Effort to save bat species puts pressure on wind industry

The Iowa wind energy industry faces a bizarre problem. It's killing bats, and the demise sometimes comes in a gruesome way.

Its wind turbine blades catch the little creatures in a vortex wake that ruptures their lungs, causing them to drown in their blood, experts have found. Many also die colliding with the turbines.

Which is more deadly? The scientific consensus on that still is unsettled.

Whatever the reason, the Iowa wind industry, an increasingly important segment of the economy, will have to deal with the deaths and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service effort to stop the slaughter of one species — the northern long-eared bat.

This is true even though the federal service acknowledges that wind turbines aren't primary culprits in the demise of the northern long-eared bat because rules for protecting endangered species do not focus on one particular cause of death.

A schedule the service is working with has it making final decisions on the long-eared bat by year's end.

Iowans have a big stake economically in all of this — not just for a robust wind industry but also for the survival of bats.

Bats are good for medical research. They gorge on mosquitoes, and they save agriculture millions of dollars in insect crop damage and repellant expenses.

Syndrome More Deadly Than Turbines

Experts' death-toll estimates range from four to 18 bats per turbine annually, which equals 14,000 to 62,000 killings in Iowa.

But the number of deaths by turbine pale in comparison to a national slaughter from a fast-spreading disease called white-nose syndrome, a malady caused by a white fungus that shows up on the muzzle, ears and wings of bats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates it has massacred millions nationwide.

Although the service hasn't found white-nosed syndrome in Iowa yet, its precursor — the fungus — has arrived. It was discovered in a hibernaculum in the winter of 2011-12.

The disease's first U.S. appearance was in New York in 2006.

Since then, the white-nosed syndrome swept through of the northeast, slashing the bat population by 80 percent. It plunged through the southeast before racing westward at what the National Wildlife Health Center calls an alarming rate.

The fungus turned up in Iowa and Minnesota in 2011-12, and then the disease struck Wisconsin last year. Just a few weeks ago, the fungus turned up in Oklahoma for the first time, achieving its westernmost reach to date.

'It is unlikely that species of bats affected by white-nosed syndrome will recover quickly because most are long-lived and have just a single pup per year,' the U.S. Geological Service reports on its website.

A Threatened Species

The northern long-eared bat — a three-and-a-half-inch critter slung between wings spanning 11 inches — gets hit so hard by the disease the wildlife service, effective May 4, listed it as threatened under Endangered Species Act of 1973.

The service initially believed it faced extinction and listed it at the highest warning level — endangered — in October 2013, making it only the second bat visitor to Iowa to gain protection since the Indiana bat got protection status in 1967.

But strong opposition to the 2013 endangerment listing from the wind, timber and oil and gas industries ensued, prompting the service to reduce the danger level to 'threatened' earlier this year.

The lower danger level still means the northern long-eared bat's future is bleak, that it's likely to reach the endangered point in foreseeable future if the killing continues at the current pace. But it gives the wildlife service more flexibility to relax prohibitions against killing bats.

Wind Industry Seeks Exemption

In establishing temporary rules for an endangerment listing, the service exempted some activities, such as forest management and utility right-of-way clearance, but not wind power generation. It was accepting public suggestions for changes in its rules through Wednesday, July 1.

While federal protection might be good news for bats, not so for wind-power in Iowa and elsewhere.

The industry is seeking relief from the rule, arguing that the cost impact would be out of proportion to the damage it does to long-eared bats in comparison to the white-nose syndrome.

'The risk posed to the species by wind energy is de minimus,' the American Wind Energy Association wrote to the Fish and Wildlife Service on March 13.

Closer to home, Mike Prior, head of the Iowa Wind Energy Association, told IowaWatch, 'We want to take care of our avian friends and our bats. While we want to evolve wind energy in a way not to hurt wildlife, bat deaths are not a concern and will not impact wind energy.'

A decision to list the bat species as endangered but not exempt wind turbines from mitigation rules could force wind operators in the affected areas nationwide to spend about $610 million over the next 30 years, the American Wind Association complained, with support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

That cost would cover developing and maintaining a habitat conservation plan as required by the wildlife service to qualify for a permit called an 'incidental taking permit,' allowing incidental killing or injuring of bats.

The federal wildlife service also is moving to protect the bats' habitats, which are sometimes damaged during construction of wind farms. In June, it announced July meetings in Ames as well as in seven other Midwestern states to gather the public's ideas for drafting an environmental impact statement for the habitat conservation plan.

l This story was produced by Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch.org, a non-profit, online news website that collaborates with Iowa news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting.

IowaWatch co-founder Stephen J. Berry contributed to this report.