The responsibility for ensuring that threatened or endangered animal species will not be harmed by a proposed solar facility rests with the solar developers, not the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). This is because large-scale solar projects (of up to 150 MW) were deemed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020 to be “in the public interest” and therefore subject to streamlined Permit By Rule (PBR) procedures which allow developers to be the ones who assess the environmental impact of their projects.
However, it is easy to search the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Environmental Conservation Online System to determine which species are considered endangered or threatened in each of Virginia’s counties.
To do this, go to the Environmental Conservation Online System website. Under Additional Search Tools, begin typing in the name of the county, then click on the full name in the drop-down list.
This will generate a list of species that are endangered, threatened, or of concern. Using Shenandoah County as an example, there are two bat species listed as Endangered: the Virginia big-eared bat and the Indiana bat.
Click on the highlighted Latin scientific name of the species to access the critical habitat map and see the exact area where the species is located. Here’s the critical habitat map for the endangered Indiana bat (green areas are its known locations).
These maps are always worth checking during research into any proposal for an industrial-level solar facility in Virginia.