The article doesn't say anything about white light, but does say "Normal street lighting can affect a bat’s flight" but doesn't go into detail. I would love more detail.
Even under ideal conditions, the earth receives ≤1 lumen per square meter of light from the moon. A single streetlight can project tens of thousands of lumens (or more) over a relatively small area.
How much is that in torched libraries of Congress?
You say "white" as if there's only one color white, which isn't the case when you're talking about a range of lighting temperatures. The moon also has a unique light profile that it reflects. It's not the definition of white. Either way, if you're advocating for something resembling 6500k daylight white lighting at night, there is nothing at all natural about that. The moon casts a very dim light, even at its brightest.
There's no mystery around the reason to use red light either. Nocturnal animals, especially mammals, have far more rods than cones in their eyes. This means they are much more sensitive to brightness than they are to color.
Red light in practice is far less bright than white light for the same input energy (a bit more complicated than this) and for quite a few animals they may not see it at all or very poorly.
None of this is theorizing, the effect can be readily seen in practice.