The eagle has landed.
Actually, the eagle may get chopped to bits by a big blade before it lands, and BayWa doesn’t have a permit for that yet, but it’s just a little hiccup. A little baby bump in the road that’s definitely not stopping a Lompoc wind project from moving forward.
Planning Commissioners gave the wind project that just might the green light to go on ahead with its bad self, golden eagle take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or not. The commission added a measure that should give some consolation to the Audubon Society, though.
At least if an eagle carcass lands and the weekly field surveyors find it, BayWa has to pay a nonprofit organization $30,000. A golden eagle-wind turbine blade conflict means BayWa will be $30,000 less rich. Win-win, amirite?
The Santa Barbara County Audubon Society didn’t think so.
It’s not every day the Audubon Society and Andy Caldwell from the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business agree on anything—but they did agree on Aug. 9, giving BayWa an OK without the permit sets a bad precedent. Caldwell added that it actually sets an uneven precedent. The projects his group advocates on behalf of are often slapped across the face for endangered species, something that he believes should also apply to this project, renewable energy or not.
“Our members have gotten bludgeoned to death by this county on ESA [Endangered Species Act] and we cannot withstand this issue of somebody getting a free pass,” he said during the commission’s Aug. 9 meeting. “We are not against the wind. … But what we are for is equal application.”
You can’t be against the wind, Andy. It never works!
However (drumroll, please), he’s not wrong. Shoot, that means I agree with him, too. It also means that, perhaps, I spoke too soon when I squawked through my July 20 column (“Quack less”).
Fair is fair, I guess. Even if I do think we should make it easier for renewable energy projects to move forward in this county and harder for oil drilling projects to move forward, we should apply our rules across the board.
Whether it’s the blunt-nosed leopard lizard or a golden eagle, if Santa Barbara County states that a project requires a permit from a wildlife agency, then that’s what needs to happen.
It’s a real bummer that BayWa couldn’t get its shit together. The company had years to apply for the permit—and knew it had to apply for the permit—and didn’t do it until March 2023. But that’s not the county’s fault, is it?
Planning Commissioner Larry Ferini agrees. The county shouldn’t pay for BayWa’s rather obtuse mistake of applying late for the eagle take permit. If an oil company did that, the county and environmental organizations would have the project on a pike in front of the government center to show everyone why they need to obey the constraints of environmental laws.
Caldwell brought along the COLAB lawyer to speak to the commission, which voted 3-2 to move the wind project forward. I wonder what that means. Will he appeal it? Or is he full of hot air? Maybe both?
The Canary believes that even hot air is valid once in a while. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 17-27, 2023.