The Trump administration is threatening to fine the University of Minnesota more than $14,000 after an Obama-funded wind turbine killed a bald eagle.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a violation notice against the university for the death at its Eolos Wind Energy Research Field Station in Dakota County, Fox News Digital reported. The turbine struck the bird and tore it into three pieces. Technicians found the lower body and tail first. They discovered the head and wings more than a month later.
The university did not have the required federal permit to kill eagles, according to Fox News Digital. The school faces a potential $14,536 fine. (RELATED: Trump Halts Preferential Treatment For ‘Unreliable, Foreign-Controlled’ Wind Energy)
The Obama Department of Energy awarded a $7.9 million grant in 2010 to build the turbine, according to the Minnesota Daily. The turbine tower is about 263 feet tall, and about 415 feet from the base to the tip of a blade, university materials say.
DOI spokesperson Matthew Middleton told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration “is enforcing the law to protect these iconic birds and demand accountability from an industry that has jeopardized these protected species.”
“America’s bald eagles are a national treasure, not collateral damage for costly wind experiments,” Middleton said. “Wind companies will no longer get a free pass as this administration safeguards bald eagles and advances energy policies that prioritize affordability and strengthen America’s economy.”
Unaffordable, unreliable & hazardous wind farms are on notice!@POTUS will not let Green New Scam projects run unchecked & threaten the safety of bald eagles. These birds are a symbol of American greatness & @Interior will enforce the law to protect them!https://t.co/cRXBV5ddtX
— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) February 6, 2026
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has blasted wind and solar projects in the past, Fox News Digital reported. “When you think about the green new scam, it was pro-China, and it’s anti-American, and it’s also unaffordable and unreliable,” Burgum said.
The enforcement stands in sharp contrast to Obama-era policy. In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expanded its permitting program, allowing wind projects to receive 30-year permits covering incidental harm to eagles, PBS reported. An Associated Press investigation found the administration was reluctant to prosecute wind farms and helped keep eagle death numbers secret.
The Audubon Society accused the Interior Department of writing “the wind industry a blank check,” according to PBS.
The Obama administration finalized a rule in December 2016 that let wind companies kill up to 4,200 bald eagles annually without facing fines, according to the Denver Post.
The Minnesota case is not isolated. The Fish and Wildlife Service recently finalized $32,340 in fines against renewable energy company Ørsted for two eagle deaths at wind farms in Nebraska and Illinois, Fox News Digital reported.
A university spokesperson confirmed the school received the notice and said it is “currently under review,” Fox News Digital reported.