A federal district court judge in Maryland placed a huge roadblock in the path of a planned industrial wind facility in northern Greenbrier County, saying construction of the wind turbines would violate the Endangered Species Act.
Judge Roger W. Titus issued an order Tuesday afternoon granting an injunction, which halts the project in its tracks.
Two organizations and an individual filed suit in June to stop construction on the project, which would include 119 turbines along several miles of ridgelines in northern Greenbrier County. The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy (MCRE) and Greenbrier County resident Dave Cowan argued the project would kill endangered Indiana Bats and that the project should not proceed because the developer, Beech Ridge Energy, LLC, had not obtained an incidental take permit.
Beech Ridge is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Invenergy, a Chicago-based corporation.
AWI is a nonprofit, charitable organization founded in 1951 to reduce suffering inflicted on animals by humans. MCRE is a nonprofit organization formed in September of 2005 to assess and disclose the impacts of the proposed wind energy facility in Greenbrier County.
Judge Titus’ opinion states that Beech Ridge’s only recourse is to apply for an incidental take permit (ITP) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
“This Court has concluded that the only avenue available to Defendants to resolve the self-imposed plight in which they now find themselves is to do belatedly that which they should have done long ago: apply for an ITP. The Court does express the concern that any extraordinary delays by the FWS in the processing of a permit application would frustrate Congress’ intent to encourage responsible wind turbine development. Assuming that Defendants now proceed to file an application for an ITP, the Court urges the FWS to act with reasonable promptness, but with necessary thoroughness, in acting upon that application,” the opinion states in part.
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