for birds killed inadvertently by industry.
It’s illegal to kill or harm eagles under the migratory bird act. However, a wide range of industries — from energy firms to manufacturing companies — have lobbied for years against enforcing the law for accidental bird deaths.
The bald eagle — the U.S. national symbol since the 1700s — saw its populations widely decimated last century due to harmful pesticides such as DDT and other problems. Following a dramatic recovery, it was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2007. Biologists say more than 300,000 bald eagles now occupy the U.S., not including Alaska.
Golden eagles have not fared as well, with populations considered stable but under pressure from wind farms, collisions with vehicles, illegal shootings and poisoning from lead ammunition
I thought the eagles were sacrosanct in America. Now they’re expendable sacrifices at the altar of the green energy cult.
“Prosecutors said the company’s failure to take steps .... to obtain permits to kill the birds ....”
Another example of how the government is no different than the mob.
Saving planet Earth, one eagle at a time.
Libtards are destroying the animals of the planet and must be stopped 🤪
“Alaska paid over $100,000 in bounties for 115,000 bald eagles between 1917 and 1942. [Anon. Science News Letter, July 3, 1943]”
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
Prairie dogs and other critters must love wind turbines.
Did they finally get Don Henley?
I met T. Boone Pickens. oil billionaire and hopeful candidate for Prez in ‘86 Republican primaries. We had raised a little money for him and he was delighted to speak with me.
He had been all in favor of windmill energy but quickly backtracked when he saw all the dead birds. Smart and very pleasant man.
We can sacrifice them too with solar power farms. The mammals will have no prairies to roam, the birds no place to fly, all to appease the earth goddess.
This would be hilarious - if it wasn’t indicative of the politically-induced energy shortages we are likely to experience in the near future.
Here is a large large pile of dead birds.
https://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/local/2022/02/06/20119968/149609-deadbirds-DMID1-5tt430sbf-1280x720.jpg
More eagles killed than by all US nuclear plants combined since the beginning of nuclear power plants.
Shut the windmills down, dismantle and sell for scrap metal, they should have known that getting into bed with the feds would come back to bite them in the ass
This is liberalism in the raw. They get the country to depend on green energy and then find a way to stop it. It’s all part of their plan to starve 90% of humanity to death.
the left insists that these monstrosities go up then fine the people that do it?
Maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe it was mass suicide. Maybe the eagles couldn’t live with the disgrace of being the symbol of a nation run by Joe Bite-Me.
It might be a different story if the turbines actually did what they are supposed to. But they don’t. They are useless pieces of junk.
Having a wind turbine on your farm to pump water or produce extra energy for lighting and heat: Great idea. It’s not going to solve all your energy problems, but it’s great when the power goes down.
Having a hundred wind turbines covering acres of land - a lot of the time just sitting there motionlessly or perhaps rotating in a sluggish manner, producing no energy, and killing wildlife when they are operating: Terrible idea. Like low-flush toilets. Like disposable cars. Like banning oil drilling. It’s a sop to those who believe the liberal lie. (And, of course, a waste of taxpayers’ money.)
There’s a big wind farm out in east Colorado that I’ve driven past a number of times. There are probably 50 turbines. Almost every time I’ve seen them they are just barely turning, if at all.
But a couple of times when the wind was up - a terrifying sight. You can see how rickety and dangerous they are.
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