Opponents of a proposed Highland County wind farm cite danger to migratory birds and spoiled scenic vistas, but they are basing their court challenge on a much more mundane issue: whether officials followed proper procedures in approving the project. David S. Bailey, an attorney for the opponents, told the Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday that "everything in this case is backward and out of order."

Imagine 3,500 wind turbines, each at least as tall as a 40-story building, lining the ridges of Virginia's mountains for about 400 miles (Shenandoah National Park is 100 miles in length). That is what would be needed, according to a U.Va. environmental scientist, to satisfy proposed legislation to make nine percent of Virginia's energy "renewable" by 2020. Rick Webb doesn't want to imagine it, nor would he allow it if it were up to him. "On-shore wind energy will do little to solve our energy problems in Virginia, but will possibly do significant harm to our environment," he said.

Webb's take: while wind energy may be a partial solution to what he sees as an energy crisis, the electricity produced by turbines built atop pristine Appalachian ridges won't make enough of a meaningful contribution to offset their environmental harm.

Webb, a senior research scientist at the University of Virginia's department of environmental sciences, spent 20 months serving on the committee studying the environmental effects of industrial-scale wind energy in the United States and Mid-Atlantic Highlands - a study mandated by the U.S. Congress after a request from Sen. Mollihan in West Virginia. The committee's recently released report has been submitted to Congress, and Webb says it concludes, as he has said for so long, that decisions about wind projects need to be tied to a systematic review process with specific requirements for information. "The NRC report calls for clear criteria or guidelines for making decisions," Webb said. "We don't have that at this point."

A Virginia power company is conducting studies on a site along the Randolph-Barbour county line for a windmill project that could provide electricity to up to 35,000 homes. If studies confirm the initial evaluation that the site is ideal for windmills, AES, of Arlington, Va., could begin erecting 60 windmills in the Laurel Mountain area as soon as 2009, AES Managing Director Charlie Falter said.

American Electric Power has received more than a dozen bids from companies offering to construct wind farms under long-term power purchase agreements, spokeswoman Jeri Matheney said. "We're very pleased with the response that we got, and the variety," Matheney said. "We got quite a few bids - more than a dozen - from several states. "It will take at least a few weeks to pore through and analyze all of them," she said. "Then we'll go from there in making our decision."

From New York to Virginia, residents face the prospect of new high-voltage line construction after an announcement last week by the Department of Energy. Now, East Coast lawmakers are banding together in a bid to short-circuit the federal decision making it easier for power companies to build major power lines like the New York Regional Interconnect.

A new federal proposal to help electricity flow more freely could help the energy-choked East Coast. But it could also infuriate landowners, who have traditionally gotten their way in fights against utilities in Delaware. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman last week named Delaware as part of his proposed eastern National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. It would run from New York to Virginia, and west to Ohio. A second corridor would run through California, Arizona and Nevada.

The State Corporation Commission on Friday sent a proposal for Virginia's first utility-grade wind farm back to a hearing examiner for development of a plan to mitigate harm to rare birds and bats on Highland County ridges. In recommending approval last month for construction of 19 turbines, SCC hearing examiner Alexander Skirpan found that the Highland New Wind Development proposal posed a risk to birds and bats. Skirpan recommended a monitoring program, developed by the company and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, to reduce the environmental hazard.

American Electric Power announced it wants to enter long-term purchase agreements for 1,000 megawatts of wind energy, including up to 360 megawatts for its eastern United States service territory - where coal has traditionally been king. The utility giant said it wants to add the wind energy by 2011 as part of its strategy to address greenhouse gas emissions. On Tuesday the company issued a request for proposals seeking up to 260 megawatts of wind energy for its Appalachian Power unit. Appalachian serves more than 900,000 customers in southern West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. The company also issued a request for proposals seeking up to 100 megawatts of wind energy for its Indiana Michigan Power unit. The deadline for bids is April 30, with delivery to begin by the end of 2008.

States with renewable portfolio standards have generated growth in the renewable energy sector, but many of the Appalachian states don't have one. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York all have some fairly progressive goals, but West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee don't have a state RPS and wind projects often ignite battles.

After nearly 16 months of examination at the State Corporation Commission, Highland New Wind Development is increasingly closer to its goal of constructing Virginia’s first wind energy utility. The project, planned for Tamarack Ridge and Red Oak Knob atop Allegheny Mountain, needs a state permit to construct at least 19 wind turbine towers in two formations in the westernmost corner of Highland County. It doesn’t have the permit yet. A final decision must come from the three SCC commissioners. But the hearing examiner charged with coordinating the application review, Alexander Skirpan Jr., has issued his report recommending it be granted. Skirpan explained the SCC is confined in reviewing the application to specific points it must consider: The potential effect of a utility on the environment, economic development, and improvement to and reliability of electric service. The commissioners must also find the utility is “not otherwise contrary to the public interest.”

There’s a spiritual quality. There’s something about the unmanaged areas deep in the woods, the places where birds and animals can live without being disturbed. The George Washington National Forest is a good place to get away from the hectic pace of one’s job and enjoy its lovely scenic qualities, they said. Most of the 50 or so people gathered Monday at Hot Springs Presbyterian Church told U.S. Forest Service officials that the GWNF, which covers 1,065,000 acres in this region, has been pretty well-managed over the years, and they don’t want much about it to change, even for the sake of renewable wind power on the electric grid.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. A problem with potholes has prompted officials to move toward banning heavy trucks from a road in far southeastern Wyoming, potentially hobbling a multi-million-dollar wind farm project launched by a Virginia company. The Laramie County Commission voted yesterday to ban certain vehicles from Laramie County Road 164. The ban could ultimately include heavy trucks, with exceptions for farm machinery and military trucks transporting ballistic missiles. Trucks had been using the road to haul gravel to the Cedar Creek Wind Project outside Grover, Colorado. When complete, the 480 (m) million dollar wind farm will have 274 turbines producing enough electricity for 120-thousand homes. The project was being developed by Greenlight Energy Incorporated of Charlottesville, Virginia. The company is linked to Houston-based B-P Alternative Energy North America.

Some call it a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels, but others point to significant environmental costs. In Kansas, where winds blow strong, the push for clean energy includes not only new wind turbines but also new nuclear-power plants as part of a "carbon-free" solution to climate change. It's an idea that may be catching on. At least 11 new nuclear plants are in the design stage in nine states, including Virginia, Texas, and Florida, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute website. But that carbon-free pitch has researchers asking anew: How carbon-free is nuclear power? And how cost-effective is it in the fight to slow global warming? "Saying nuclear is carbon-free is not true," says Uwe Fritsche, a researcher at the Öko Institut in Darmstadt, Germany, who has conducted a life-cycle analysis of the plants. "It's less carbon-intensive than fossil fuel. But if you are honest, scientifically speaking, the truth is: There is no carbon-free energy. There's no free lunch."

ROANOKE -- A state hearing examiner has recommended construction of the first utility-grade wind farm in Virginia, provided it meets conditions to minimize harm to the environment. The recommendation announced Thursday goes to the State Corporation Commission, which will decide whether to approve construction of the 19-turbine development on Highland County ridges. SCC hearing examiner Alexander Skirpan found that the project by Highland New Wind Development poses a risk to bats and birds, but said a monitoring program by the company and a state agency following construction would help reduce the hazard.

Endangered bats and birds are at risk from Virginia's first proposed wind farm, but construction should proceed with the warning that its massive blades will be stopped at times if too many carcasses pile up. That was the decision Thursday from a State Corporation Commission hearing examiner who gave conditional approval to the controversial project in Highland County. Supporters and opponents have 21 days to comment on the hearing examiner's report. The case will then be forwarded to the commission for a final decision, which is expected early this summer.

The issue that roared into Patrick County like a windstorm almost a year ago blew away Monday like a gentle breeze. The Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted to pass a tall structures ordinance that will prohibit the construction of 400-foot wind turbines on the county’s mountain ridges. Telecommunications towers and church steeples are exempt from the tall structures ban. The vote was in response to the results of a survey mailed to real estate owners along with their tax statements last fall. When county officials tallied the surveys in January, they announced that the tall structures ordinance was supported by 73.7% of the voters with 26.3% opposed.

The Virginia Supreme Court will enter the national debate over wind energy for the first time this summer when it hears a challenge to the state’s first proposed wind farm. A lower court ruled in favor of the controversial Highland County project last year, but in an unusual step, the high court decided this week to hear the case directly rather than having it first reviewed by a three-judge panel. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in June. A ruling is expected in September.

MONTEREY, Va. — Wes Maupin says he will move this spring to a 20-acre spread here in remote Highland County, a pastoral place where sheep outnumber people and where little has changed since his boyhood, when he fished the county’s mountain streams with his father. Mr. Maupin, a 52-year-old former corrections worker, does have one misgiving, though. Like many others in Highland, known for its rustic heights as Virginia’s Switzerland, he finds no joy in the prospect that these blustery Allegheny ridges could soon become home to the state’s first wind farm: 19 wind turbines, each taller than the Statue of Liberty, its pedestal included. “Any wind farm,” Mr. Maupin said, “would surely change the character of this county forever.”