Reply #4: Rabid environmentalists aside [View All]

This kind of review is required by the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and NEPA in some cases. The utilities, states, and Fed agencies want to get this right the first time around because there are many examples from the not-so-distant past of those same entities using your quick and dirty approach, then discovering it will cost huge sums to fix unforeseen problems. This drafting of best practices is routine for power companies these days precisely because of the effect intended by those Acts.

You reference the lack of carcasses under an installation upthread as proof that the installation did not kill any flying critters. What sort of survey method did you use?