Big machines have been rolling up to Allegheny Mountain for days. Site development work on Virginia's first industrial wind energy plant is expected to start this week. Passersby report heavy equipment has been parked near the entrance to Red Oak Knob, and blasting heard over the last couple of days. A skidder moved in after dark a few days ago, and trees are being cut near one of the turbine sites; one truck full of logs has already headed out with its load.

Residents of the Grassy Ridge Road area near the Dominion Power Plant at Mount Storm want to know who is going to repair the roadway into their summer cabins and residential communities and when. The road is being damaged by heavy equipment use during the construction of the NedPower wind project.

Deep in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia sits a giant coal-fired power plant aptly named Mount Storm - a 1,600-megawatt goliath that just a few years ago ranked second in the nation in toxic mercury emissions.

This important peer-reviewed paper written by bat expert Dr. Thomas H. Kunz et al identifies the significant risk wind turbines pose for migratory and local bat populations in the mid-Atlantic Highlands region of the United States. The projected number of annual fatalities of bats at wind energy facilities in the Highlands in the year 2020 can reach up to 111,000 bats.

Capacity Factor by Month: (1) Mountaineer Windplant, WV, (2) Meyersdale Windplant, PA, (3) Mill Run Windplant, PA, and (4) Waymart Windplant, PA.
This information, by month, highlights the issue of whether wind is available when electricity is needed. The charts reflect strong winds in the winter months and considerably lighter winds in the summer when demand for electricity is expected to peak.

Despite the continued emergence of the technology, business services and tourism industries, coal mining and manufacturing are still very important to West Virginia’s economy. Coal remains a viable and important energy source. In fact, this state contains an estimated 50 billion tons of coal reserves.

...nuclear power emits no carbon dioxide and causes no air pollution. It can be argued that because of the large amount of base-load electricity it produces from a small amount of fuel, nuclear power is the only energy source that can make a real difference in the battle against global warming.