Two conservation groups and three American Indian tribes filed suit today to protect a mountain valley adjacent to Great Basin National Park in Nevada from a poorly-sited industrial wind energy project approved by BLM with minimal environmental review. The Spring Valley Wind Energy Project is a mere 4 miles from one of the largest bat caves in the Great Basin, home to up to one million Mexican free-tailed bats during their fall migration. Bats are uniquely vulnerable to death from wind turbines from a phenomenon known as "barotrauma." The project site is also home to rare and imperiled wildlife such as the greater sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, and golden eagles. The project area is also a sacred site to Western Shoshone tribes.
Advocates is representing Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity in this case. We filed the case in conjunction with the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, and the Ely Shoshone Tribe, who are represented by EchoHawk Law Offices of Pocatello.
