Endangered bats delay wind project

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A Rockville wind-power developer must suspend work on a West Virginia project because the turbines could injure or kill the federally endangered Indiana bat, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling is the first in federal court to find that a wind power project violates the federal Endangered Species Act. U.S. District Judge Roger Titus issued the opinion Tuesday in Greenbelt, and it could have implications for other wind projects in the United States.

The court found that, “like death and taxes, there is a virtual certainty that Indiana bats will be harmed, wounded, or killed imminently by the Beech Ridge Project, in violation of…the ESA, during the spring, summer, and fall.”

Titus ordered Rockville-based Beech Ridge Energy LLC and its Chicago-based parent, Invenergy LLC, to stop building its planned 122 turbines until it gets a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill the migrating bats, which the judge said the company should have done before. He urged the wildlife department to act quickly in order to avoid slowing Congress’ renewable energy initiatives.

The Indiana bat is active in 20 states in the Midwest and in the east, including Maryland. A 2006 map included in the ruling indicates that the bat is active in four counties in Maryland, including Carroll, Washington, Allegany and Garrett, where a couple of wind projects have been approved to begin development.

“The bottom line with this is an issue of perception. This will embolden opponents to further challenge good wind projects and the concern, the biggest concern is that there are several wind projects that are ready to begin construction,” said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for mid-Atlantic wind power projects.

Maisano said he was not aware of any cases where Indiana bats have been captured during pre-construction tests in Maryland.

“I’m sure that the lawsuits are going to be brought now because of the success that they’ve had there,” he said. Opposition to wind projects going up in Western Maryland, including litigation, has delayed construction of any turbines for several years.

John Stroud, co-chairman of one of the environmental groups that filed the lawsuit, Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, said group members were “really delighted with the ruling.”

“We’ve been working on this for a while and the judge saw things our way, and we’re really pleased,” said Stroud, a rare book dealer who owns a farm a mile and a half from the wind power site.

The judge also ordered that Beech Ridge cannot operate the existing 40 turbines on site between April 1 and Nov. 15, when the bats migrate. The $300 million project was to produce nearly 186 megawatts of power a year, the equivalent of electricity used by 50,000 homes in West Virginia in a typical year, according to the ruling.

On Tuesday, Maryland announced plans to sign 20-year agreements to buy power from four wind and solar projects in the region. The state will purchase all of the power from a 55 megawatt wind farm planned near Keyser, W. Va., which is awaiting approval by the West Virginia Public Service Commission. It will also buy up to 55 megawatts from an offshore wind project planned off the Delaware coast for 2014 and 10 megawatts from a 50-megawatt wind farm on Backbone Mountain in Garrett County that Maryland regulators approved for development in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.