The Agency of Natural Resources and Green Mountain Power agreed last month to a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at protecting endangered bats near the utility’s 21-turbine wind generation site on Lowell Mountain.
The new agreement requires GMP to deposit $18,438 into a fund aimed at bat conservation efforts.
A previous state agreement signed in July of this year allows GMP’s 64.5-megawatt project to kill four little brown bats, one northern long-eared bat, one tri-colored bat and one small-footed bat between July 15 and the end of 2014. All of these bats are endangered.
Neither the state nor GMP have record of the wind project killing any endangered bats. For bats that are not endangered, GMP that it has killed a recorded 15 as of Sept. 10.
Between June and the end of September, GMP also curtails energy generation in an effort to mitigate its impact on bats.
“Between a half-hour before sunset until sunrise, we don’t generate during the low wind periods, and during the high winds the bats aren’t out,” GMP spokesperson Dotty Schnure said. “Bats fly during low wind conditions, and we don’t generate to protect the bats. By changing our operations in order to reduce any possibility we injure bats, and to fund this agency of natural resources.”
State bat biologist Scott Darling said curtailment is an effective strategy.
“The total cumulative kill is a concern to bat biologists across the eastern U.S., and measures like curtailment are really significant to reduce those fatalities,” he said.
