SHEFFIELD, Vt. (AP) - The company that owns and operates a Vermont wind power project in Sheffield is asking the state for permission in advance in case endangered bats are killed by spinning turbine blades.
FirstWind Vice President Dave Cowan says the Boston-based company has asked the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources for the first-ever "Endangered and Threatened Species Taking Permit."
The state of Vermont placed the little brown bat on the state's endangered species list last year because the species has been decimated by white nose syndrome.
Cowan says that in the last year 20 bats were killed at the Sheffield wind farm, although none were little browns.
He tells the Caledonian Record the permit would allow the incidental killing of up to four individual little brown bats per year.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
