14 DAY TRIAL // The Obama administration might have implemented legislation intended to keep whales safe from ships cruising through their habitat but, unfortunately, it has failed to extend the same courtesy to eagles living in the country.
Long story short, the country's high officials have recently announced that, under new legislation, it is OK for wind farms to injure, maybe even kill bald and golden eagles.
More precisely, companies that own and operate wind farms will soon be able to purchase permits that will allow them to maim or deadly wound a certain number of birds belonging to said species on a yearly basis.
Thanks to these permits, these companies will be able to harm these rare birds for a period of up to 30 years without fear that they will be punished for their actions.
Conservationists and even the country's Natural Resources Defense Council were quick to criticize the Obama administration for its decision.
What worries them is that, in time, this piece of legislation will cause a noteworthy drop in the country's bald and golden eagles population.
“This rule could lead to many unnecessary deaths of eagles. And that's a wrong-headed approach. We can, and must, protect wildlife as we promote clean, renewable energy,” Frances Beinecke, the current president of the US Natural Resources Defense Council explains in a statement.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service missed an opportunity to issue a rule that would do just that. This rule sets up a false choice that we intend to fight to reverse,” he goes on to say.
According to Inhabitat, the Obama administration has only decided to allow wind farms to injure or kill a given number of rare birds each year in an attempt to encourage investments in harvesting green energy sources.
Besides, the country's high officials promise that, if a wind farm ends up killing or maiming way more eagles than the permit it has acquired allows it to, its owners and operators will be made to take measures towards reducing the farm's impact on wildlife.