Wyoming prosecutors and wildlife officials are praising an oil company’s willingness to study and fix its power lines to prevent the killing of more golden eagles and other birds.
Yates Petroleum Corp. – based in Artesia, N.M. – agreed to evaluate hundreds of miles of the company’s power lines in Wyoming and New Mexico to ensure they are no longer risks to raptors. The agreement is part of a sentence handed down last week by Federal Magistrate Judge Michael Shickich against Yates for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Officials said four dead golden eagles were found near power lines owned by Yates at its coal-bed methane plant in the Powder River Basin, southwest of Gillette, Wyo.
Yates quickly took responsibility for the eagle deaths and moved to retrofit its power lines to ensure bird safety, said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Barksdale.
The company already had spent $25,000 to put in safety controls on the power lines at the Powder River plant prior to last week’s sentencing, Barksdale said.
“The speed by which Yates decided to act was something I wasn’t used to,” Barksdale said. “It was actually quite refreshing.”
The plea agreement calls for Yates to pay $10,000 in fines, half of which will go to the Murie Audubon State Rehabilitation Fund for sick, injured or oiled migratory birds.
Yates also will be required to implement an Avian Protection Plan in which it will be given 90 days to survey all power lines owned by the company to find those dangerous to raptors, said Dominic Domenici, special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The plan will be reviewed by officials to ensure the proposed fixes will save the most birds, Domenici said.
“We have confidence that a good plan will emerge because in this case they (Yates) have acted pretty responsibly,” Domenici said.
The fixes are simple enough, including placing wiring and other devices along power poles to prevent raptors from perching on them, said Gene George, a consultant for Yates.
Power lines in remote areas often don’t have sufficient insulation to keep the birds from being electrocuted.
Most oil and gas companies – along with power companies – are getting better at designing power lines that prevent raptor deaths, Dom enici said.
As many as 300 birds were killed on power lines annually in Wyoming and in other Western states until the companies made changes over a decade ago. Last year, only about 12 eagles died because of power lines, he said.
Companies like Yates can also redo power lines without cutting power to customers.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
