The Keyser Mayor and City Council Tuesday night formally endorsed the proposed 23-turbine Pinnacle Wind Farm, as company officials announced that a local public hearing is expected to be conducted by the West Virginia Public Service Commission sometime before July 1.

The subject of wind power brought pros and cons to the floor of discussion during the Mineral County Development Authority meeting held Tuesday evening at the Elk District Fire Hall. ...Spiggle stated that he would ask two questions to wind power companies, both dealing with signed contracts by the company, with one a promise of tax revenue, and the other verifying the company would remove the turbines if necessary. "If the company would answer ‘no' to the questions, then I would oppose the wind mill project," Spiggle said.

Allegany County staff on Tuesday rejected a half dozen suggestions and critiques by US WindForce regarding proposed amendments to the county zoning code. US WindForce President Tom Matthews has said the loss of any more turbines to the planned Dan's Mountain project would eliminate the project from being a viable one. The county, however, has consistently presented a goal of balancing those business needs with adequate safeguards for its residents.

Members of the Community Advisory Panel for the proposed Pinnacle Wind Farm near Keyser traveled to Berlin, Pa., Monday for a neck-craning, up-close tour of a wind turbine project similar to the one planned for Green Mountain. About a dozen members of the volunteer panel were guests of US WindForce as they toured the 18-turbine Lookout Project in Somerset County, which is operated by Edison Mission Group, one of the nation's leading operators of electric power generation.

The Lookout wind project in Somerset County is five turbines smaller than the US WindForce project proposed at Pinnacle in Mineral County, but members of the Community Advisory Panel got the opportunity to get a feel for wind farms and meet the company likely to operate the Pinnacle project. "Edison is our joint venture partner," Jim Cookman, vice president of project development for US WindForce, said during Monday's tour. "We have a joint development agreement.

Allegany County staff on Tuesday rejected half a dozen suggestions or critiques by US Wind Force regarding proposed amendments to the county zoning code. US Wind Force President Tom Matthews has said the loss of any more turbines to the planned Dan's Mountain project would eliminate the project from being a viable one.

A key factor in any decision the commissioners might make regarding the proposed amendments to the county zoning code could involve the recently adopted LaVale Region Comprehensive Plan. The proposed changes would impact any future industrial wind energy venture, Stakem noted, but only the Dan’s Mountain project has open permits with county government. Lewis said last week, and Stakem reiterated Monday, that the LaVale planning area does not permit industrial wind turbines.

A recommendation on a proposed ordinance that could regulate the development of windmills along East River Mountain has been delayed until June. The Tazewell County Planning Commission delayed action on the proposed mountain ridgeline ordinance Thursday ...The planning commission is mulling over changes recommended by a tall structures steering committee.

Chicago-based Invenergy plans to hire 200 construction workers and put up 67 massive wind turbines along Greenbrier County's mountain ridges by the end of the year. The company has already started clearing brush, grading land and building a gravel road that will allow trucks to haul wind turbine parts up the mountains. The first set of 67 turbines is expected to be assembled and erected by August or September. An additional 57 turbines will go up next year.

The possibility of 200 construction jobs didn't sway critics of a planned commercial wind turbine project atop Dan's Mountain. Neither did an estimated $5.4 million in new property tax revenue over the next decade. Nor did an appeal to clean, green energy. Instead, the 14 area residents who spoke in favor of legislation that would place steep limitations on industrial wind energy projects here said the project simply wasn't a good fit for Allegany County.

The Community Advisory Panel for the proposed Pinnacle Wind Farm near Keyser will not conduct its regular monthly meeting, with panel members instead slated to tour a Pennsylvania wind farm later this month. The wind farm tour, which is limited to members of the panel, is scheduled for May 18.

The debate over a proposed large-scale windmill farm on East River Mountain is blowing into Bluefield. City officials are being asked to prepare an ordinance regulating the development of windmills along the West Virginia side of East River Mountain. City Manager Andy Merriman and City Attorney Brian Cochran are now in the beginning stages of drafting such an ordinance.

The Allegany County Board of Commissioners on Thursday granted the president of US Wind Force a meeting to discuss why a proposed bill to regulate the wind industry is a bad idea. Tom Matthews appealed during the public comment period of Thursday’s weekly meeting that amendments to the zoning code — drafted to protect the county and its residents — are too restrictive.

The U.S. Forest Service has rejected a proposal to build a wind farm on Great North Mountain in the George Washington National Forest - for now, at least. Freedomworks LLC, a renewable-energy firm based in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., wanted to put 131 400-foot-tall wind turbines along 18 miles of ridgeline between Virginia and West Virginia.

Officials announced this week that construction of the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline, also known as PATH, will now be completed by June 2014. The deadline is nearly two years later than one suggested when the project was initially discussed. "The economy is really the main driver," Doug Colafella, a spokesperson for Alleghany Energy, said of the delay.

Anyone wishing to file a protest to the construction of a 23-turbine wind farm along a 3 1/2-mile stretch of Green Mountain has until Thursday, April 23, to do so. Pinnacle Wind Force LLC filed application with the West Virginia Public Service Commission on March 17 for approval of the facility. On March 24, a legal advertisement detailing the application and plans for the wind farm ran in the Mineral Daily News-Tribune.

A wind energy official has fired back at a Mineral County commissioner on the viability and public perception of the wind industry. David Friend, vice president of US Wind Force, said in a letter Friday to the Allegany County commissioners and also sent to the Times-News that Commissioner Wayne Spiggle's skepticism and concerns "are unfounded."

David Friend, vice president of US Wind Force, said in a letter Friday to the Allegany County commissioners and also sent to the Times-News that Commissioner Wayne Spiggle's skepticism and concerns "are unfounded." ...Friend's letter was in direct response to a Times-News March 29 story in which Mineral County Commission President Wayne Spiggle said he doesn't believe wind energy decreases greenhouse gases and questioned whether the majority of Mineral County residents do.

The House has apparently killed a resolution supporting development of a wind farm on the site of a planned mountaintop removal mine. Activists with Coal River Mountain Watch have been pressing Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy to drop its mining plans in Raleigh County in favor of a wind farm.

Wind Farm near Keyser is a favorable site for turbines based on wildlife considerations, according to extensive studies conducted by environmental consultants retained by the developer, US WindForce. That was the message from Monday night's meeting of the Community Advisory Panel, delivered by Jennie Henthorn of Henthron Environmental Consultants.