Our national bird, the bald eagle—a protected species—is incurring increasing mortality from existing and proposed wind facilities. This letter focuses on the slaughter of bald eagles due to the offshore wind industry, which are proposed to grow massively along coastal California in order to reduce carbon emissions.
However, the U.S. Department of Energy has stated that the carbon reduction benefits of offshore wind are nil. Further, it is a felony for a citizen to kill a bald eagle, with a possible sentence of two years in prison, plus a fine. However, the Biden administration has issued “kill permits” to wind industry executives for the slaughter of up to 15,000 bald eagles per year, and to protect wind industry executives from the expected kill rates of bald eagles from offshore wind farm operations proposed in the Morro Bay area and in New England.
Where are our national priorities if we are willing to sacrifice our national bird for no net economic or carbon reduction benefit?
Michael Hogan
Monterey
This article appears in Jul 4-14, 2024.
What, no eagles were ever killed by big oil? Please. Might check your facts about the Exxon Valdez spill that killed 900 bald eagles and tens of thousands of other birds and wildlife. Wind energy deaths pale in comparison to the damage wrought by the fossil fuel industry.
And, by the way, a 2 MW wind turbine avoids the burning of about 4,000 tons of carbon emissions annually or the same as taking 700 cars off the road.