On Friday, the US enforced environmental laws protecting birds against wind energy facilities for the first time, winning a $1 million settlement from a power company that pleaded guilty of killing 14 eagles and 149 other birds at two Wyoming wind farms. These funds will be dispersed to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Conservation Fund.

 

Flying eagles behave like drivers texting on their cell phones; they don't look up. As they scan for food, they don't notice the industrial turbine blades until it's too late.

 

Golden eagles are not listed as threatened or endangered under U. S. law. However, they are protected under the MBTA.

 

Robert G. Dreher, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division mentioned, "Duke Energy Renewables acknowledges that it constructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand would likely result in avian deaths."

 

Wind farms consist of clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, with turning rotors as wide as a passenger jet's wingspan. Even though the blades seem to move slowly, they can reach speed up to 170 mph at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes.