Bats, That Is Yet to Be Seen
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Janice Pease (315)328-5793 [email protected] 130 Beebe Rd, Potsdam, N.Y. 13676 August 23, 2018 Via Email Honorable Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary to the PSC Re: Case 16- F-0268, Application of Atlantic Wind LLC for a certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need Pursuant to Article 10 for Construction of the North Ridge Wind Energy Project in the Towns of Parishville and Hopkinton, St. Lawrence County. Dear Secretary Burgess: Industrial wind is devastating to the bat populations, adding to the many factors which play a role in reducing their numbers worldwide. While the wind industry likes to suggest that the advantage turbines provide to help reduce climate change (inadvertently benefitting all creatures) far outweighs their negative impact on the bats, that is yet to be seen. The data is simply not available to calculate the environmental/financial net losses accurately. With industrial wind’s intermittent and unreliable energy, the advantages are not nearly as the wind lobbyists suggest. The fragmentation/depletion of critical habitat due to wind turbines massive land use affects all animal species reliant on that space, ricocheting down the food chain. The loss of habitat as well as loss of carbon-sinks make the industrial turbine a very unlikely savior for any species. The net loss has simply not been calculated. Farmers are easily drawn into the debate by hosting these “farms”, while receiving large financial payouts. These same farmers are seemingly unaware of the immense benefit that bats provide by eating insect pests, saving farmers billions/year. The weakening of the local ecosystems will most certainly result in lower crop yields as well as contribute to financial losses as well. Subsequently the “farmers” use of pesticides is partly responsible for the decline in bat populations. Unfortunately the negative impact caused by modern day farming, which is responsible impart for the industrial wind boom, is reducing bat numbers at an alarming rate. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you… There are so many unknowns that we are gambling with when we allow large scale projects to be implemented world-wide without proper research. The fact is, we humans do not even know what to research until we observe the consequences of our actions. In the case of industrial wind in relation to bats, there is much we do not fully understand, for instance how the bats are affected. At first glance it looked as if collusion was the culprit causing so much bat demise. While that is a factor, we now understand that barotrauma is to blame. The bats undergo great trauma as a result of the pressure change they experience as they get too close to the turbines. Bats are attracted to turbines due to the large number of insects which are drawn to the increased temperature around the turbines. Barotrauma is invisible to the naked eye, but deadly just the same: “The decompression hypothesis proposes that bats are killed by barotrauma caused by rapid air- pressure reduction near moving turbine blades [1,4,5]. Barotrauma involves tissue damage to air- containing structures caused by rapid or excessive pressure change; pulmonary barotrauma is lung damage due to expansion of air in the lungs that is not accommodated by exhalation. We report here the first evidence that barotrauma is the cause of death in a high proportion of bats found at wind energy facilities. We found that 90% of bat fatalities involved internal haemorrhaging consistent with barotrauma, and that direct contact with turbine blades only accounted for about half of the fatalities. Air pressure change at turbine blades is an undetectable hazard and helps explain high bat fatality rates.” “Bats have large lungs and hearts, high blood oxygen- carrying capacity, and blood-gas barriers thinner than those of terrestrial mammals. These flight adaptations suggest that bats are particularly susceptible to barotrauma.” “Bats’ large pliable lungs expand when exposed to a sudden drop in pressure, causing tissue damage” -Barotrauma is a significant cause of bat fatalities at wind turbines Erin F. Baerwald, Genevieve H.D’Amours, Brandon J. Klug and Robert M.R. Barclay The human race is dependent on bats, anything that reduces their numbers needs to be faced with serious scrutiny. Through our greed for energy production, companies are using our desperation to prosper. We need an energy solution that does less harm, settling for industrial wind is compounding the very issues we are racing against time to solve. Respectfully, Janice Pease Janice Pease *electronically signed Attachments: • Photographs of dead bat within the proposed project zone, a close look atone of the bat species that live in the area • List of bat videos that are informative and entertaining • Bats of New York New York State Department of Environmental Conservation • Wind turbines make bat lungs explode Catherine Brahic • Wind turbines killing tens of thousands of bats, including many on the endangered species list ontario-wind-resistance.org • Wind Turbines in Israel Kill Many More Birds, Bats Than Expected Zafrir Rinat • Action Plan for the Conservation of the Bat Species in the European Union 2014 - 2020 • Study: Wind Turbines Could Make This Endangered Bat Go Extinct dailycaller.com • Ecological and Economic Importance of Bats (Order Chiroptera) Mohammed Kasso and Mundanthra Balakrishnan • CorrespondenceBarotrauma is a significant cause of bat fatalities at wind turbines sciencedirect.com • Wind Farms Want Permission To Kill More Bats — A Lot More Madison Lee Choi • Prestin and high frequency hearing in mammals Stephen J Rossiter, 1 Shuyi Zhang,2 and Yang Liu2 • ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF BATS. Sheryl L. Ducummon Bat Conservation International, Inc. • Role of bats in our ecosystems (ecosystem services) batswithoutborders.org • Ultrasonicnoiseemissions fromwindturbines: potentialeffectsonbat species LoughboroughUniversity InstitutionalRepository • Bats Are Important batcon.org • Bat Wikipedia (overview of bats) • Eeek! Meet New York's 6 cave bats and 3 tree bats newyorkupstate.com ,%/cfi:‘\:; V‘ “ . > é ,. ‘" ‘ f 5u.\ \ _.. \ .-.__ . 3.4.‘fix. \ ?...% ._ .:....3......_ «€..\.,..a...» Bat Videos: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FVoTMOorXA • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbMqFGcxqHA • https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/bats/streaming/barn-interior/ (live streaming of interior of bat house) • https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/bats/videos/ (prerecorded videos of interior of bat house) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJOloliWvB8 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZxLUNHEmPw • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p08Y0oRAX3g • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xwlvvx7uK0 (echolocation) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mpD2bCnzg (bat giving birth in facility) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NtsQfRCKSI (bat giving birth in the wild) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RWBUIiUoDc • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3w9ZbRQIek • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVz8rvIl_vY • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4FCiezBpNo Videos of bats and industrial turbines: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRqu4WiLQfk • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jGzGcOkYR0 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9w0sjRqLqo • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxSdU-fozGY (bats interacting with turbines) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udbcy8Y6vrY&t=123s • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXzWcxOaqvQ (Wind turbines cause barotrauma to bats) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h76Lbm0keZo (bat investigation of turbine at night) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSi3SI0U8xg • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsTg6PK3CTE (bat collision with turbine) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkgwXwaajY ats are misunderstood creatures. and tail. This thin membrane enables them to Repulsive to many and feared by others, quickly and precisely maneuver during flight. these amazing, beneficial animals have The place where a bat sleeps is called its roost. Ban undeserved bad reputation. They are the Some bats roost in ones and twos, but many only mammal that can truly fly (flying squirrels sleep in large groups. They typically hang upside glide, not fly), and most bat species are insect- down and can tilt their heads so far back, they eating machines, performing incredible aerial can look behind them. BATS acrobatics as they chase and devour 20-50% of Ill’ NEW Vllfl|( Bats- are nocturnal, feeding at night and sleep their weight in insects each night. ing during the day. Contrary to the saying “blind Bats are mammals; they are warm-blooded, as a bat,” many bats see very well. However, have fur or hair, give birth to babies, and nurse because they hunt mostly at night, it’s their keen the babies with milk. Bats do not build nests, hearing they rely on to accurately navigate in but often form nursery roosts with many females the dark. Using echolocation, these bats send out giving birth in the same area. Unlike southern a series of rapid (up to 200 per second) pulses sites, New York caves and mines are too cold of sound too high for people to hear. When the for raising young. Baby bats (pups) are hairless sound bounces off an object, an echo returns when born and weigh up to 30% of their mother’s which bats instantly analyze, enabling them to weight. Newborns have well-developed feet and identify the location, size and shape of the object. are soon able to hang securely from their perch Depending on the species, bats eat a variety when the mother is gone. Only the mother cares of things. However, 70% of bats worldwide, and for the young. all of New York’s bats, consume flying insects. The young are born in June to early July and Other- bat species eat fruit, nectar, small mam grow quickly, with many flying and hunting mals,- birds, lizards, frogs, fish, and blood. Preda within a month. Bats breed primarily in the tors include owls, raccoons, snakes and domestic fall; the females store sperm in their bodies and cats.