Our Eagle Protection and Offset Program (EPOP) streamlines the mitigation efforts required by Eagle Incidental Take Permits (EITPs) issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It facilitates infrastructure retrofits and offset credits, and provides a nationwide approach.
The most thoroughly vetted compensatory mitigation measure for offsetting eagle take is the implementation of power pole retrofits. The EPOP installs such power pole retrofits on high-risk circuits in each eagle flyway and, in the future, specific local area populations to meet permit mitigation requirements. These improvements to power poles on distribution and smaller transmission lines lead to 30-year credit offsets for permittees, ultimately keeping projects moving forward.
These infrastructure retrofits and the management of offset credits involve several stakeholders: the permittee seeking the permit and offsets, a utility qualified to retrofit its infrastructure, and the USFWS. The EPOP’s nationwide approach minimizes the complexities and frequency of transactions required between stakeholders. The retrofits provide a long-term fix by meeting a minimum 30-year compliance period, which creates substantial additional benefits within the resource equivalency analysis model.