Opponents of the controversial Rail Tie wind farm in southern Albany County have sued federal regulators, hoping to halt the 149-turbine renewable energy project that would span 26,000 acres. The suit, filed Dec. 23 in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming and assigned to Chief Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, alleges the federal Western Area Power Administration — a division of the U.S. Department of Energy — failed to adequately weigh impacts on wildlife, wetlands, cultural resources and the Ames National Monument. The agency also ignored public comment and relied on a “stunning dearth of dispositive information” in its impact analysis and engaged “in what amounts to guesswork adorned with rhetorical misdirection,” plaintiffs claim. “They [Western Area Power Administration] said ‘We can’t do anything to mitigate the environmental impacts,’ which just does not really track,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Eubanks of Washington D.C.-based Eubanks & Associates. “If they really have no ability to reduce the impacts then why would you spend a bunch of time and taxpayer dollars doing these environmental reviews?” The southeast region of the state is already inundated with wind development, plaintiffs say, which has impaired rural housing areas, industrialized ranchlands and other undeveloped areas while threatening to decimate golden eagle populations. Wildlife biologist Mike Lockhart admires a golden eagle after trapping, sampling and fitting the raptor with a GPS device in June 2022. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile) “It’s just awful, and it’s just going to continue to get worse and worse and worse,” plaintiff Mike Lockhart told WyoFile regarding ongoing impacts to golden eagles.  Lockhart is a Laramie-based wildlife biologist who has tagged and tracked more than 150 golden eagles in the Wyoming-Colorado region since 2014. At least 10 of those tagged raptors were killed by turbine-blade strikes or power lines, according to Lockhart, whose analysis shows that nesting golden eagles have not demonstrated avoidance behavior after wind farms are constructed. Worse, he said, project-by-project analysis has so far failed to account for cumulative impacts on the species. Mandatory mitigation efforts to avoid bird mortality meanwhile remain woefully inadequate, he said. There are many more wind energy projects in queue in Wyoming, and permitting agencies need to more carefully scrutinize avoidance areas and act on data that justify more stringent impact avoidance measures, according to Lockhart.   “It’s pretty damn obvious what’s happening,” he said. “There’s nothing that’s being done that’s protective of golden eagles.” Other plaintiffs include Albany County residents Michelle White and Natalia Johnson, as well as the Albany County Conservancy and Wyoming Association of Professional Archaeologists.  This map depicts the proposed boundary of the Rail Tie wind energy project in southeast Wyoming. (ConnectGen/Repsol) They allege the Rail Tie project — backed by Repsol Renewables, a division of Spanish-based Repsol — represents a preference among many wind energy developers to site development on private property to avoid stringent federal reviews. By avoiding U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands, the developer got what it was hoping for, they said: The Western Area Power Administration didn’t adequately adhere to the National Environmental Policy Act nor the National Historic Preservation Act. They suggest that — among other environmental review failings — deficiencies in complying with the National Historic Preservation Act, as it applies to the Ames National Monument along Interstate 80 east of Laramie, should convince the court to order a redo of federal analysis. Project and litigation The $500 million Rail Tie project would straddle Highway 287 south of Laramie with up to 149 wind turbines. Shell’s Renewables U.S. originally proposed wind development in the valley more than 10 years ago. ConnectGen picked up the project and then sold it to Repsol Renewables. Now the wind farm is projected to be in operation by the end of 2026, according to the company. Developers struck deals with private landowners in the area, but triggered a federal review with a proposal to connect the wind-generated electricity to the Western Area Power Administration’s Ault-Craig interstate transmission line to either sell the power to the agency or one of its clients. The Western Area Power Administration was created to manage power from hydroelectric plants in the West. Plaintiffs allege the agency failed to adequately consider and disclose impacts when it issued the environmental go-ahead in 2022, but waited until the agency conducted a follow-up analysis under the National Historic Preservation Act, which was completed in the fall of 2024. Ames National Monument is located in southern Albany County. (Morgan Schwartz/FlickrCC) Eubanks explained that opponents believed they’d have a better outcome in court if they waited to file suit after both reviews were completed. The latest review, among other things, required an analysis of potential degradation to viewsheds and aesthetics — as well as prudent mitigation measures — regarding national monuments. The agency settled on a 2-mile minimum buffer zone between wind turbines and Ames National Monument. However, the BLM, when considering mitigating measures regarding industrial development and national monuments elsewhere, has imposed setbacks up to nine miles, according to Eubanks. It’s unclear how visible Rail Tie turbines might be from Ames National Monument. Repsol did not respond to a WyoFile inquiry. “The way that you experience Ames National Monument can be very different now that you have this modern, intrusive infrastructure that’s essentially right there in your view,” Eubanks said. Area residents who oppose the project note that more and more people are building homes in the valley, making it a high-conflict area for industrial development. This photo shows a portion of the valley south of Laramie where a wind energy project is proposed. (Steven Vander Giessen) “Basically, these turbines are going to completely bathe this whole valley,” Michelle White said. “I think that they’re kind of scavenger companies. Their MO is to come into depressed areas, or agricultural-based areas, and kind of ramrod over the locals and pick up projects that didn’t progress for whatever reason.” Best of poor options For its part, the Albany County Commission voted unanimously to approve the aspects of the project that it had authority over while imposing some limitations and cooperative measures such as county road maintenance. However, the three-member commission did so understanding there were downsides for residents, commission chairman Pete Gosar told WyoFile. “There are impacts for us not moving to a clean-energy future,” Gosar said. “As a decisionmaker, you try to weigh everything you can and you try to come down on what makes the most sense for your community. I thought this made the most sense for our community.” Though he doesn’t like to see landscapes industrialized, and sympathizes with residents who will bear the brunt of it, the Rail Tie project represents the best — not the perfect — choice among a shrinking number of good options to address the climate crises, Gosar said. Residents also had “plenty” of opportunity to air their concerns early in the process, he added. Many opponents of the Rail Tie project also didn’t show up when wind projects were proposed in the northern part of the county, he said. Nancy Rose cradles a hooded golden eagle after it was live-trapped in the Shirley Basin in August 2022. (Mike Lockhart) “Those [impacts] only became concerning once it was closer to them,” Gosar said. “When wind farms came to northern Albany County, very few said a word about it. “I feel like the duty — as a person in an elected, official position — you do the best you can,” he added. “You tell people what you think and why you think it, and then they get to weigh in on whether you should be there again or not come next election.” There have been about 14 different wind energy projects proposed in Wyoming since 2012, according to the state. Wyoming has nearly doubled its installed wind energy generation capacity since 2020 for a total of 3,236 megawatts, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That’s more than 30% of the state’s total electrical generation capacity from all sources — coal, natural gas, wind, solar and hydroelectric. Wyoming ranks 17th in the nation for installed wind energy capacity. One megawatt hour can power the average American home for about 1.2 months. Power Company of Wyoming — a division of the Anschutz Corporation — began construction last year on the $3 billion TransWest Express transmission line and the $5 billion Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind energy project in Carbon County after 15 years of planning and federal reviews. The wind farm will have a generation capacity of 3,500 megawatts, according to the company. RELATED Critics: Wind project adds to ‘industrialization’ of rural Wyoming Biologist: Wind development outpaces slow work of tracking eagles The 15-years-long review process afforded Power Company of Wyoming the ability to continually refine its project to mitigate environmental impacts, including for raptors and other wildlife, according to the company. Meantime, Lockhart charges that wildlife agencies with the authority to impose protective measures continue to gloss over and underestimate the cumulative impacts of wind turbines and powerlines on golden eagles, despite ongoing data collection and evidence. “I never expected it to be this bad,” Lockhart said, adding that he fears golden eagle populations in the region may not recover. “I never really expected that golden eagles would be as heavily impacted as they are.” The post Opponents sue to stop Rail Tie wind project, alleging unacceptable eagle mortality appeared first on WyoFile .