In their quest to green up America, the Obama administration has given wind farm owners dispensation to kill Bald and Golden Eagles who fly into their turbines and are chopped to pieces.

“Preferred energy policy favoring wind produces double standards. Think of the rancor if oil and gas companies were allowed such a government dispensation,” said Mr. Sandoval. “Thirty years represents not only the theoretical life cycle of the turbines themselves, but an eternity in public policy. No other industry is allowed ‘takings’ permits that last an entire generation.”

If a fossile fuel company were to receive a waiver that allowed it to kill a certain number of birds in an oil spill, people on the left would be livid.

But it's more than that:

"We know we need renewables, and that’s fine. We’re not saying shut them down, we’re just saying, ‘Hey, enough’s enough, bring them into the same ballpark that everyone else is in,’” said Mr. Johns. “Give them regulations, tell them where they need to site these things, where they shouldn’t site them. Don’t give them a set of, ‘Gee, it would be nice if you did this, but if you don’t, it’s OK.’”

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Among those stunned by the agency’s move were residents of King Cove, Alaska. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell ruled in December that those in the remote fishing village could not build an 11-mile gravel road to a nearby airport because it would affect eelgrass that serves as a way-stop meal for migratory birds.

“We’d have much less impact on the birds with our road than these wind farms have on the eagles,” said Della Trumble, a spokeswoman for the King Cove Corp. and the Agdaagux tribe. “It’s another slap in the face. It doesn’t make sense.”

The administration’s preferential treatment is designed to help boost the wind energy industry as part of a strategy to reduce fossil fuel use, which President Obama has described as a necessary step in combating climate change.

“The changes in this permitting program will help the renewable energy industry and others develop projects that can operate in the longer term while ensuring bald and golden eagles continue to thrive for future generations,” Ms. Jewell said in a December statement.

But free market advocates argue that the Obama administration is playing favorites by letting the wind industry bypass regulations that hold back other energy providers. The Bureau of Land Management decided last week to cordon off 400,000 acres from energy development in Utah and Colorado in anticipation of a listing to preserve the numbers of the Gunnison sage-grouse.