Sixty-eight species of fish, wildlife, and plants are listed as endangered or threatened in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This is important because Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality is not tasked with protecting endangered species from utility-scale solar projects that are smaller than 150 MW, according to the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
Instead that responsibility rests with the solar company proposing the project.
The federal Endangered Species Act is clear on the need to protect endangered and threatened species. It’s important to make sure these requirements are being met in all large solar projects being proposed in your county.
Please check these lists of endangered and threatened species by county and by species.