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Federal wildlife officials are hinting they will object again to plans by Kenetech “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç to repower its Altamont Pass wind plant. At issue are killings of golden eagles, an endangered species. Kenetech hopes to start replacing 3410 of its 56-100 units in northern California with 1705 larger models starting in 1996 and until the end of the decade. "Wind power has obviously been identified as a serious situation," David McMullin of the US Fish and Wildlife Service told a California newspaper last month. "The service still wants a solution [to bird kills] before the industry expands." McMullin told the Tri-Valley Herald that a possible change in federal laws, allowing so called "incidental" golden eagle kills, is being pushed for by Kenetech. The possible change in federal laws was first publicised at the “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç '95 conference in Washington DC. "Our preference is to solve the problem, not to make changes in the laws," McMullin told the newspaper. The Fish and Wildlife service scuttled a similar proposal by Kenetech to expand nearly three years ago.