WASHINGTON — In a rare green-versus-green court case, a federal judge in Maryland has halted expansion of a West Virginia wind farm, saying its massive turbines would kill endangered Indiana bats.
U.S. District Judge Roger Titus ruled last week that Chicago-based Invenergy can complete 40 windmills it has begun to install on an Appalachian ridge in Greenbrier County. But he said the company cannot move forward on the $300 million project — slated to have 122 turbines along a 23-mile stretch — without a special permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“There is a virtual certainty that Indiana bats will be harmed, wounded or killed imminently by the Beech Ridge Project,” Titus wrote in an opinion. “The development of wind energy can and should be encouraged, but wind turbines must be good neighbors.”
The lawsuit is the first court challenge to wind power under the Endangered Species Act.
