Airey Quoted in Columbus Business First Story Titled “Northern Long-Eared Bat Declared Threatened, Not Endangered, In Win for Drillers”

Jon Airey, an attorney in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the energy group, was quoted in a Columbus Business First story titled “Northern Long-Eared Bat Declared Threatened, Not Endangered, In Win for Drillers.”  The story was about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to classify the northern long-eared bat as a “threatened” species.  According to the story, the government came to this determination because a deadly fungal disease called white-nose syndrome, has killed millions of the bats.

The story states:

“A threatened listing is less severe than an endangered listing, which the industry most feared. Threatened means a species is vulnerable to extinction soon, but not at immediate risk. State agencies have more flexibility in dealing with a species when it is considered threatened instead of endangered.

‘It should have some adverse impact but not as great as it would have if it would have been an endangered finding,’ said Jon Airey of Columbus-based Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP. He’s the attorney for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, which fought an endangered listing.

Airey said it’s ‘dramatically better than the endangered determination,’ and the wildlife service acknowledged that millions of bats still live in the Midwest.

‘So it’s not surprising they ended up concluding it’s not truly endangered,’ he said.”

To read the entire story, visit the Columbus Business First website.