CFACT Report: Feds Fail to “Offset” Wind Turbine Golden Eagle Kills

Beege Welborn

The PDF report is here:

Nearly 15 years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that the golden eagle population could not withstand an increase in human-caused mortality. However, a large queue of proposed wind projects sought FWS permits exempting them from harm they may cause eagles under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act—permits that would inevitably increase the kill rate. 

In response, the FWS created an offset program in which eagle deaths caused by wind turbines would purportedly be compensated for by reducing electrocution deaths from power poles. We now know this offset program has completely failed, as there has been no measurable reduction in electrocution deaths. 

The likely cause of this failure is FWS’s use of a wildly inaccurate electrocution death rate. As a result, the number of power poles made “safe” is just a tiny fraction of what would be required to create a legitimate offset. While FWS currently requires about 278 poles to be “made safe” per wind-killed eagle, the correct number, according to the results presented in this report, may be closer to 67,000. It is no wonder the program has failed. 

At a minimum, FWS should issue no new wind power eagle-kill permits until the glaring issues uncovered in this study are resolved. Accurate electrocution death rates must be determined. Given there are well over 100 million power poles in America, the offset numbers may prove so high that the program becomes infeasible. In that case, wind power development must stop. Existing facilities may need to be retired as well.