We are arguing in court that the endangered Indiana bat deserves more protection than it is getting in the process for approving wind energy installations. We came across a study that concluded that the protections we would like to see implemented will cost about 1 percent of the power the wind turbines can generate. Wind turbines produce relatively little power from gentle breezes. Bats, on the other hand, avoid flying when the wind blows at the speed it takes to generate wind power efficiently. That’s why it is possible to reduce bat fatalities by about 80% while losing only 1 percent of the power. The trick is to keep the wind tower blades from turning until the wind reaches a speed of six and a half meters per second. We believe we are arguing for something wind producers can do. We have made our arguments under the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act to the District Court in Washington, D.C., and we await the Court’s ruling.
