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Toward that end, supervisor David Blanchard suggested the county ask for $1.5 million in stimulus package money to pay for consultants who could assist.
The 39-megawatt facility planned by Highland New Wind Development LLC has state and local permits to build and operate the plant, but there are strict conditions attached to each, and HNWD must fulfill many of those requirements before the county will issue a building permit.
The permit from the county gave the company two years to meet conditions, and the developer has 7-8 months left before the permit expires. The state permit expires shortly thereafter, in December, if its conditions are not met. The county and state have the authority to extend those deadlines if they choose.
Blanchard said the project is getting "hands-off" treatment at all levels. "No one wants to get involved because it's such a controversial project," he explained Wednesday. "The state doesn't want to step on the county's toes, and I just think we need to embrace the project as if it were going to go through."
If built, this would be the first commercial wind plant in the state, he said, "and we (the county) don't have the resources, the staff, to mitigate all the issues like tax revenue and environmental issues. This is an exploratory idea. Perhaps we can get help from the state to secure a revenue stream, whether it's to secure a number, or something else, and we need to find out how we can make sure the environmental issues are taken care of."
Tuesday, he said, "We, as supervisors, are responsible for determining revenue solutions ... We need access to all the expertise we can get." Consultants, he said, could explore the environmental problems, how to secure revenue from the project, whether the county could develop a partnership or possibly ownership in the facility, and the best avenues for making it work in the pristine, sensitive location atop Allegheny Mountain.
"I don't have a clear picture of what the team might look like," Blanchard said, "but the climate is right. The county does not have the resources, especially on environmental issues."
For example, landowners McChesney Goodall and Lucile Miller, both of whom own property downstream from the project site on Allegheny Mountain, asked for further detail on potential erosion and sediment control to prevent harm to the Laurel Fork trout stream, which runs from the HNWD site to their properties. Blanchard explained the environmental issues are "always going to be a problem," and consultants could help with many things, including the questions about erosion and hydrology raised by Goodall and Miller.
The county has hired an engineering firm to review HNWD's erosion and sediment control plan, "and we're paying for that," Blanchard said, "but if it's not done right, and has to be re-submitted, or if we're pulled back into court again, all those things are going to cost us."
Supervisor Robin Sullenberger said that, at Blanchard's request, he contacted HNWD attorney John Flora, and owner Henry T. "Mac" McBride about the idea. Both, he said, were supportive and enthusiastic.
He explained that in the interest of full disclosure, he had spoken with Blanchard and supervisor Jerry Rexrode briefly about the stimulus projects the county has considered outside legal meeting requirements under the Freedom of Information Act. According to state law, when two board members talk to each other on county business, that constitutes a meeting of the board majority, and is, therefore, illegal without prior notice to the public. Sullenberger said he was aware of the breach, but felt the deadlines on requesting stimulus money left him no recourse but to consult his colleagues outside the legal requirements.
Blanchard had told him ahead of time about his idea for hiring consultants, he said, and asked him to float the proposal by some of his contacts. Flora reacted positively to the idea of partnering opportunities with the county, Sullenberger said, explaining Flora has done a lot of research on how to do wind energy projects.
"I spoke to Mr. McBride this morning, and he reminded me, too, they had talked about that early on. He was very receptive to anything we want to think about," Sullenberger added.
He also called Dr. Jonathan Miles, who spearheads the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative from James Madison University in Harrisonburg. "He reminded me they had proposed a similar process early on," Sullenberger said. "We could be actively engaged in a pilot project to make sure this (wind plant) is done in the best possible way. It could be a potential model
for others," he added.
"What I would say to you, David, is that these doors are wide open."
He asked Blanchard how to get the idea structured in time to put a proposal on the state's web site, where Virginians have been asked to submit ideas for using federal stimulus money. "There's no question this would get serious scrutiny," he said, noting the county could lean on contacts like Sen. Frank Wagner, who's been deeply involved in promoting renewable energy statewide.
Blanchard said his written statement about the proposal was already close to the 750-character limit imposed by the web site. "But we would need to follow up with the Kaine administration, the energy secretary, to alert them.
We want the state to recognize our proposal," he said.
"What's our goal?" asked supervisor Jerry Rexrode, noting a lot of about HNWD's project has already been done.
Blanchard said the county needs more information about how to handle the project, "but we have no money."
"We do have resources," Rexrode replied. "We'd better have resources. I don't have any problem exploring these things but our engineering firm will do this, and we can't go beyond what's required (by the county and state permit conditions)."
Blanchard suggested the model created could be used more broadly, to provide guidance for other wind energy projects here or elsewhere. "I'm going to assure you there are going to be other projects," Rexrode replied.
Sullenberger said this kind of consulting could help the county partner "more explicitly" with HWND, and be "more financially engaged with direct revenue for the county."
The board also discussed the possibility of using the utility's electricity to power the county, but Sullenberger cautioned such an arrangement would only exist on paper, and the county could not physically, directly get HNWD's power.
"The federal and state government are both pushing this kind of thing, and if we can negotiate something with the developer, and have input from real people in the wind industry, this could be a better deal for everyone," Sullenberger said. "Mr. McBride agreed."
"I'd like to hear him say that personally," Rexrode replied.
Blanchard insisted it's important for the state and county to have HNWD's facility be a "spotlight" project. "I think we have to look for any opportunity to improve what we already have on the table," he said. "We could mitigate a lot of our problems."
"I don't have any problems," Rexrode quipped. "Ya'll might, but this is stuff going on all over the country, and it's no big deal to me."
Sullenberger added, "Oversight issues are part of our responsibility, and I commend you, David, because I know you've talked to a lot of people and this is a potentially creative solution. It gives us more flexibility, if this project is going to be built."
Blanchard said the way state legislation has been introduced the last few years in the General Assembly, Highland could be left without much benefit from HNWD's utility. "We need to make it bigger than just a controversial project ... If we don't look at other avenues, we could be left with a project that doesn't want any part of us sitting up on the hill," he said.
Sullenberger said the county could tap into a lot of experts, including Flora.
"The advantage for us is, we're going to be the beneficiary of a lot of his knowledge." Also, he said, "If we have an exemplary project, it sets the tone for the rest of the state. We say, 'Highland County is a special place and we "aggressively" if it's going to get some attention.
Contacted by The Recorder this week, Mustoe resident Rick Webb of www.vawind.org, a web site created to disseminate information about wind energy, had his doubts about the board's plan.
For one thing, he said, "I doubt that stimulus money will be provided. This is not a 'shovel ready' project, which is what the stimulus money is supposed to be used for. It's not going to create jobs for anyone around here. More study of this project is not going to be an economic stimulus."
For another thing, he said, "The state has already set strict conditions on HNWD's project for monitoring and mitigating the potential environmental damage involved, and state agency experts, among others, have concluded the utility could be one of the most environmentally damaging in the eastern United States, particularly with respect to migrating raptors and endangered species, including bats.
"The supervisors state that they don't have the resources to study the environmental issues. Maybe not, but the state and federal wildlife agencies that do have the resources have specifically recommended that HNWD obtain an Endangered Species Act permit. The State Corporation Commission compromised by not requiring the permit but imposing conditions that ensure that the inevitable violations will be detected. This is the situation, the real facts of the matter. What do the supervisors hope to achieve in the way of a different outcome?
"The fact is, this is a bad place for a wind project," Webb said, "and there's no way to make it a good project for investors unless they can find a way to get around the environmental monitoring conditions imposed by the SCC.
This simply cannot be any kind of shining example of commercial wind development in Virginia."
Furthermore, Webb said, Highland County has already shown it cannot manage such a process. "Its own process (in permitting the project) was a disaster. The previous board of supervisors actually issued a permit without seeing a site plan. At this point, this project has already been heavily vetted by the SCC and state wildlife agencies, and now the supervisors want to spend another three years to study it more? This project is about to die, and rightly so, and that is because of the unacceptable risk to wildlife. The only way to save the project is to somehow dodge the monitoring conditions, to not monitor wildlife mortality. This project is about to go away. Are supervisors proposing to use the stimulus money to bail out Highland New Wind? If that's the case, it's a bad idea."
Webb said this is a good example of how government can be used to make want this to be done right.'"
"If the county owned one turbine," Rexrode added, "you'd be surprised how much we'd make."
"This is the most sensitive area in the state, and we have to do it right," Blanchard agreed. "It's a timing issue. The money is available."
"But we've hired consultants already," Rexrode reiterated. "And HNWD said they would do anything they could to work with us."
Rexrode said he was not opposed to making the request, however, and the board voted unanimously to submit the proposal for stimulus package money. Sullenberger suggested it be done as a county request, and that the county should be prepared to lean on its contacts at the state level unwise projects happen. "Highland New Wind has already refused to obtain an Environmental Species Act permit, as recommended by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Even the SCC told HNWD it was running a business risk by not doing that, but it was their money and their risk to take. My initial reaction on hearing about this was that Highland New Wind is trying to transfer that risk to the taxpayers."
"On the other hand," he continued, "more study can't hurt if it's done objectively, transparently, and with broad stakeholder involvement, and there are some serious issues that have yet to be addressed. The real question is, who does the study? It will be easy enough to predetermine
results based on who is selected to do the study. In this case, the first thing the board does is contact Jonathan Miles and John Flora - that's a clear sign of how this is going to go. To make matters worse, the supervisors have mentioned asking Senator Frank Wagner for help. Wagner has already tried to eliminate local jurisdiction over wind projects and reduce local property
tax benefits."
HNWD, Webb said, has been the downfall of wind energy in Virginia. "They are bad actors promoting a bad project in a bad location," he said, "and I'm sure the rest of the wind developers wish they would just go away. They've been a bad example of wind development, and they have not been good for the industry's public relations.
"This cannot be a showcase project," he added. "It's the worst possible example for the industry."
Wednesday, Blanchard said, "I completely understand how people are going to feel about this - oh, my gosh, what are they doing? - but if this project is going to go through, we have got to capitalize on it. I think it's worth exploring."
He said he didn't know how a consulting team might be chosen. "I haven't thought that far ahead ... and I know more questions will be raised, but they can't be answered until we do something like this," he said. "I know we mentioned JMU, and there might be other universities who already have an interest in renewables.
"It's a new industry," he added, "so you could argue either way on who's got the expertise. I can't comment on who might be hired, but everybody's opinion matters, and I get opinions all over the place."
HNWD's project, he stressed, "needs to be done right. It's in the state's best interests." Blanchard said he knows state agencies that already reviewed the project concluded the facility carries a high risk to the environment and wildlife, and agrees a new team of consultants might reach the same conclusion. "I would say that's a possibility, that this is the wrong place (for the utility). If that's the scenario, then we need to know that now. We're sort of looking, in one way, at a re-work (of those studies) and I would like it not to be volatile.
This county has already been beaten up over this," he said. "We could have people in place to figure it all out without the quagmire. It really boils down to an exploratory operation. How can this project benefit Highland County? There are several scenarios."
Blanchard said there's no telling whether the state might fund the request, but felt it could be helpful statewide even if it doesn't apply to Highland. "It may benefit someone in another part of the state who's going through this, if we can figure out a road map instead of something being just cobbled together.
"If we aren't proactive in addressing these issues, if we don't do something to mitigate the legal aspects, we're going to be picking up crumbs."
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