Citing potential harm to an endangered species of bat, opponents of a proposed wind farm in Greenbrier County filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this week.

Joining Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy and David G. Cowan in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, is the Animal Welfare Institute of Washington. According to a news release issued by the plaintiffs, this is believed to be the first federal lawsuit challenging an industrial wind energy project on environmental grounds.

The plaintiffs claim Beech Ridge Energy LLC and Invenergy Wind LLC will likely be responsible for the killing, injury and other forms of “taking” of endangered Indiana bats in violation of the Endangered Species Act if the 124-windmill project is allowed to proceed.

Cowan, a Frankford resident, is identified as the property manager and steward for the Lobelia Saltpeter Cave Preserve, located about 7 miles from the nearest proposed wind turbine. According to the lawsuit, that cave was a destination for hibernating and mating Indiana bats as recently as the winter of 2008.

Cowan also says he has seen the endangered bats “on numerous occasions” near the project site, a 23-mile ridgeline in the northwest portion of the county. The lawsuit maintains “the installation and long-term operation of more than one hundred 390-foot-tall wind turbines is likely to result in deaths and injuries from turbine-bat collisions.”

The plaintiffs ask the court to grant an injunction preventing the construction of the wind farm unless and until the companies named as defendants obtain permission to do so from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in keeping with the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

“Poorly sited wind power projects in the eastern U.S. have already killed and maimed scores of bats, and leading bat experts predict that, without reforms, hundreds of thousands more will be killed in coming years,” the plaintiffs’ news release indicates.

“We were hoping to avoid a federal lawsuit,” said John Stroud, spokesman for MCRE, a grassroots group based in Williamsburg. “However, Beech Ridge Energy is currently moving forward with construction despite repeated requests to first bring the project into compliance with the Endangered Species Act to ensure that the Indiana bat is afforded the full protections of the law.”

Joe Condo, vice president and general counsel of Invenergy LLC, responded to the allegations.

“While we do not comment on the specifics of pending litigation, we believe, as with previous attempts to delay the Beech Ridge project by way of lawsuits, that the claim filed is without merit,” Condo said. “Beech Ridge Energy has cooperated for years with all the relevant governmental entities and has received all required permits necessary to build the wind farm, which will help West Virginia and the country reach its clean energy goals.”

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