Siting committee to look at bat fatalities at Helix wind farm
By Terry Murry on Friday, January 9th, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – The next regularly scheduled meeting of Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council will be held on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in Grass Valley. The meeting is open to the public in person or on Webex. The meeting agenda has more detailed information, including meeting time, location, and instructions on how to attend virtually.
One action item on the agenda is a proposed amendment from the Stateline Wind Project to mitigate exceeding the threshold of bat fatalities at its Vansycle II unit. The Stateline Wind Project is in Umatilla County and consists of three phases: Stateline 1, Stateline 2, and Vansycle II (formerly called Stateline 3). Next Era Energy Resources L-L-C is the parent company. Vansycle II came online in 2009 and consists of 43 turbines with a combined peak generating capacity of 101.9 MW. The council allowed it to use larger rotors in 2023.
The Wildlife Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (WMMP) required Next Era to complete one year of post-repowering fatality monitoring to estimate the number of bird and bat fatalities. That plan established a 2.5 fatality per megawatt threshold for bats, which exceeds the limit. The council was notified that threshold had been exceeded in April 2025 at 5.12 bat fatalities.
The company is proposing Vansycle II will curtail operation of all turbines during low wind speeds for the life of the facility. From November to June, blade rotation would be limited to when wind speed is below 3 meters per second. The cut-in speed would increase to 5 meters per second in July and October, and 6 meters per second in August and September.
All bat fatalities recorded during the post-repowering fatality monitoring study belonged to hoary and silver-haired bats. Both are migratory, moving north to breeding grounds in the spring and south to hibernate in warmer climates in the fall.
Staff recommends the council approve Next Era’s plan.
File photo of a hoary bat from Bureau of Land Management
