Wind turbines in Wyoming are ground zero in the struggle between conservation and climate change. As more turbines are going up, so are the number of golden eagle deaths.
CODY, Wyo. — The rush to build wind farms to combat climate change is colliding with preservation of one of the U.S. West’s most spectacular predators — the golden eagle — as the species teeters on the edge of decline.
That leaves golden eagles doubly vulnerable — to the shifting climate and to the wind energy promoted as a solution to that warming world. The tenuous position of golden eagles contrasts with the conservation success of their avian cousins, bald eagles, whose numbers have quadrupled since 2009. There are about 350,000 bald eagles in the U.S., versus about 40,000 golden eagles, which need much larger areas to survive and are more inclined to have trouble with humans.
The six-week-old bird was lowered and carefully extracted by Bedrosian’s colleague, Charles Preston, a zip tie around its feet as a precaution against inch-long talons.The eaglet went on a scale — about seven pounds . Bedrosian drew some blood from a wing to test for lead exposure, and Preston clamped a metal identification band onto each leg.
“Wind mortality wasn’t a thing for golden eagles 10 years ago,” Bedrosian said. “I don’t want to pick on wind as the only thing. … But it’s the additive nature of all these things and several are increasing. Vehicle strikes are increasing. Climate change is increasing. Wind is increasing.”The recent criminal prosecution of a NextEra Energy subsidiary offered a glimpse into the problem’s scope.
Duke Energy and PacifiCorp previously pleaded guilty to similar charges in Wyoming. North Carolina-based Duke was sentenced in 2013 to $1 million in fines and restitution and five years probation following deaths of 14 golden eagles, and a year later, Oregon-based PacifiCorp received $2.5 million in fines and five years probation over 38 killed eagles.The number of wind turbines nationwide more than doubled over the past decade to almost 72,000, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.
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