July 19, 2011
Pennsylvania

Wind energy killing nature’s best pesticide – bats

Reported by: Annie McCormick, www.whptv.com 19 July 2011

Could clean energy be making Pennsylvania “buggy”?

CBS 21 has found out that wind turbines are killing bats. Bats are one of the primary predators on bugs in the area, and with more turbines going up it could mean trouble for them.

If they are in your house bats are the pests, but in nature they are our best natural pesticide killing up to five hundred insects an hour. However, wind farms popping up all over PA are sucking the little blood suckers right out of the ecosystem.

“If you’re a farmer trying to grow crops, bats are your best friend,” stated Jerry Feaser of the PA Game Commission.

Bats save farmers’ money, and without their help they would have to resort to other pesticides.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates the 420 wind turbines in PA killed ten thousand bats last year, along with other birds flying thru commonwealth skies.

The bad news for the bats is that the number of wind turbine farms is still growing, according to agriculture experts nearly 3,000 could be up and running in less than two decades..

Now executives are working with state officials to find a solution to the batty casualties.

“We’re looking at ways to try and identify why and when these deaths are occurring and work with companies to identify, minimize and mitigate those potential impacts.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/07/19/wind-energy-killing-natures-best-pesticide-bats/