Feds deaf to eagle-kill warning
By
David Wojick
|
September 29th, 2025
Land-based wind turbines kill golden eagles, so every turbine requires an Eagle Protection Act permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to kill them.
These permits are predicated on a supposed mitigation strategy where turbine kills are offset by reducing the number of eagles electrocuted by power poles. Electrocution is estimated to kill about 500 golden eagles a year. The strategy calls for 12 eagles to be saved for every 10 killed by wind turbines.
My research on this strategy found that the number of golden eagles actually saved from electrocution must be very low, far lower than the number killed by wind turbines. The math is quite simple. The number of power poles being made safe is far too low to be effective.
So I set out to inform the FWS of my findings, which should be of great concern to them. They need to rethink their golden eagle wind-kill mitigation strategy.
https://www.cfact.org/2025/09/29/feds-deaf-to-eagle-kill-warning/
