Conservationists ask court to halt startup of Constellation project
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun
7:44 p.m. EST, December 22, 2010
Conservationists filed suit Wednesday to block the start of Maryland’s first industrial wind project, contending the turbines built atop the state’s highest mountain in Garrett County threaten to harm federally protected rare bats.
Making good on a threat issued months ago, two groups — Save Western Maryland and the Maryland Conservation Council — and two individuals brought suit against Constellation Energy in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, contending that its wind turbines will “almost certainly” injure or kill Indiana bats, which are so few in number that they are legally protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit comes as Constellation prepares to start generating power in the next several days from its Criterion wind project — 28 turbines that stand 415 feet high when their blades are at maximum skyward extension.
