Midwest Energy News Quotes Barbara Craig on Eagle Permits

Partner Barbara Craig was quoted by Kari Lydersen  in a  Midwest Energy News article titled “Eagle permits: A way forward for wind, or a license to kill?” The article discusses new federal rules that offer 30-year “take” permits for wind projects under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The new rules  make allowance for a limited unintentional take of eagles by wind projects for up to 30 years. "Even though the permit is voluntary I think it will be standard," Craig predicted. "A few years ago people in the Midwest wouldn't be as worried because bald eagle populations are stable and building…The Fish and Wildlife Service is more concerned about golden eagles because of their populations. But the new norm applies equally."

Included in these new rules will be five-year evaluations. Craig said she was optimistic that if guidelines were properly followed and site selection and micro-siting done effectively, that the take estimates in the permit would prove overly conservative. She added, "I've worked on a lot of habitat conservations plans - to get long-term certainty you end up committing to a lot of monitoring, adaptive management and mitigation measures up front…but the benefit in my view of revolving five-year (evaluations) is that you don't have to put all that investment up front…It's intended to be more iterative and more adaptive."