Speak Up: USFWS to Extend Eagle Kill Permits
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is accepting public comments until midnight 12 July on a proposal to extend eagle "take" permits -- permission to kill or harass protected bald and golden eagles -- from 5 years to 30 years. The move is intended to make it easier for the wind energy industry, which is building massive wind facilities that are already killing the protected birds. For some good background, Chris Clarke wrote a great piece on the proposed rule on KCET. The bottom line, though, is that wildlife officials will end up giving permission to wind companies to kill eagles over a 30-year period, and eliminate flexibility to save the birds if their numbers dwindle during those 30 years. How will the USFWS save a threatened bald or golden eagle population if they cannot do anything to stop one of the birds' biggest threats -- spinning wind turbines -- because they issued too many permits some 30 years earlier? Locking wildlife management into 30-year co