Guilty plea in bird deaths at wind farms a first

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A major U.S. power company has pleadedguilty to killing eagles and other birds
at two Wyoming wind farms andagreed to pay $1 million as part of the first enforcement ofenvironmental laws
protecting birds against wind energy facilities.Untilthe settlement announced Friday with Duke Energy Corp.
and itsrenewable energy arm, not a single wind energy company had beenprosecuted for a death of an eagle or
other protected bird — even thougheach death is a violation of federal law, unless a company has afederal
permit. Not a single wind energy facility has obtained a permit.TheCharlotte, N.C.-based company pleaded
guilty to killing 14 eagles and149 other birds at its Top of the World and Campbell Hill wind farmsoutside
Casper, Wyo. All the deaths, which included golden eagles,hawks, blackbirds, wrens and sparrows, occurred
from 2009 to 2013."Windenergy is not green if it is killing hundreds of thousands of birds,"said
George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy, whichsupports properly sited wind farms.
"The unfortunate reality is that theflagrant violations of the law seen in this case are
widespread."Therecould be more enforcement. The Fish and Wildlife Service isinvestigating 18 bird-death
cases involving wind-power facilities, andabout a half-dozen have been referred to the Justice
Department.Windfarms are clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, withspinning rotors as wide as
a passenger jet’s wingspan. Though the bladesappear to move slowly, they can reach speeds up to 170 mph at
the tips,creating tornado-like vortexes. Eagles are especially vulnerablebecause they don’t look up as they
scan the ground for food, failing tonotice the blades until it’s too late."No form of energygeneration,
or human activity for that matter, is completely free ofimpacts, and wind energy is no exception," the
American Wind EnergyAssociation said in a statement.The case against Duke Energy andDuke Energy Renewables
Inc. was the first prosecuted under the MigratoryBird Treaty Act against a wind energy company. The Obama
administrationhas championed pollution-free wind power and used the same law againstoil companies and power
companies for drowning and electrocuting birds."Inthis plea agreement, Duke Energy Renewables
acknowledges that itconstructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand wouldlikely result in
avian deaths," Robert G. Dreher, acting assistantattorney general for the Justice Department’s
Environment and NaturalResources Division, said in a statement.Duke has a market capitalization of nearly
$50 billion."Wedeeply regret the impacts of golden eagles at two of our windfacilities," Greg
Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables, said in astatement. "Our goal is to provide the benefits of
wind energy in themost environmentally responsible way possible."A study inSeptember by federal
biologists found that wind turbines had killed atleast 67 bald and golden eagles since 2008. Wyoming had the
most eagledeaths. That did not include deaths at Altamont Pass, an area innorthern California where wind
farms kill an estimated 60 eagles a year.Aninvestigation in May by The Associated Press revealed dozens of
eagledeaths from wind energy facilities, including at Duke’s Top of the Worldfarm, the deadliest for eagles
of 15 such facilities that Duke operatesnationwide.In 2009, Exxon Mobil pleaded guilty and paid $600,000for
killing 85 birds in five states. The BP oil company was fined $100million for killing and harming migratory
birds during the 2010 Gulf oilspill. And PacifiCorp, which operates coal plants, paid more than $10.5million
in 2009 for electrocuting 232 eagles along power lines and atits substations.The wind farms in Friday’s
settlement came online before the Obama administration drafted voluntary guidelinesencouraging wind energy
companies to work with the Fish and WildlifeService to avoid locations that would impact wildlife. Companies
thatchoose to cooperate get rewarded because prosecutors take it intoconsideration before pursuing
prosecution.Once a wind farm isbuilt, there is little a company can do to stop the deaths. Somecompanies
have tried using radar to detect birds and to shut down theturbines when they get too close. Others have
used human spotters towarn when birds are flying too close to the blades. Another tactic hasbeen to remove
vegetation to reduce the prey the birds like to eat.Aspart of the agreement, Duke will continue to use field
biologists toidentify eagles and shut down turbines when they get too close. It willinstall new radar
technology, similar to what is used in Afghanistan totrack missiles. And it will continue to voluntarily
report all eagle andbird deaths to the government.The company will also have toapply for an eagle take
permit and draft a plan to reduce eagle and birddeaths at its four wind farms in Wyoming.Duke’s $1 million
willbe divided. The fine — $400,000 — will go into a wetlands conservationfund. The state of Wyoming gets
$100,000. The remainder will be used topurchase land or easements to protect golden eagle habitat and
forprojects aimed at minimizing interactions between eagles and windturbines in Wyoming.___Associated Press
writer Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., contributed to this report.___Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/dinacappielloCopyright
2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
orredistributed.

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