How Many Dead Eagles? Apparently As Many As ....

This is truly incredible; I've blogged about this before: wind farm developers will be given a pass to kill unlimited number of golden eagles, bald eagles, and whooping cranes, among other migratory birds, and one oil company has already plead guilty to killing a solitary sandplover.

Here's today's story on "how many eagles will the wind turbines kill?" Of course, no one knows, and we will never know because coyotes, wolves, and other predators quickly dispose of any bird killed by a wind turbine.

The available data, science and policy haven't caught up with the pace of wind energy development. Still, wind energy development is apparently killing golden eagles, which seem especially susceptible to collisions with the turbines.

"We really don't know how many birds are being killed by wind turbines," said Trish Sweanor, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist.
 
They are protected by three federal laws: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act. These laws prohibit possession or sale of eagle feathers and parts and have protected bald eagles since 1940 and golden eagles since 1962 by making it a crime to kill the birds.

But wind farm developers will be given a pass on any migratory bird deaths caused by their blades.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, this story, where wind farm developers are being helped in mitigating bird deaths, including the sage grouse which has grounded almost every other pro-growth project:

Wind farms are often touted as producers of environmentally friendly energy. In recent years, Wyoming has seen a boom in wind energy development with about a dozen more projects in planning stages.

Developers do seek to mitigate disturbances and deaths of animals, including sage grouse. But one of the biggest quandaries for those developers is the degree to which wind farms hurt federally protected golden eagles and how that damage can be decreased.

Right now the federal agency works with developers to limit development in crucial habitat as a way to mitigate effects on birds. But once a turbine is placed, there is little that can be done to alleviate bird deaths, said Trish Sweanor, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist.

It's unfortunate the oil and gas industry isn't provided the save opportunities.

The good news: it's gonna be difficult to convince a judge that a pro-growth project cannot go forward due to the endangered sage brush when the wind farms are killing them anyway. 

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Meanwhile in other Wyoming news: snowpack still above normal, but not by much. More global warming will change that by the end of January.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service in Casper said that the statewide average snowpack went from 110 percent last week to 101 percent on Monday.

Last year at this time, the statewide average snowpack was 104 percent.

Six basins are above average and seven are below.

Last year at this time: 104 percent; this year: 101 percent; neither reproducible nor statistically significant, no doubt. Even if it is, still a very wet spring next year.