Wyoming’s Golden Eagle Population Facing Demolition by Wind Power as Conservation Orgs Gear up for Battle on Rail Tie Project
(EnviroNews Wyoming) — The battle between the wind power industry and conservation NGOs protecting golden eagles just heated up in the wake of President Trump’s Executive Order 90 FR 8363 regarding wind power issued on Jan. 20, 2025. The Albany County Conservancy (ACC), the Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists, and three individuals sent a letter on Feb. 11, 2025, to Secretaries Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, and Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging legal violations in the authorization of the Rail Tie Wind Project (Rail Tie). The coalition had previously filed a petition against Rail Tie on Dec. 23, 2024.
Rail Tie would allow up to 149 wind turbines to be built in southeast Wyoming in an area that contains the highest concentration of breeding golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the United States. Wyoming’s golden eagle nests are between two and five miles apart. On-the-ground researchers say wind turbines in this area are a hazard to the species and that the threat extends beyond the raptors to other birds and bats as well.
Rail Tie’s location is also problematic the ACC says, because it’s adjacent to Ames National Landmark. The proposed wind turbines, with a height of 675 feet, would visually “adversely impact” the culturally sensitive site, according to the petition.
“We filed a lawsuit challenging the review of Rail Tie wind specifically because we believe laws were violated,” wrote Anne Brande, Executive Director of the ACC, in an email to EnviroNews. “The Trump EO (Executive Order) pertaining to wind energy is intended to assess whether federal approvals of wind projects across the country were [conducted] in full compliance [with] the various laws.”
Wind Turbines near Evanston, Wyoming — Video: Emerson Urry, for EnviroNews Wyoming
President Trump issued this EO amidst a flurry of other orders, memoranda, and proclamations during his first day in office. The White House website listed 46 presidential actions with four of those being staffing announcements. Twenty-six of the presidential actions were executive orders, unleashing an unprecedented flurry of day-one executive authority. Only Biden (9), Trump in his first term (1), and Clinton (1) have signed Executive Orders on their first day in office.
The petitioners state that the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a sub-agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), is responsible for “green-lighting’ the project, submitting a faulty analysis and omitting multiple impacts on the local eagle population. They further argue that WAPA completely ignored input from “designated consulting parties,” who objected to the Rail Tie project being developed at all.
“In light of the skimpy environmental and cultural resource review WAPA conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) we believe [Rail Tie] constitutes a flagrant violation of both federal laws,” the letter states.
According to research by Mike Lockhart — a co-petitioner and former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist — wind turbines account for 43.5 percent of tagged eagle deaths in Wyoming, which makes wind energy “the leading cause of human-related fatalities — more than vehicle collisions, shootings, and electrocution combined.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) says bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) numbers have quadrupled to about 316,700 in the last decade, but golden eagle populations have remained relatively stable at an estimated 40,000 individuals. The USFW estimates over 74% of golden eagles, after their first year, are killed due to human activities. Lockhart’s research places that number higher at 82 percent for Wyoming. Either way, the USFW says the current mortality rate makes it unlikely that golden eagle populations will remain stable.
Another wildlife biologist with experience in the Laramie area is Erik Molvar. He is the Executive Director with the environmental non-profit Western Watersheds Project (WWP). And while Molvar told EnviroNews WWP remains neutral on the Rail Tie project, he confirmed that the threat to golden eagles from wind farms in the area is very real and said it’s “absolutely true” the species could be “extirpated” from the region if the relentless stress placed on the species from wind projects is not put in check.
The Ames National Monument is located at the highest elevation point (8,247 feet) of the original transcontinental railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad built the 60-foot-tall granite pyramid to memorialize the Ames brothers, Oakes and Oliver, from Massachusetts. They helped finance the construction of the transcontinental route. The monument received its national landmark designation Nov. 2, 2016.
EnviroNews reached out to ConnectGen, a subsidiary of the Spanish energy company Repsol, responsible for developing the wind project, but received no comment.
FILM AND ARTICLE CREDITS
- Shad Engkilterra - Journalist, Author
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