As you recall, several months ago I was lamenting the delay in incorporating the old Indigo Tunnel that passes under the mountains near Hancock into the Western Maryland Rail Trail. The mile-long tunnel and the bridge over the Potomac would provide a breathtaking experience for the many thousand hikers and bikers already attracted to the Maryland mountainside for outdoor recreation.
Unfortunately, the Indigo Tunnel has some very influential squatters -- a colony of bats who have adapted it as their winter quarters. Among their ranks is the well-connected Indiana Bat, who roosts very prominently on the Endangered Species List. And you don't mess with anyone on the Endangered Species list, as the Snail Darter (who stopped the $100 million Tellico Dam) will attest.
The feds are still exploring a compromise over tunnel use, where bats and bikers share custody by dividing months of use. However, the Indiana Bat and its delicate status have now weighed in on a bigger (and more controversial) environmental issue -- wind farms in Garrett County.
A federal judge has just ruled that the operation of wind turbines would sustain heavy Indiana bat casualties. (I guess their sonar isn't as good as claimed.) Maryland Daily Record had the story about the decision Tuesday (the first in federal court) that a wind power project violates the federal Endangered Species Act. U.S. District Judge Roger Titus's opinion could have implications for other wind projects in the United States.
(This begs the question -- if these Hoosier bats are so at risk in Maryland, why don't they go back to Indiana? Maybe it's the same lousy sonar that lures them into wind turbines.)
In any case, the recent news reminds me that I want to check with the Western Maryland Rail Trail folks to see how they're doing in their negotiations with the Feds to share the tunnel. It's also makes me realize that if I ever get in a jam, I should get the same legal representation as the bats.
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