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 bald eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
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. [bold, links added]
The charges arose from the deaths of nine bald 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 actually started under Obama and continued under the Trump admin. –CCD Ed.]
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 population 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.
Most of the eagles killed at the ESI and NextEra wind farms were golden eagles, according to court documents.
There are an estimated 31,800 golden eagles in the Western U.S. with an estimated 2,200 killed annually due to human causes, or about 60% of all deaths, according to a study released last week by leading eagle researchers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other entities.
The study concluded that golden eagle deaths “will likely increase in the future” because of wind energy development and other human activities.
Companies historically have been able to avoid prosecution under the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty law if they take steps to avoid deaths and seek permits for those that occur.
Charging documents said company representatives, including ESI’s president, were warned that eagles would be killed if the company built two wind farms in central and southeastern Wyoming, and also knew about a risk to eagles when they authorized the repowering of a New Mexico wind farm, about 170 miles from Albuquerque.
The company proceeded anyway and at times ignored further advice from federal wildlife officials about how to minimize the deaths, according to court documents.
“For more than a decade, ESI has violated (wildlife) laws, taking eagles without obtaining or even seeking the necessary permit,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in a statement.
ESI agreed under a plea deal to spend up to $27 million during its five-year probationary period on measures to prevent future eagle deaths. That includes shutting down turbines at times when eagles are more likely to be present.
Despite those measures, wildlife officials anticipate that some eagles still could die. When that happens, the company will pay $29,623 per dead eagle under the plea deal.
h/t Rúnar O.
Read rest at Fox Business
Serves them right ! Make the fine higher next time and lock them up! And, take the carcases and dump them on Newsome’s front yard !
So dose the Audubon Society still support these things? if so then their allowing Politics and a stupid liberal ideology to get in the way of their common sense they have lost their origional inent to save the Birds
I live in Colorado and we have a lot of raptors here and in Wyoming, especially out on the plains. These raptors (eagles and hawks) do not reproduce as fast as songbirds, geese, and ducks and there are not anywhere near as many raptors as there are these other species. So losing any of these magnificent birds for an unreliable and costly electricity generated by the wind turbines is just wrong.
Another animal being killed in vast numbers not mentioned in the article is the bat. The blades totally messes up the bats sonar systems.
Steve, absolutely correct. I always enjoyed the old argument/rationale from wind industry & environmental NGO apologists. They’d cite a US Fish & Wildlife study with the standard line of “Yes, thousands of birds get killed each year by windmills, but that pales in comparison to the number killed by cats.” My standard retort was always the same: “So, when was the last time you saw a cat take down a BALD EAGLE?” I am just glad to see these guys in the wind industry (finally) be held accountable under MTB. I can assure you first hand that the oil & gas industry and electric utilities have been very conscious of MTB and have made significant mitigation efforts for many years. Equal justice under the law…
I have read Dozens of usial stuff which blames Agriculture Hunting,Lead Shot and and other things their not laying the blame on their Alternative Energy(Wind/Solar)which is one of the bigger hazard to large Birds like Eagles,Vultures,Owls,Hawks,Falcons Etc the fact their cutting down Forests to make way for Wind Turbines and Solar Panels or the Powerlines to the homes of the Eco-Freaks and the Keep it in the Ground idiots
It is appears that NextEra Energy and the climateers consider killing eagles for wind generation to be acceptable. I always find amazing that the liberals consider it acceptable to sacrifice their areas of traditional concern for climate change. It isn’t okay to clear the under brush for forest fire mitigation, but it is perfectly okay to cut down entire forests forest for bio-fuel. The traditional concern for the plight of the poor and elderly are ignored when these groups are disproportionately impacted by the higher cost of energy and food driven action on climate change. This movement is clearly irrational.
Many millions of bats are also killed by wind turbines. I’m sure that they reproduce faster than eagles. However, bats are very important in controlling insects such as mosquitoes. Killing large number of bats is not a good thing.