MidAmerican Energy has filed a plan with the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service on how it will try to minimize the number of eagles and bats which are killed by its Wind turbines across Iowa. MidAmerican spokesman, Geoff Greenwood, says they began studying the issue back in 2014 along with federal officials and the Iowa D-N-R.
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Greenwood says MidAmerican now operates more than 21-hundred turbines on 27 wind farms across Iowa. MidAmerican Energy generated about 50 percent of its Iowa customers’ annual use in energy through the turbines and plans to expand it to 100 percent by the end of 2021.
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MidAmerican Energy also proposes to establish a four-point-four ($4.4) million dollar bat conservation fund and a one-point-six ($1.6) million dollar eagle conservation fund to support statewide mitigation projects to offset any impacts to those species.