Peterson is presumably a smart man. He faced a lot of opposition to this development and spent years winning approval from all the necessary authorities. I'll bet he's crying. The U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore is looking into this action, and an Interior Department spokesman told me Peterson could be facing a seven-figure fine for his subordinates' action. But there's one hopeful twist to this sad story.
Eagles are smart, too.
They frequently build more than one nest. Peterson's crew may have cut down a dummy nest rather than an active nest. I wish I could deliver a happy ending to this story and tell you Peterson promises not to cut down any more eagles' nests. But he did not respond to my phone call posing that very question. It is of no small irony that this story broke during a week when the Agriculture Department released a survey showing 16 million acres of farm and forest land were developed in just five years between 1992 and 1997.