The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a fitting symbol for the greatest nation to ever grace this planet. It's a magnificent bird: Regal, majestic, powerful. When it strikes, its prey faces powerful feet bearing large, sharp talons; when it feeds, it uses a razor-sharp, hooked beak.
It's a worthy symbol. Eagles in general have been proud national symbols since at least the Roman Republic.
Now, here in the United States, we're killing them with "green" energy boondoggles. One such case, in Minnesota, was particularly gruesome and resulted in the University of Minnesota facing a significant fine over the incident.
Legal Insurrection has previously reported on the growing record of eagle deaths at wind facilities nationwide, where spinning blades have been tied to dozens of documented bald and golden eagle fatalities and multimillion‑dollar settlements with major wind operators.
Now an Obama-era University of Minnesota wind‑energy research project is under fire after a campus turbine struck and killed a bald eagle, leaving the national symbol gruesomely dismembered beneath the tower.
The University of Minnesota is facing a proposed penalty of over $14,000 after it was discovered that a green energy initiative funded by a grant from the Obama administration was responsible for the gruesome death of an American bald eagle.
The incident occurred at the University of Minnesota’s Eolos Wind Energy Research Field Station in Dakota County, Minnesota.
Photos obtained by Fox News Digital show the moment a University of Minnesota wind turbine struck the bald eagle, dismembering it into three pieces and leaving a bloodied carcass on the floor below.
Setting aside for the moment the idiocy of these big, ugly monstrosities cluttering up the landscape, the cost to our national symbol and other birds doesn't seem to matter to the climate scolds. These people claim to be concerned about the environment that most of them see rarely, if ever, but their concern falls short of eagles and other raptors.
But this case hits one right in the gut. A magnificent eagle, literally dismembered. See for yourself.
We aren't even sure how many eagles are dying in these bird v. boondoggle events, in no small part because the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is reluctant to release the numbers. We can assume the worst; the USFWS doesn't want to release those numbers because they paint an ugly picture.
There's more. This isn't just about eagles. Many other birds are killed by these things. The total count may be over half a million per year. Besides bald eagles, the equally majestic Golden Eagle is killed in numbers unknown. Soaring birds are particularly vulnerable: Birds like the big hawks of the genus Buteo, which includes the Red-Tailed Hawk, the Rough-Legged Hawk, the Red-Shouldered Hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, the Broad-Winged Hawk, and more. These birds are vulnerable because of their behavior, soaring on thermal currents and updrafts, which are commonly found over open ground - the kind of ground wind farms are often built on.
These birds aren't programmed to be aware of danger from above, and that is too often how they are hit by these big carbon-fiber blades: On the downstroke, where the bird is passing through the blade arc. Broken wings, broken necks, and now, we see even complete dismemberment, is often the result.
All because of yet another wasteful green energy fraud.
Wind power may be branded as “clean,” but that label rings hollow when turbines are shredding apex raptors that anchor entire ecosystems. A truly sustainable energy policy must account for the full environmental cost, including the silent toll on bald and golden eagles that regulate prey populations and signal the health of the landscapes we claim to be saving.
Until regulators and policymakers confront the reality that these projects are wiping out key predators in the natural food chain, it is dishonest to market this form of power as environmentally benign.
This is an utter travesty.
Read More: Scotland's Biggest Wind Farm Is Wasting Over Half Its Energy
Climate Change: Trillions Spent, and Now We See Nothing Gained
This hits me particularly hard because I've always been a bird person, and the big raptors are my favorites. I grew up in an Audubon Society family, back when that organization was still mostly concerned with birds and less so with politics. I helped my parents with nesting and migrating bird counts every year. I can still name, probably, 80 percent of North American birds by sight, and maybe half of extant bird species by sound alone.
Around our Susitna Valley homestead, these birds are common. We see eagles regularly. We have a Great Gray Owl that hunts around our home, and we hear Great Horned Owls often, especially in summer. We have many species of smaller birds, and we enjoy their company; they punctuate our days with sparks of color and sound. But the climate scolds don't seem to care about them being killed.
Only a few decades ago, the Bald Eagle was an endangered species. They have made a remarkable comeback. In Alaska, they are so common that some folks jokingly call them "Alaska crows." But now the green energy howlers and the climate scolds will happily endanger them again, in the name of "renewable" energy. That's hypocrisy of the first water.
Enough is enough. These bird-killing monstrosities need to come down.
