Build a Wind Farm; Get a 30 Year Eagle Killing Permit Green Energy – Renewable Energy The mantra of the Obama Administration – at any cost Wind farms are notorious for making sushi out of birds. A recent study in the Wildlife Society Bulletin estimates 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats are killed annually by wind farms. Green energy versus traditional environmental protection is an easy balance for the Obama Administration Green energy at any cost Solar farms versus desert tortoises The tortoise is sacrificed to the sun. So too with the Bald Eagle The bald eagle has been the national bird since 1792, over the objections of Benjamin Franklin who favored the turkey. Which looks more majestic on our National Seal: The bald eagle or the turkey? Imagine Thanksgiving: Gizzards of bald eagle on Turkey Day while Tom Turkey looks down from the Great Seal of the United States. An estimated 100,000 bald eagles 100,000 bald eagles inhabited the Lower 48 in 1792, but dropped to 412 nesting pairs by 1950. The pesticide DDT was responsible for much of the loss in eagle population, but hunting, habitat loss, and transmission line encounters also played a major role. DDT was banned 4 decades ago. The bald eagle rebounded in numbers to an estimated 200,000 throughout the United States and Canada today. The bald eagle was delisted on June 28, 2007 from the endangered and threatened list. Other statutes continue to protect the bald eagle. The 1969 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act prohibits the taking, possession, sale, purchase, barter, transport, export or import of eagles, or any part, nest or egg without a permit. The word “take” is expansively defined to include pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, trap, sale, purchase, capture, trap, molest or disturb. It is not illegal to own an eagle or eagle parts, such as a feather, if they were lawfully possessed prior to 1969. However, it is illegal for one in legal possession to sell the eagle or a part of it. The penalties for illegal possession or sale of eagles or eagle parts, such as feathers, include felony criminal prosecutions. But not for wind farms. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act enforces the Treaty entered into initially by Great Britain (Canada) and the United States. The Lacey Act renders it illegal to take, possess, transport, sell, import, or export the endangered birds, nests, eggs, or parts. Native Americans, who are members of federally recognized tribes, are permitted to use eagle feathers for religious and spiritual purposes, but only with a permit. The balance between traditional conservation and renewable energy does not matters to the Obama Administration, which believes in renewable energy. Wind farms have been operating under 5 year permits, which allow the killing of eagles. the five year permits were initially issued by the new Obama Administration in 2009. The wind industry is greedy. It is unsatisfied with the federal tax credit subsidy of 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour. The subsidy, if renewed, could amount to $12 billion over the next decade. The Obama Administration is now granting the wind industry 30 year permits, “Eagle take permits,” which will allow the windmill killing or wounding of eagles. David Yarnold, President of the national Audubon Society stated: “It’s outrageous that the government is sanctioning the killing of America’s symbol, the bald eagle.” He argued that in the balance between conservation and renewable energy, the Department of the Interior “wrote the wind industry a blank check.” The Department of the Interior claims the permits will be issued to” applicants who commit to adaptive management measures to ensure the reservation of eagles.” Interior also claims that the permits will be reviewed every five years The five year look back and analysis of eagle deaths will rely on self-reporting. The Administration, which fervently supports green energy, and eagerly supports the unemployment of tens of thousands of coal miners, will turn a blind eye to eagles killed in the name of wind energy. Let the windmill killing an eagle replace the bald eagle on the National Seal.