When Ohio recently approved construction of a wind farm in Lake Erie, the first ever freshwater offshore wind project in North America, the developers were shocked.

The approval by the Ohio Power Siting Board included conditions that the developer, Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), says will essentially kill the project. The turbines must be shut down at night for eight months of the year, from March to October, to protect birds and bats.

The Black Swamp Bird Observatory, in northern Ohio, and the Washington, D.C.-based American Bird Conservancy (ABC), filed a federal lawsuit in December against the Department of Energy and other agencies. They want a more thorough environmental assessment, and are challenging the government funding for Icebreaker Wind, which has been more than $50 million.

ABC is pleased that Ohio regulators put nighttime limitations on the turbines in their decision. “We thought that was appropriate,” said Steve Holmer, the group’s vice president of policy. “There still has not been adequate monitoring or proven mitigation and so it makes sense to take a cautionary approach here.”

“This has been already identified as a globally significant bird area,” he continued. “The issue is whether we’re going to fully, adequately consider wildlife when we make these decisions and in our view, they simply haven’t. We think that this is just not an appropriate location for wind development.”