October 18, 2011
Pennsylvania

Endangered bat shuts down windmills at Lilly wind farm

By Associated Press, www.pittsburghlive.com 18 October 2011

LILLY, Pa. – Thirty-five windmills at a Western Pennsylvania wind farm have been silenced at night since a bat that belongs to an endangered species was found dead under one of the turbines.

The farm shut down the windmills overnight after the Indiana bat was found Sept. 26.

The farm in question was built by Gamesa Energy USA and covers parts of Portage, Washington, and Cresson Townships in Cambria County, and part of Blair County, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

A spokesman for Duke Energy, which now owns the wind farm, says it has a cooperative monitoring agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether bats are being harmed by the windmills.

The windmills will likely resume nighttime operation about Nov. 15, when the bats will hibernate until spring.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/18/endangered-bat-shuts-down-windmills-at-lilly-wind-farm/