Of Bats and Men

Last Tuesday a United States District Judge in Maryland effectively shut down Invenergy’s Greenbrier County wind turbine project, at least for a while, because of concerns about an endangered species called the Indiana bat.  Several observations:

1) This decision is not likely to play well in Peoria or Parkersburg:

• Why should a West Virginia resident care about Indiana bats?  Of course, they’re endangered in West Virginia; they’re “Indiana” bats.
• The environmentalists are no longer satisfied with shutting down fossil fuel production; now they’re shutting down renewable energy production, too.

2) Although this decision will not play well, it appears that Invenergy could have done something very simple – apply for an Incidental Take Permit – to satisfy the Endangered Species Act.  Indeed the judge referred to Invenergy’s plight as “self-imposed.”

• Why do companies like Invenergy not jump through reasonable hoops like the Incidental Take Permit process?
• Invenergy is lucky that the bats hibernate from mid-November to the end of March, which means it can operate its wind turbines while it submits its permit request.

3) Even “clean” energy solutions sometimes raise environmental concerns, as this specific case illustrates.  The road to a carbon neutral world is likely to be a long and bumpy one.

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~ by Dennis Taylor on 14 December 2009.