The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to list the northern long-eared bat as threatened under the Endangered Species Act imposes unnecessary and burdensome costs on a myriad of U.S. businesses, including natural gas development in Pennsylvania. The real threat to the northern long-eared is a fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome — and a listing does absolutely nothing to address this underlying problem. Every reasonable effort should be made to halt the spread of this disease, but preventing highly regulated oil and natural gas activities from moving forward will have no tangible benefits to its population or the management of white-nose syndrome….Read the full piece HERE.
