Wind generators have their drawbacks too, although there are designs without blades on the market, these are not suitable for commercial energy generation. A US company pleaded guilty to killing 150 eagles in violation of the Migratory Bird Act. ESI Energy, a subsidiary of NexEra Energy was ordered to pay $8 million in fines and restitution and sentenced to five years probation for killing the protected raptors on its wind farms in eight states. NexEra advertises itself as the world's largest utility company. Besides wind generation, it operates nuclear, solar and natural gas facilities. Prosecutors said the birds were killed by the rotating blades and more than the 150 were probably killed as carcasses are not alway founds. They said failure to obtain permits and take steps to minimize the number of bird deaths gave the company a competitive advantage over supplier who take such precautions. The company said it didn't think it needed to apply for permits for accidental deaths.
Under the Trump regime, prosecutions for accidental violations of the Migratory Bird Act were halted. Under the Biden administration, prosecutions for any taking without a permit are subject to prosecution. Most of the eagles killed by ESI were golden eagles. [photo left: S. Heaps] There are an estimated 31,800 golden eagles in the western US; an estimated 2200 are killed every year by humans. Eagle deaths are likely to increase in the future because of the emphasis on deploying more alternative power generators. The ESI ignored federal wildlife officials' advice on how to minimize bird deaths for its farms in Wyoming and New Mexico. The company's plea deal with the government included spending up to $27 million during its probation on measures to minimize eagle deaths including shutting down when eagles are more likely to be in the vicinity. When an eagle is killed by its operations, ESI will have to pay $29,623 per eagle. The company's CEO said she disagrees with the federal enforcement policy since some collisions are unavoidable and should not be criminalized.