Feds suggest a delay in 3 projects so they can study dying bats

[Originally published at Red, Green, and Blue on 6.62008] The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has sent a letter to to the developers of three wind farms in upstate New York strongly urging they consider other locations for their proposed projects. Biologists for the agency are concerned that the wind farms will further threaten imperiled bat populations suffering from an unprecedented die-off.

One of the wind energy developers, Iberdrola Renewables has decided to hold off on moving forward with the Horse Creek project until the impacts of white nose syndrome on bat populations are better understood. But developers of the other two projects have yet to make similar moves.

There is little known about the so-called "white nose syndrome," so-named because of the white substance found on the face of the sick bats. The unexplained illness has killed of tens of thousands of small brown bats throughout the northeast over the past two winters. As temperatures warm and bats emerge from a winter of hibernation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has sent letters to three Jefferson County (NY) wind developers "strongly urging them to look at other places" for their proposed wind energy projects.

In the letters, USFWS requested the wind farm developers postpone their applications for 'incidental take permits.' Incidental take permits are required when any non-Federal activities will result in "take" of threatened or endangered species. A habitat conservation plan (HCP) must accompany an application for an incidental take permit. The HCP process is used to ensure there is adequate minimizing and mitigating of the effects of the authorized incidental take.

One of the species seeing some of the heaviest losses, the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), is listed on federal and state endangered species lists. The Indiana bat is the species of question in the New York case.

Scientists say that many bats are waking early out of hibernation because they are dehydrated, malnourished, and lacking sufficient energy to hibernate any longer. According to Biologist Susi von Oettingen, "[W]e have no clue what it is, and right now, it doesn't look like we will find out any time soon..."

Although it is not clear what effect turbines have on bats, developers must be prepared for at least a few bat collision deaths. And with bat populations falling at such unprecedented rates, biologists fear that those few bat collission deaths could have a much more substantial impact than previously calculated. In other words, what once seemed "incidental," may now be rather significant.

(For more information on white nose syndrome, watch this short USFWS video)

Watertown Daily Times

Photo: Wikipedia

Map: Cal Butchkoski, Pennsylvania Game Commission

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