Halt to construction sought on WVa wind farm - Bat habitat

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/virginia/dp-wv--windfarmlawsuit0710jul10,0,4815452.story

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Environmental and animal rights groups want to stop further construction on a West Virginia wind farm until a judge can determine whether the project is harmful to the endangered Indiana bat.

The Animal Welfare Institute and Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy filed a motion for a preliminary injunction Friday in U.S. District Court in Maryland against developer Beech Ridge Energy LLC of Rockville, Md. snip

The plaintiffs say Beech Ridge's development will place 390-foot-tall wind turbines within miles of known Indiana bat habitat. A permit is required from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act if an otherwise lawful activity results in the incidental death or harm to an endangered species, Eubanks has said.

The latest motion was accompanied by affidavits from three biologists. Thomas Kunz, a biology professor at Boston University, said Beech Ridge Energy's projection of 6,746 bat deaths annually from the wind project was "likely an underestimate."

[Common Sense Party]

1. This is the kind of thing that is going to keep us very unstimulated.

Stimulus projects aren't going to get greenlighted when they get bogged down in expensive and lengthy studies.

[greguganus]

2. If the bats are in WV, doesn't that make them WV bats? Send them yankee bats back to Indiana! n/t

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. Yeah!! Those furrin bats are taking all our bat jobs!.........

Get them Indianer bats outta here! And take those Virginia Big-eared bats with ya!

[greguganus]

7. Call Sarah to shoot them bats from her hellercopter! n/t

[backscatter712]

3. Aren't newer models of wind turbine more bird/bat friendly?

IIRC, the first wind turbine generators had shorter, faster-turning blades that caused bird-kills from time to time.

The newer turbines are larger, and turn more slowly, so birds (and bats) can dodge the blades.

[Junkdrawer]

4. "Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy" just smells like astroturf...

http://www.wvmcre.org/about_mcre.htm

[thunder rising]

9. I agree ... it's smelly. Bats fly through high speed attic fans (or it's a famous myth)

[thunder rising]

10. But we'd be wrong ... bats don't hit the blades, the low pressure behind the blade blows out lungs

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/08/holy_haemorrhage_batman_wind_turbines_burst_bat_lungs.php

[DCKit]

11. MCRE is totally a front group.

They were busted in the Energy forum over a year ago.

[Ex Lurker]

5. We find fault with oil, nuclear, coal, etc

then we find fault with the "green" projects that replace them. Maybe there are legitimate reasons for opposing this, but it does raise the question of exactly how we're supposed to meet our energy needs. Despite what some apparently think, large scale population reductions and/or returning to a bronze age way of life are non starters. So what IS the solution.

[tabatha]

8. Do a google search on what happens if bat numbers are reduced.

[Ex Lurker]

14. I'm all for bats. I like bats. I'm not necessarily saying this is a good project because I haven't

researched it yet. But you can find someone who's against literally every project. And the fact remains that our industrial needs are going to be met one way or the other. If we draw a line in the sand on everything, the public is just going to say screw all this green shit. You have to offer some reasonable alternative besides going back to a 13th century lifestyle, because that ain't going to happen.

[Forkboy]

12. As always, technology is a double edged sword.

We have to weigh the benefits against the drawbacks, and this issue creates more than a few. Overall, I'm very much in favor of wind farms and suspect the pluses will outweigh the negatives (for people and animals). I do care about endangered species, but at this rate in about 50 years we may be one too.

[BlooInBloo]

13. (shrug) Fine. More coal then. Fucking sick of those who don't acknowledge...

that you can't have fucking everything.

[Ex Lurker]

15. I think some of them don't want Anything n/t