Alternative Energy Draft EA - NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Flight ...

Environmental Consequences
Because the installation of solar panels at the Main Base would not alter or remove bird habitat,
nor would their operation interfere with bird activities, no impacts on bird are anticipated from
solar panels under Alternative One.
Alternative Two
Because the installation of solar panels at the Main Base would not alter or remove bird habitat,
nor would their operation interfere with bird activities, no impacts on birds are anticipated from
solar panels. As described under the Proposed Action, minimal adverse impacts are expected for
the installation of up to five 2.4 kW turbines.
4.3.4 Avifauna – Bats
As discussed in Section 3, 15 species of bat occur in Virginia; of these, the Indiana bat, gray bat,
and Virginia big-eared bats are listed as federally endangered under Section 7 of the ESA.
Rafinesque’s big-eared bat is listed as State endangered. The three federally protected species
live in the western parts of Virginia (see Figure 13) and do not likely inhabit or migrate in the
vicinity of WFF. However, Wallops Island lies within the distribution range of Rafinesque’s bigeared
bat (VDGIF, 2009).
The central portion of Wallops Island is primarily marsh (dominated by common reed) and
maintained lawn with a limited amount of forest habitat. The small amount of forest habitat may
limit the amount of local resident bats that use Wallops Island for seasonal roosting activities.
Local resident bats may roost farther inland and mainly utilize the estuarine and marine wetland
habitat (marsh vegetation) of Wallops Island for foraging purposes. Additionally, non-resident
bats may forage in the marsh while passing through on their annual seasonal migration. This
situation is illustrated by the peak in activity observed in mid-August during the acoustical
monitoring bat survey for this project—call volumes peaked between August 13 and August 16,
with the greatest number of call sequences recorded on August 15 (Tetra Tech, 2008).
No Action Alternative
Under the No Action Alternative, development of the WFF would not occur and there would be
no impacts on bats.
Proposed Action
In 2005, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) completed a report titled Impacts on
Wildlife and Government Responsibilities for Regulating Development and Protecting Wildlife
(GAO, 2005). The GAO report states that there is a “lack of complete and definitive information
on the interaction of bats with wind turbines. As previously noted, bats have collided with wind
turbines in significant numbers in some parts of the United States, but scientists do not have a
complete understanding regarding why these collisions occur.”
The GAO report states that bats are known to have the ability to echolocate to avoid collision
with objects; however, their collision with wind turbines remains a mystery. The few studies that
have been conducted show that most of the bat mortality has occurred during the migratory
season (July through September), which suggests that migrating bats are involved in most of the
fatalities. In addition, one study showed that lower wind speeds were associated with higher
fatality rates. The report also states: “However, experts admit that much remains unknown about
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