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Ridge protections could endanger wind power; Committee set to vote on rules today
Legislation to get consideration today would restrict wind turbines on ridge tops from being more than 35 feet tall, a cap opponents said would kill a budding industry. ...Ridge-top protections in North Carolina date back to 1983 when all 25 mountain counties adopted rules banning tall structures on ridges 3,000 feet or higher.
July 7, 2009
by Joel Burgess
in Citizen-Times
Legislation to get consideration today would restrict wind turbines on ridge tops from being more than 35 feet tall, a cap opponents said would kill a budding industry.
That would be too short to make generating electricity practical, said Dennis Scanlin, a professor of technology at Appalachian State University in Boone.
"All of our good winds are essentially on the ridge tops, and all our ridges are above 3,000 feet in elevation, or most are," Scanlin said.
Recent amendments to legislation that would have made the turbines and other equipment exempt from regulations keeping tall structures off ridge tops call for restricting their... [continue via Web link]
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