A federally funded University of Minnesota wind-energy experiment is under fire after one of its towering turbines shredded a bald eagle, leaving the protected bird scattered in pieces across a Dakota County test field.
The fatal strike occurred at the Eolos Wind Energy Research Field in Dakota County, Minnesota, a project that has long been touted as part of the green-energy transition. As reported by WND, the university now faces a proposed civil penalty of $14,536 after federal officials concluded the turbine killed what one Department of the Interior official described as a national treasure without the legally required authorization.
The grisly incident unfolded only days after a separate bald eagle was seen perched atop a highway sign structure in Minnesota, almost as if surveying the traffic below. That image of majesty and strength now stands in stark contrast to the scene at the universitys wind site, where the bird was reduced to what witnesses described as a bloodied carcass.
Photos obtained by Fox News Digital show the moment a University of Minnesota wind turbine struck the bald eagle, dismembering it into three pieces and leaving a bloodied carcass on the floor below. According to the violation notice reviewed by Fox News Digital, the university ran afoul of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act by killing the eagle without an incidental take permit, a federal authorization that green-energy developers are increasingly being forced to seek.
The project itself traces back to the Obama-era push for expansive renewable energy, having been built after a $7.9 million Department of Energy grant in 2010 under Barack Obama. That funding reflects a broader pattern in which Washington has poured taxpayer dollars into wind and solar schemes while downplaying their environmental trade-offs, including the toll on iconic wildlife.
Fox News Digital reported that federal documents show project officials were fully aware that bird strikes were a foreseeable risk at the site. They were reportedly in the midst of testing a collision-detection system when the eagle was killed, underscoring how experimental these solutions remain even as turbines spin across the American landscape.
The official report noted that the eagles remains were discovered in multiple locations, underscoring the violence of the impact. The lower torso and tail were found by technicians first, while the head and wings were not found until over a month later, the report said, a detail that highlights the often-hidden cost of industrial-scale wind power.
Nor is this an isolated case, as Fox pointed out that federal regulators have also moved against renewable energy company rsted Onshore North America. In that matter, fines exceeding $32,000 were proposed after its turbines in Nebraska and Illinois killed two additional bald eagles, again raising questions about how many protected birds must be sacrificed on the altar of climate politics.
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a Republican critic of the Biden administrations climate agenda, blasted the broader policy framework driving such projects. When you think about the green new scam, it was pro-China, and its anti-American, and its also unaffordable and unreliable, Burgum said, capturing a growing conservative concern that green mandates enrich foreign adversaries while burdening American communities.
He added pointedly, Americas bald eagles are a national treasure, not collateral damage for costly wind experiments. As President Trump and many conservatives have long warned, the rush to subsidize intermittent wind power has real-world consequencesfrom higher energy costs to the destruction of wildlifethat Americans are now being forced to confront, one shattered national treasure at a time.
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