MEDIA RELEASE
OCTOBER 4 2025
By: Sherri Lange
The mere idea of promoting fewer electrocution numbers from power poles as a “mitigation” for wind turbine bird kills is frankly, ridiculous. Power poles are corollary, additional, to the bird kills, and not a substitute for not being able to count mortality of actual turbines. Offsetting eagle deaths from power lines is not a suitable “mitigation” strategy. See below for David Wojick’s analysis.
Quote: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a new memorandum on Tuesday that called on the agency to ensure compliance with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the killing or injuring of the birds.
Burgum posted on X that Interior is enforcing the statute “to ensure that our national bird is not sacrificed for unreliable wind facilities! Unquote.
SIGNIFICANCE
Many are contemplating the significance of Secretary Burgum’s dictate, memorandum, calling for accountability from Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as above, for astonishing and unacceptable kill numbers of Golden and Bald Eagles by industrial wind in the USA, as well as an accounting of the feature of “mitigation.” The real numbers will never be known.
It is long known that wind turbine proponents use the “long arm of King Kong” to obfuscate the actual kill rates. Senator John Kennedy interviewing Supreme Court judiciary, referred to the misrepresentations of one nominee as being gigantic, and as long as the arm of King Kong. Bigger than Dallas. We can easily use that reference point in the case of destroyed nests, killing fields, completely inaccurate counting methods, cruel and inept methodology that obscures the actual numbers, allowing developers to continue, without curtailing speeds, and other “mitigations.” The mere idea of using electrocution numbers from power poles as a “mitigation” is frankly, ridiculous. See below for David Wojick’s analysis.
NA-PAW questions how deep the request for precise numbers and accountability may be and is hopeful that past and present profit taking fiction will be exposed, and ridiculed, and projects aborted, immediately. We expressly hope that the end of industrial bird killing, economy bruising, human lives’ disfigurement and shortening, will end with accountability and speed.
It is well known that problems “mitigating” eagles’ deaths include: lack of suitable and rigorous testing; incomplete implementation; limited technology; ignored interacting factors; site specific requirements; lack of collaboration. Add: developer led counting and methodology; use of less bird occupied testing sites; natural flow of natural processes where scavenging replaces/negates counting; massive level obfuscation including reference points to cats and cars and windows.
The actual numbers of kills are completely unknown. ABC (American Bird Conservancy) estimates some years ago, (2021 article) 880 bats and 573,000 birds dead. Actual numbers, again years ago, referencing the Spanish Ornithological Society numbers, a valid coordinate to the USA, is between 13 and 31 million. Annually. Add in, then, electrocution.
In a 2014 study, researchers estimated that 25.5 million birds are killed each year due to collisions with powerlines, and another 5.6 million are killed by electrocutions. Therefore, powerlines built exclusively to connect new wind facilities to the existing energy grid result in additional bird mortalities that should be factored in to the total toll in birds associated with wind energy development.
David Wojick of CFACT (Citizens for a Constructive Tomorrow) writes several succinct assessments.
Federal regulators concluded that the golden eagle population cannot survive increased kills from human activity and also determined that wind turbines substantially increase eagle deaths. (Our emphasis.)
The feds then offered a solution only a bureaucrat could love: Don’t protect the eagles from turbine strikes, but “offset” their deaths by reducing electrocutions from power poles.
Government being as efficient as it is, they then underestimated the number of power poles that would need to be made “safe” by a factor of as much as 241 and failed to save any meaningful number of eagles. See link for full report. See here for executive summary.
Executive Summary (Wojick)
Nearly 15 years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that the golden eagle population could not withstand an increase in human-caused mortality. However, a large queue of proposed wind projects sought FWS permits exempting them from harm they may cause eagles under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act—permits that would inevitably increase the kill rate.
In response, the FWS created an offset program in which eagle deaths caused by wind turbines would purportedly be compensated for by reducing electrocution deaths from power poles. We now know this offset program has completely failed, as there has been no measurable reduction in electrocution deaths.
The likely cause of this failure is FWS’s use of a wildly inaccurate electrocution death rate. As a result, the number of power poles made “safe” is just a tiny fraction of what would be required to create a legitimate offset. While FWS currently requires about 278 poles to be “made safe” per wind-killed eagle, the correct number, according to the results presented in this report, may be closer to 67,000. It is no wonder the program has failed. (Our emphasis.)
Mr. Wojick’s conclusion, and we concur:
At a minimum, FWS should issue no new wind power eagle-kill permits until the glaring issues uncovered in this study are resolved. Accurate electrocution death rates must be determined. Given there are well over 100 million power poles in America, the offset numbers may prove so high that the program becomes unfeasible. In that case, wind power development must stop. Existing facilities may need to be retired as well.
In an open letter to Fish and Wildlife Service, Mr. Wojick explains:
“Subject: Electrocution mitigation for wind kills does not work”
Hello FWS,
I understand FWS is looking into eagle take permits for wind turbines at Secretary Burgum’s request. I just did a study on the mitigation component and my finding is that electrocution mitigation in its present form is completely ineffective. Very few, if any, electrocution deaths are being prevented, certainly not the 1.2 deaths per turbine death that is called for.
The reason is that the poles per death number FWS is using is far from what is needed. While FWS currently requires about 278 poles to be “made safe” per wind-killed eagle, the correct number may be closer to 67,000. It is no wonder the mitigation program has failed.
The national average is actually close to 370,000 poles per eagle death based on 500 kills with 185 million poles. The research literature suggests that high risk poles may be 5.5 times deadlier, which is 67,000. At this rate fixing just 278 poles per wind-kill will have little if any effect. Better data might change these numbers a bit but not enough to make a difference. This is explained in section 1 of my report which is at https://www.cfact.org/2025/06/29/cfact-report-feds-fail-to-offset-wind-turbine-eagle-kills/.
Given these numbers there should be a moratorium on permitting until an effective mitigation strategy is developed. FWS regulations call for monitoring the effectiveness of mitigation.
See my https://www.cfact.org/2025/07/28/fws-is-violating-its-own-eagle-kill-regulations/.
I will be happy to discuss this important issue.
My best regards,
David Wojick, Ph.D.
CFACT Senior Advisor and Policy Analyst
CONCLUSION
NA-PAW expresses the hope that Secretary Burgum’s request to FWS is diligently applied, that no new wind factory permits are allowed; and retroactive closures of non-compliant wind factories are administered post haste. Sherri Lange of NA-PAW adds, “They are all non-compliant using several yardsticks.” “The idea of counting dead birds and bats (in this case protected species, Golden and Bald Eagles), is ludicrous and is an industry led, industry protected, government protected, feature of profit taking. (President Trump refers to the industry as The biggest Scam Ever.) The corollary idea that reducing related power pole deaths can in some way “mitigate” wind turbine deaths continues to elude a sensible person’s credibility.”
Lange adds, “Species are going extinct. It is a matter of extreme concern.”
Mr. Wojick has not had a reply from his numerous emails to FWS.
CONTACT:
Sherri Lange
CEO North American Platform Against Wind Power
Co Founding Member Great Lakes Wind Truth
Vice President Canada, Save the Eagles International
Advisory Board Member, All About Energy
David Wojick
David Wojick, Ph.D. is an independent policy analyst and senior advisor to CFACT. As a civil engineer with a Ph.D. in logic and analytic philosophy of science, he brings a unique perspective to complex policy issues. He specializes in science and technology intensive issues, especially in energy and environment. As a cognitive scientist he also does basic research on the structure and dynamics of complex issues and reasoning. This research informs his policy analyses. He has written hundreds of analytical articles. Many recent examples can be found at https://www.cfact.org/author/dwojick/ Often working as a consultant on understanding complex issues, Dr. Wojick’s numerous clients have included think tanks, trade associations, businesses and government agencies. Examples range from CFACT to the Chief of Naval Research and the Energy Department’s Office of Science. He has served on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University and the staff of the Naval Research Laboratory. He is available for confidential consulting, research and writing.
