Second Regular Session Sixty-ninth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. R14-0681.01 Rebecca Hausmann x2172 HJR14-1021 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Szabo, SENATE SPONSORSHIP (None), House Committees Senate Committees State, Veterans, & Military Affairs HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 14-1021 Concerning protection of the Bald Eagle in relation to renewable energy production. WHEREAS, The Bald Eagle is the national emblem of the United States and a symbol of supreme power, authority, and freedom for all Americans; and WHEREAS, In 1782, Congress chose the Bald Eagle as the emblem of the United States of America because of its long life, great strength, and majestic appearance and because it existed only in North America; and WHEREAS, When Congress adopted the Bald Eagle as the national emblem, there may have been as many as 100,000 nesting eagles in the United States; and WHEREAS, In 1940, Congress passed the "Bald Eagle Protection Act" to protect the declining Bald Eagle population from hunters, harassment by humans, and loss of habitat; and WHEREAS, After World War II, the Bald Eagle population declined even further when the pesticide DDT came into popular use, poisoning the eagles when they consumed contaminated fish; and WHEREAS, By 1963, only 417 nesting pairs of Bald Eagles remained; and WHEREAS, With Bald Eagles on the verge of extinction, they were placed on the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened species in 1967; and WHEREAS, On June 28, 2007, after 40 years on the endangered species list, the number of Bald Eagles having grown to 9,789 nesting pairs, the United States Department of Interior took the Bald Eagle off the endangered species list; and WHEREAS, According to the Audubon Society, in the 7 years since Bald Eagles were removed from the endangered species list, the Department of Interior has allowed the killing of hundreds of Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles; and WHEREAS, On December 6, 2013, President Barack Obama announced that the Department of Interior will allow wind energy companies to kill or injure Bald and Golden Eagles for up to 30 years without penalty in order to spur development and investment in green energy; and WHEREAS, Under the current administration's new policy, wind energy companies must estimate the number of Bald Eagles they expect to kill and commit to taking additional measures if they kill or injure more eagles than estimated or if new information suggests that eagle populations are being affected; and WHEREAS, A study by federal biologists in September 2013 found that, since 2008, wind farms had killed at least 67 Bald and Golden Eagles, a number that the researchers said was likely underestimated; and WHEREAS, Since Bald Eagles mate for life and both parents care for their young in the nest, it is unknown what effect the death of a single Bald Eagle has on the lives of its offspring and how many additional eagles will die as a result of the death of a parent; and WHEREAS, The "Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act" also prohibits taking (including molesting, disturbing, or killing) a Bald Eagle egg and imposes a $5,000 fine for such an act or imprisonment for up to a year or both, and the Secretary of the Interior may also assess a civil penalty of up to $5,000; and WHEREAS, Wind farms are clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, with spinning rotors as wide as a passenger jet's wingspan, that can reach speeds of up to 170 miles per hour at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes; and WHEREAS, Bald Eagles can fly at an altitude of up to 10,000 feet, achieving speeds of about 30 to 35 miles per hour while scanning the ground below for food, and, since they are looking down, they do not notice the industrial turbine blades until it is too late; and WHEREAS, The "Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act" allows the Secretary of the Interior to issue a permit for taking (including molesting, disturbing, or killing) a Bald Eagle only when the Secretary determines that it is compatible with the preservation of the Bald Eagle; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty-ninth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein: That the members of the Colorado General Assembly: (1) Strongly protest the Department of Interior's new rule that, as Audubon Society president David Yarnold says, "basically says you can go operate these wind turbines and kill as many eagles as happen to die" in the name of green energy; (2) Firmly believe that it is only fair that we hold renewable energy companies just as accountable to identical high standards to which we are holding our oil and gas industry; (3) Expect any eagles killed by the wind energy industry, their feathers, and any parts of eagles to be immediately delivered to the National Eagle Repository at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Denver, Colorado, to ensure that American Indians are the only benefactors of the eagles, feathers, and eagle parts in accordance with the federal "Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act"; (4) Call for greater measures to be taken by wind energy companies to protect Bald Eagles from death and injury caused by wind turbines; and (5) Call on Congress to pass legislation to prevent the Department of Interior from allowing large-scale, accidental killing of Bald Eagles by the wind energy industry. Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to President Barack Obama; Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior; and the Colorado Congressional Delegation.