Wind Energy Company Fined $8 Million After Turbines Kill At Least 150 Eagles

[GURPS]

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that “NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act” in federal court. The company was charged for the deaths of eagles at its wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico. NextEra and ESI were also responsible for harming eagles across eight different states, the AP reported:

In addition to those deaths, golden and bald eagles were killed at wind farms affiliated with ESI and NextEra since 2012 in eight states, prosecutors said: Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois. The birds are killed when they fly into the blades of wind turbines. Some ESI turbines killed multiple eagles, prosecutors said.

As a result of their admission of guilt, ESI will have to pay a fine of $8 million and spend $27 million on projects designed to increase safety for eagles and other birds around the wind farms in the aforementioned states over the next five-year probationary period.

“For more than a decade, ESI has violated (wildlife) laws, taking eagles without obtaining or even seeking the necessary permit,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement.

Wind Energy Company Fined $8 Million After Turbines Kill At Least 150 Eagles

A company that runs wind farms was fined $8 million this week after its wind turbines killed more than 100 eagles. On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that “NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act” in federal court...

www.dailywire.com

 

[GURPS]

In a statement ESI said that collisions with the wind turbines were unavoidable and should not be criminalized.

"In fact, our company makes significant efforts to avoid accidental collisions with bird populations, including eagles," said NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa.

The ruling came amid a push from the Biden administration for more renewable energy, including a large expansion of offshore wind farms.

The impact of wind turbines on bird populations has caused controversy, and was a favored subject of former President Donald Trump, an well-known opponent of wind turbines.


msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-wind-farm-company-admitted-killing-150-eagles-in-the-us-and-was-fined-248-million-almost-all-died-from-being-hit-by-the-blades/ar-AAVXHfn?ocid=BingNewsSearch

 

[stgislander]

Do you want wind energy or birds? You can't have both.

 

[John Z]

Do you want wind energy or birds? You can't have both.

I'll take wind energy.

 

[RoseRed]

I heard quite a racket outside the other morning. I looked out the window to see an eagle chasing another one over my yard a couple of times. Is it mating season?

 

[DaSDGuy]

But those wind turbines will power your cars, right Brandon?

 

[Gilligan]

Do you want wind energy or birds? You can't have both.

Exactly. There isn't anything they can do to keep the birds from being killed by the rotating blades.

 

[Monello]

Exactly. There isn't anything they can do to keep the birds from being killed by the rotating blades.

They could have people with shotguns standing around the windmills. Blast any birds that dare to get within 10 feet of the whirling blades of death. Overnight death by rotating blades drop to zero. Some times you just gotta think outside the box. Follow me for more wildlife management tips.......... Don't forget to like & subscribe.

 

[Gilligan]

Over in the parts of the world that has thousands of offshore windmills, the operators of the crew boats are supposed to count and catalog the dead birds they find in the water around the turbines. Few really bother with that, of course, so the number of birds killed by those turbines is remarkably low.

 

[Kyle]

They could have people with shotguns standing around the windmills. Blast any birds that dare to get within 10 feet of the whirling blades of death. Overnight death by rotating blades drop to zero. Some times you just gotta think outside the box. Follow me for more wildlife management tips.......... Don't forget to like & subscribe.

That same technique might work well for bridge jumpers.

 

[Sneakers]

I'm not a big proponent of wind power. Too expensive for the return, when they fail (not if..) they go idle because they are too expensive to repair. The offshore rigs generate a lot of underwater noise, low frequency vibrations that really screw up higher marine life like whales.

I am all for renewable energy, but it's not ready to simply step in and replace fossil fuel and nuke just because someone wants it to. We need to continue drilling and extracting oil for energy dependence in conjunction with developing the other techs. People seem to think it's one or the other. It's not. Phased implementation over the next 20, 30, 50 years.

 

[Clem72]

Do you want wind energy or birds? You can't have both.

Sure you can. That's like saying "You want cars or deer/squirrels/bicyclists?"

 

[Gilligan]

Sure you can. That's like saying "You want cars or deer/squirrels/bicyclists?"

I understood what he meant.