One Virginia family has a vision of windmills grinding out clean electric energy on the Highland County mountaintop they own. Wind energy’s supporters see it as preferable to power generated by burning coal or other fossil fuels. Wind power, they say, can cut pollution that sickens people and contributes to global warming. Opponents see windmills as a threat to migratory birds, bats and other wildlife. The mammoth structures will scar a pristine landscape and hurt tourism, they say.

Seven years after first squaring off, supporters and critics of Virginia’s first proposed industrial wind farm resumed their public debate Monday in Richmond. The State Corporation Commission is conducting its final public hearing on the Highland County proposal, which is expected to set a precedent for all future wind energy projects in Virginia. The Highland County proposal is part of the wind energy industry’s expansion from its traditional home in the West to the ridgelines of the Appalachian Mountains, where hundreds of turbines have been constructed in recent years and hundreds more are proposed. The SCC hearing is expected to last at least a week. No time frame has been set for a decision.

Next week, experts will convene in a State Corporation Commission courtroom to offer their opinions on the merits of what could be Virginia’s first industrial wind utility. After years of moving through the local and state processes, the hearings will be one of the last hurdles for Highland New Wind Development’s efforts to get final approval for its project. HNWD already obtained a conditional use permit from Highland County to construct the facility atop Allegheny Mountain, in the county’s westernmost region. That permit was granted last year, with conditions.

As energy policy moves higher on the legislative agenda in Virginia, those opposed to commercial wind utilities in the Allegheny Highlands have serious concerns about how the industry and its supporters are lobbying for more “green” electric power.

New River Community College is launching a program to train people to work on wind-power turbines in response to growing interest in the technology. When the program is under way, students may not have to travel far at all to study a turbine in action. Volvo Trucks North America plans to erect an 80-foot-high turbine along its Interstate 81 frontage to save on electricity.

STUARTS DRAFT — When the sun goes down, the homemade passive solar heater for Richard Murphy's tractor barn shuts off. He's confident that his 1.8 kilowatt wind turbine will pick up the slack. Thursday afternoon, the Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals granted Murphy a special use permit for a 35-foot tower at his aptly named Windy Hill Lane residence. But Murphy doesn't plan to leave the grid. In fact, his three-blade, 220-volt alternator will feed directly into his breaker box, easing the draw of his all-electric house on his utility meter. When he generates more than he uses, state law insists that the utility buys his surplus. "I estimate I can cut my electrical bill between 20 and 30 percent," he said. "Payback will happen in about 12 years."

The first utility-grade wind farm proposed in Virginia is hailed by its supporters as clean energy that can help stem global warming and rising fuel prices. But mountaintop residents near the Highland County site worry about what the blades of 18 towers taller than the Statue of Liberty would do to their environment. That would include rare or endangered birds, bats, and a few other species, as well as a wild trout stream. Eleven state agencies have reviewed the Highland New Wind Development proposal and come up with a lengthy list of suggested studies, including an analysis of the cumulative impact of wind farms on the four-state Allegheny Mountain region. The State Corporation Commission, which has final say, will conduct a public hearing Oct. 30 in Richmond on the proposal by retired poultry processor Henry McBride of Harrisonburg. His attorney, John Flora, hopes the project can benefit from a federal tax credit that expires in 2007.

The September 20, 2006 VDGIF letter states: “We support the use of alternative energy sources, including wind energy. However, based on review of the information provided thus far by the Highland project applicant, in the absence of accountable mitigation conditions . . . we feel this project presents an unacceptable risk to wildlife.”

MONTEREY — “Now is not the time,” said Highland County supervisor Jerry Rexrode in response to a request for money and a letter of support for a feasibility study to establish a tourist trail in the Alleghany Highlands. “Maybe six months from now and I would support it,” he said. At Tuesday night’s supervisors’ meeting, the trail idea concerned officials because of pending litigation faced by the county. Rexrode said he does not oppose tourism or money spent to enhance tourism in Highland, but repeated it was the wrong time to commit to the project.

A Chicago-based company is no longer looking at tapping into power lines for a possible wind farm on Bent and Poor mountains in Roanoke County. Invenergy Wind LLC withdrew its application for an interconnection feasibility study after the first stage of the review was completed, according to PJM, which manages the electricity distribution grid for Virginia, 12 other states and Washington, D.C...... PJM's feasibility study, which was completed this summer, found that adding 81 megawatts would further overload or nearly overload power lines and circuits at several points. The study found that those problems could be solved by replacing or upgrading equipment at a cost of more than $1.6 million over one to four years.

Details and a registration form are available at the link below for the Wildlife and Wind Energy Conference to be held on Saturday, December 2, 2006 at Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA USA.

HIGHTOWN - The first utility-grade wind farm proposed in Virginia is hailed by its supporters as clean energy that can help stem global warming and rising fuel prices. But mountaintop residents near the Highland County site worry about what the blades of 18 towers taller than the Statue of Liberty would do to their environment. That would include rare or endangered birds, bats and a few other species, as well as a wild trout stream. Eleven state agencies have reviewed the Highland New Wind Development proposal and come up with a lengthy list of suggested studies, including an analysis of the cumulative impact of wind farms on the four-state Allegheny Mountain region.

Among the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's 14 recommended requirements for the Highland New Wind Development's proposed turbine project:

RICHMOND — Highland residents are beginning to get a glimpse of the kind of testimony they’ll hear at the end of October about Highland New Wind Development’s utility project.

The company proposing 19 windmills in Highland County says it will study the project's effects on birds and bats but should not be required to study its effects on views.

We have submitted the attached comments to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) in response to material filed by and on behalf of Highland New Wind Development (HNWD) purporting to quantify air pollution emission reductions that the Highland County wind project would achieve.

Editor's Note: The comments are available via the link below and on the Virginia Wind website

WASHINGTON — Southern California and the urban centers from Northern Virginia to New York face the most critical power grid problems, but such remote areas as Montana and the Dakotas may need new transmission lines in the near future, an Energy Department report warns.

MONTEREY — Eight experts, four landowners, and county administrator Roberta Lambert constituted the arguments on both sides during last week’s trial on a proposed wind energy facility here.

RICHMOND — After several weeks of delay, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality has sent its final report on the proposed Highland wind utility to the State Corporation Commission.

Three days of testimony and legal argument did not persuade Judge Paul Sheridan the county board had illegally issued the conditional use permit.