why are traditional energy producers punished for killing birds, while wind energy can apply for permits to kill bald eagles?

Vitter, Alexander Demand a Clear Migratory Bird Policy from Justice Department

Question why traditional energy producers are punished for killing birds, while wind energy can apply for permits to kill bald eagles

(Washington, D.C.) – Today (January 30, 2013) Senator David Vitter (R-La.), the top Republican of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asked Attorney General Eric Holder to clarify the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) policy for choosing who has violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, after observing an apparent bias toward pursuing cases involving oil and gas producers, and not wind energy producers.

“It appears the Justice Department is hand-picking which migratory bird mortality cases to pursue with an obvious preference of going after oil and gas producers,” said Vitter. “For example, while three oil and gas companies are facing fines for killing birds, a wind energy company is applying for permits to kill up to fifteen bald eagles. We obviously don’t want to see any indiscriminate killing of birds from any sort of energy production, yet the Justice Department’s ridiculous inconsistencies begs questioning and clarity.”

For example, DOJ penalized three oil and gas production companies for the incidental killing of migratory birds, while ignoring migratory bird deaths that have occurred as a result of wind energy production. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated annual bird mortality from wind energy production to be approximately 440,000 in its fiscal year 2013 budget justification.

The letter shines a light on a recent event in which Federal officials have allowed a wind energy farm in southeastern Minnesota to apply for a permit to allow for the death of bald eagles, which has the potential to kill between eight and fifteen bald eagles each year.

Click here to watch Senator Vitter speak on the Floor

Vitter and Alexander are still awaiting answers from the Interior Department on their request for an economic and environmental analysis of offshore wind farms. In a November 2012 letter, the Senators ask for an analysis of the impact offshore wind turbines will have on birds. The text of their letter today to Attorney General Holder is below.

January 30, 2012

[U.S. Senator David Vitter]