Mosquitoes something to bat around When the proposal for an industrial wind facility first arose here more than three years ago, few people thought a main concern would be the consequences to bats and birds.
Our bat friends are often unappreciated except by the most avid watchers and scientists. While birds are adored for their beauty and charm, bats have the unfortunate, and misguided, reputation of being sinister, rabies-carrying, black creatures of the night. Most of us don't give them much thought unless they make their way into our homes or outbuildings where they require rapid exit with a broom.
Unless you're a cave explorer or wildlife specialist, it's hard to fully grasp the huge role bats play in life's ecosystems, particularly in controlling mosquitoes and other insect pests that can do enormous damage to crops and human health. Fortunately, those are exactly the kinds of folks looking at the plans for 400-foot towers all over the Allegheny Front. In Virginia, the state scientists at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries appear to be deeply concerned about the impacts these turbines could have on bat populations.
Based on the recent review of studies and reports submitted by Highland New Wind Development, LLC, owner of the proposed project, DGIF has concluded there are serious concerns about how many bats could be killed, not only by this single project in Highland but by the dozens of projects planned for the region from Virginia to Pennsylvania and Maryland. Applying the kind of scientific principles they know so well, their experts are seeing the big picture here. And it's not all about bats and birds.
If there were only one species - a squirrel, a rainbow trout, a spotted owl - that stood to lose its place here because of this project, it would be much harder to oppose its construction. But the reality is, the facility stands to severely impact far more than one little animal. There's much more at stake.
In addition to the several species of song birds and endangered bats, there are large raptors in diminishing numbers using these ridges - eagles, hawks and falcons. There are the flying squirrels, and the delicate Laurel Fork stream which supports so much sensitive aquatic life. Up the chain, balanced precariously in these ecosystems, are the residents here whose lives are dependent on the successful protection of the environment we appreciate for its beauty, wildlife, clean air and water.
Humans, too, have much at risk, and this project has the potential to do real damage to Virginia tourism and agriculture, not to mention the pilots using our airspace who may find themselves in danger of the turbines obstructing radar or forcing them to find new routes at a time when the military needs good training more than ever.
County residents themselves stand to lose the most. The power plant would diminish our quality of life in so many ways, not the least of which is Highland's strengthening tourism base that puts dollars directly into the pockets of those who live here. It also stands to lower property values and ruin the landscapes that are disappearing fast in this region with grossly out-of-place structures that have no hope of being anything but monuments to human greed.
State agencies appear to be coming to the same conclusions most Highlanders came to long ago - this is the wrong place for this kind of development. Even if the wind industry could find a practical, financially successful way to add significantly to the nation's energy needs, which so far appears highly doubtful, they serve no good purpose if they're in a location where they do far more harm than good. As we've said so often, there are certainly better areas, particularly in the Midwest, to build commercial wind facilities. Places where there is far less potential for harm to wildlife and human populations, or locations already ecologically degraded beyond repair.
There seems to be no good way to properly site these turbines on unspoiled Appalachian mountains without causing irreparable damage. The State Corporation Commission has an opportunity to do the right thing by heeding the growing warnings about negative, cumulative effects its own experts are offering.
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