White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, has killed millions of northern long-eared bat and other species of bats in North America. Owing to the syndrome, the northern long-eared bat has been announced as threatened.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has listed one of the most common bat species in Pennsylvania as a threatened species. The interim 'threatened' listing was announced on Thursday. The listing will come into effect in 30 days.

Earlier, the agency was thinking to designate the species as endangered, which is a more serious designation, but then it decided to designate the species as threatened.

It is because the bat's population has not been affected in outside areas where the fungal disease has caused problems. The agency is also taking several other measures to protect the bat's habitat. It has levied limit on forest timbering. But it is being said that the rules could have a significant impact on the wind energy, natural gas and oil drilling industries.

Lora Zimmerman, a project leader with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the announcement might be considered odd as the population of the long-eared bat is less than 5% of what it used to be before 2006.

Zimmerman said that the white-nose syndrome has badly hit Pennsylvania. The designation will be revaluated on regular basis.

The agency is planning to have 90 days of public comment on the rules, so that they can be finalized by the end of this year. The Independent Petroleum Association of American's spokesman Neal Kirby said that they may not file comment on the accompanying environmental rules because the bat's habitat has not been affected by drilling to a level as it has been by the fungus.