Environmentalists divided over wind project

Because of the bats.

Cowan, 72, a longtime caving fanatic who grew to love bats as he slithered through tunnels from Maine to Maui, is asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt construction of the Beech Ridge wind farm. The lawsuit pits Invenergy Wind LLC, a Chicago-based company that produces green energy, against environmentalists who say the price to nature is too great.

The rare green v. green case went to trial Wednesday in US District Court in Greenbelt.

It is the first court challenge to wind power under the Endangered Species Act, lawyers on both sides say. With President Obama’s goal of doubling renewable energy production by 2012, wind and solar farms are rapidly expanding. As they do, battles are being waged to reach the right balance between the benefits of clean energy and the impact on birds, bats, and even the water supply.

At the heart of the Beech Ridge case is the Indiana bat, a brownish-gray creature that weighs about as much as three pennies and, wings outstretched, measures about 8 inches.

A 2005 estimate concluded there were about 457,000 of them, half the number as when they were first listed as endangered in 1967.

“Any kind of energy development is going to have environmental impacts that are going to concern somebody,’’ said John Echeverria, a Vermont Law School professor who specializes in environmental law and isn’t involved in the lawsuit. “This has been an issue for the environmental community. They are enthusiastic; at the same time they realize there are these adverse impacts.’’

Indiana bats hibernate in limestone caves within several miles of the wind farm, which would provide energy to tens of thousands of households. The question before the judge: Would the endangered bats fly in the path of the 122 turbines that will be built along a 23-mile stretch of mountaintop?

Eric Glitzenstein, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in his opening statement that both sides agree the windmills will kill more than 130,000 bats of all types over the next 20 years.

“The question comes down to whether there is some reason to think Indiana bats will escape that fate,’’ Glitzenstein said. “The position of the defendants is let’s roll the dice and see what happens. We believe that rolling-the-dice approach to the Endangered Species Act is not in keeping with what Congress had in mind.’’

Cowan and other plaintiffs, including the Animal Welfare Institute, an organization based in Washington, D.C., support wind power as one way to help mitigate climate change.

But they say this setting, a lush, rural area where coal and timber industries once dominated, is the wrong one.