Abstract
The Bluestone Wind Project (BWP) has been proposed for construction on the Northern Allegheny Plateau in Broome County, New York. Because both Bald and Golden Eagles are known to be killed by wind turbines and are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Pagel et al. 2013), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends that wind energy projects conduct surveys for eagles as part of a risk assessment to determine if eagles are likely to be incidentally taken at a facility during normal operating of that facility (USFWS 2013). WEST, Inc. (hereafter, WEST) was contracted to conduct eagle use surveys for BWP.
Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society (DOAS) requested New York State Article 10 Siting Process Intervenor Funding in October 2017 to garner funds to assess telemetry data and conduct independent surveys of the project area for raptors including eagles. DOAS requested intervenor funds for a second time in February 2019 so that, among other things, materials and reports could
receive an independent review by an outside scientist and eagle expert.
The purpose of this report is to review the raptor sections included in the BWP Avian Risk Assessment (ARA). This review was conducted in a manner similar to peer review of a scientific manuscript.