West Virginia Wind Farm Halted by Judge

In October, we reported on the proposed wind farm in West Virginia that was the subject of a lawsuit because of its potential to harm endangered Indiana bats.

A federal judge in Maryland ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, halting construction of the farm until the developers obtained a special permit known as an "incidental take permit."

An incidental take permit allows, as the name suggests, the "incidental take" of endangered species when a non-Federal entity is conducting lawful activities. The Endangered Species Act defines "take" as "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect."

The ruling is not expected to affect other wind projects around the country.

Wind Turbines in W. Va. Face Lawsuit Over Danger to Indiana Bats

A wind farm project in Greenbrier County, W. Va., is in federal court because opponents, including a local caving enthusiast and the Animal Welfare Institute, sued the developers of the wind farm under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit is the nation's first court challenge to a wind farm under the Endangered Species Act. Plaintiffs are suing on the grounds that the wind turbines will harm the Indiana bat, which spends the spring and summer in forests and migrates to caves to hibernate in the fall. The caves are near the wind farm, and the plaintiffs say the bats are likely to fly into the 389-foot wind turbine blades.

The Indiana bat has been on the endangered species list since 1967.

Wildlife experts and wind power producers have known for several years that wind turbines cause bats to die. In 2008, researchers determined that the deaths occur mainly due to internal hemorrhaging as the reduced air pressure near the turbine blades leads to internal trauma in bats' light and delicate bodies.

In this blog, I've written about bats dying mysteriously because of white-nose syndrome, a mysterious fungus that appears on their faces and wings. That disease is still not understood.

Poor little bats. Their world is under so much stress.

Bats falling victim to white-nose syndrome

Here's an environmental threat that's probably not on your radar. America may soon be a land without bats.

Bats are dying, felled by a white-nose syndrome, a fungus that appears on their faces and wings. No bat species is immune to the syndrome.

About 90% of bats in Connecticut died this winter because of the disease. Nearly 100% of the bats that normally travel from New York to hibernate, have succumbed to the fungus. Experts can't figure out how or why the fungus spreads so quickly.

And now the fungus is headed to Alabama and other states.

Bats devour insects, with some species eating hundreds of bugs per hour. Bats are nocturnal creatures and every night, eat millions of pounds of insects that attack crops.

If bats vanish, humans will double up on pesticides. And that would be an environmental disaster.