Strauss Wind Eagle Permit NEPA Documents

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received an application from Strauss Wind LLC requesting eagle take coverage under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The application requested authorization for incidental lethal and disturbance take of eagles at the Strauss Wind Energy Project over a 30-year period. The project is located in Santa Barbara County, California, approximately 7.5 miles southwest of the town of Lompoc, and began operations in 2023. Along with potentially causing injury or mortality to eagles, the project may also disturb territory-holding golden eagle pairs in the vicinity of operations, which may prevent them from breeding or producing offspring.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA), pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, to assess impacts of the proposed action of issuance of the requested eagle take permit to the applicant, as well as alternatives to the proposed action. The proposed action of issuing a permit required implementation of measures to avoid and minimize adverse effects to eagles to the maximum extent practicable and compensatory mitigation to fully offset eagle take. Details of the minimization measures and compensatory mitigation can be found in the EA document provided here. The analysis detailed in the EA resulted in selection of the proposed action and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The FONSI and final EA documents are provided here.