JACKSON, Wyo. — Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has filed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) after the Biden Administration listed the northern long-eared bat, one of the 13 species of bats living in Yellowstone National Park, as endangered.
According to a press release from Senator Lummis’ office, Lummis and nine colleagues introduced the CRA because “the classification will place an undue burden on Wyoming landowners, businesses and infrastructure projects without clear scientific evidence of the benefit to the northern long-eared bat.”
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to bump up the classification from “threatened” to “endangered” in response to the continued spread of white-noise syndrome, a fast-spreading disease where a white fungus infects the skin of muzzles, ears and wings of hibernating bats and can kill up to 100 percent of a colony.
The USFWS has already delayed the effective date for the final rule to March 31 after Senator Lummis and her colleagues expressed opposition.
“We can responsibly manage wildlife without crushing economic growth and killing jobs,” Senator Lummis said.
The new designation will also potentially impede wind power development in the state of Wyoming.
Recently, Wyoming has seen a growth in renewable energy with the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to close more than 14,000 megawatts generated by coal fired power plants and one of the largest grid operators in the western U.S. shifting from coal-fired energy towards renewable resources like wind.
However, wind farms pose a large threat to bat species. According to the Bat Conservation Trust, direct impacts of wind farms include collision and barotrauma, which is damage to tissues from air pressure changes around turbines. Indirect impacts include habitat loss and fragmentation, including roosts, commuting routes and foraging areas. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it’s estimated that tens to hundreds of thousands of bats die at wind turbines in North America every year.
