English

Abstract

Protection of threatened and endangered species is an important component of every surface coal mining permit and every abandoned mine land (AML) project under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Protection of endangered bats has the potential to impact surface coal mining permits and AML projects in most of the states in the eastern and Midwestern U.S. During the winter of 2006/2007, an affliction called White- Nose Syndrome (WNS) began devastating colonies of hibernating bats around Albany, New York. Colonies of hibernating bats were reduced 81-97% at affected caves and mines. Since then, WNS has been detected more than 450 miles away from the original site, and has infected bats in nine surrounding states, including four coal mining states, and possibly one Canadian province. No one knows for certain how quickly or how far WNS will ultimately spread. The extent to which WNS results in the listing of more bat species as threatened and endangered would be expected to negatively impact permitting and operation of coal mines in the eastern and Midwestern U.S. The emergence and spread of a pathogenic fungus (Geomyces destructans) that infects hibernating bats has the potential to undermine the basic survival strategy of more than half the bat species in the U.S. and all species of bats that occur in the higher latitudes of North America. Most species of bats that hibernate in the region are known to be affected and the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) has been hit particularly hard. The sudden and widespread mortality associated with WNS is unprecedented in hibernating bats. If the spread of WNS is not slowed or halted, further losses could lead to the extinction of entire species and could more than quadruple those that are federally listed as endangered in the U.S. This paper will provide the current status on WNS and its potential to impact protection of endangered bat species related to surface coal mine permitting and AML project planning by state mining programs within the range of these bats.