Bird Conservation Group Files Suit Against Government After Eagle Deaths
First Posted: May 02, 2014 01:43 PM EDT
The American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organization with the goal of conserving native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, the ABC has taken issue with the Department of Interior and its wind farm and electricity projects. (Photo : Flickr)
The American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organization with the goal of conserving native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, the ABC has taken issue with the Department of Interior and its wind farm and electricity projects.
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The Department of the Interior authorizes granting 30-year permits for taking eagles from their habitats in order to build wind farms and electricity transmission projects. The policy was finalized in December, but the ABC is threatening to sue because under federal law it is illegal to remove or take protected species unless the federal government issues an "incidental take permit."
"ABC is initiating legal action in order to have the rule invalidated pending full compliance with federal statutes that are designed to ensure that the environmental impacts of, and alternatives to, agency actions are thoroughly analyzed before those actions are implemented," stated the conservancy in their Notice of Intentletter.
The Department of Interior plans to hand out permits to wind energy companies as well as other kill and/or displaced eagles, but ABC claims such a policy violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Federal biologists in this Fox News article reported that at least 85 eagles were killed as a result of wind farms in the past 27 years, with a majority of the deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012. The turbines killed 79 golden eagles, and one was electrocuted by a power line. A total of 58 of those deaths were recorded in California and Wyoming, and eight other states were responsible for the remaining deaths.
Although the American Bird Conservancy is supportive of wind energy and other energy-efficient resources, they state that the Department of Interior is violating past legislation and they believe there are other methods to establish wind farms without displacing or killing our nation's bird.
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