By Tina Alvey
Construction of the Beech Ridge wind farm will proceed immediately, following the approval Tuesday by a federal judge of a settlement between the project’s developer and environmentalists who sought to derail the Greenbrier County venture.
U.S. District Judge Roger Titus approved an agreement between Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC and wildlife groups to protect endangered Indiana bats, thus ending the litigation which began in June.
The Animal Welfare Institute, Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy and David Cowan, a Frankford resident, claimed in their lawsuit that Invenergy would likely be responsible for the killing, injury and other forms of “taking” of the federally protected bats in violation of the Endangered Species Act if the project were to proceed.
Titus ruled in December that the Beech Ridge developer would have to seek an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Those permits are required when a project might harm endangered or threatened wildlife.
Invenergy has already started the permit process, according to Joe Condo, vice president and general counsel for the company.
In the meantime, 40 turbines are in place along Beech Ridge, with up to an additional 27 planned while the permit application works its way through the bureaucracy. According to an Invenergy news release, the project is allowed to operate year-round, but will be subject to certain time-of-day restrictions during seasons when Indiana bats are out of hibernation until the incidental take permit is issued.
The agreement also allows Beech Ridge to expand this initial phase of the project by an additional 33 turbines, which like the 27 now in the planning stage, will be sited according to a configuration that was altered under the terms of the agreement.
“Based on the existing layout, that’s down from 120 (turbines in the initial phase),” Condo said. “We can top out at 100 turbines.”
He noted, “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement that allows us to move forward with creating clean, renewable energy in Greenbrier County while at the same time meeting the goals of important wildlife conservation efforts.
“This compromise will permit Beech Ridge Energy to continue employing skilled West Virginia construction workers to finish building the project and to proceed with the hiring of the full-time local operations team.”
Dave Burhman, spokesman for MCRE, said, “We believe our actions have sent a vitally needed message to the wind industry as a whole. Renewable energy projects do not get a pass on existing laws designed to protect endangered species and the natural environment. And although industrial wind turbines will now spin atop some of Greenbrier County’s highest ridges, they will forever be banned on those ridges in closest proximity to endangered Indiana bat caves.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the developers will not appeal the judge’s decision and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit will not challenge any incidental take permit that may be issued.
“Any compromise like this has a win-win quality,” Condo commented.
He also renewed assurances that the developers’ pledge to pay at least $400,000 in property taxes to Greenbrier County will not be affected by scaling back the project’s initial phase.
“There will be no impact on the tax agreement,” Condo said.
— E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com
