Following State Corporation Commission's decision in March to remand the case to its hearing examiner for further review on environmental concerns, months of testimony have been submitted and reviewed. This week, the hearing examiner, Alexander J. Skirpan, submitted another report to commissioners, this time recommending "robust" monitoring of the potentially adverse impacts to wildlife, for the expected 20-year life of the project. ...Skirpan had previously concluded HNWD's project be approved by the SCC. But commissioners wanted to know what kind of details a monitoring and mitigation plan would include, rather than leaving those issues up to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and HNWD.

Developers have cleared another hurdle for a wind farm in Highland County. A hearing examiner has asked the State Corporation Commission to approve his recommendations to reduce harm to native birds and bats.

The release of a proposed wind energy plant's financial data raises new questions about its environmental options. ...The mistakenly released analysis says the company expects to earn more than $4 million a year after paying off equipment and other startup costs. As is typical for the nascent wind-energy industry, the owners would be able to not only sell the electricity the turbines would produce, but also would make money from government incentives for renewable-energy investors, which include income tax breaks and marketable credits.

Visitors to the nation's public forests and grasslands could find wind turbines cranking out power for an energy-hungry nation under a proposal to be released any day in Washington, D.C. ... But Rick Webb, a senior scientist at the University of Virginia, said those wind assets are relatively small. "I'm skeptical that the benefits of development on Appalachian ridges is worth the environmental costs. These ridgelines represent what remains for the most part of our wild landscape," Webb said.

The ferocity of local opinions against the project has raised questions about Virginia's future as a wind-energy producer, with surrounding counties unsure about opening their mountaintops to investors, too. The debate also comes as entrepreneurs in other states are rushing to erect turbines, take advantage of federal tax credits and create electricity without the emissions linked to global warming.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for development of Virginia's first utility-grade wind farm in Highland County. Neighboring landowners opposed the project, arguing that its 400-foot-tall turbines would ruin the scenery and endanger migratory birds. In their lawsuit, they claimed county officials failed to follow proper procedures in approving the project.

As neighboring Highland County continues contentious discussions on commercial wind power, Bath County officials have taken another step toward learning what they can and should do to prepare for more inquiries from the wind industry about developing ridge tops here. Though supervisors and planners agreed they need to plan head, the federal lands making up half the county could mean there's little they can do to prevent the industry from taking hold.

In yet another round of testimony, the environment played a central role in discussions on how a proposed 39-megawatt industrial wind utility may or may not be harmful to some of the richest and rarest species of wildlife in Virginia. Tuesday, the courtroom at the State Corporation Commission was host to nearly more lawyers than private citizens. This was the second hearing hosted by the SCC, one requested by commissioners after they remanded Highland New Wind Development's application for a state permit back to their hearing examiner for more information. Specifically, the SCC wanted to gain a fuller understanding of how damage to species and the environment caused by the 18-20 turbines proposed along the 4,000-foot Allegheny Mountain ridge might be prevented or mitigated were the state to grant a permit for the facility. And by the end of the day, testimony had not been completed and the hearing examiner ordered a continuation through Wednesday.

Norfolk Southern Railway Co., trying to preserve tax benefits it gained by investing in wind power generation facilities, filed a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk against Caithness Western Wind Partners LLC of New York and two related en ities. Caithness wants to sell certain wind power facilities over the objection of Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern, which invested more than $16.1 million with Caithness over the past four years to gain federal tax credits for renewable energy investments, acco ding to the filing. The railroad said its investments were based on the partnership lasting through at least 2011. Norfolk Southern contends any sale requires its written consent and that, if the transaction goes through, the railroad will have to pay millions of dollars in taxes and would be greatly harmed. It is seeking to block the sale. Michael Cole, an attorney with Caithness Energy LLC, the manager of Caithness Western Wind Partners, did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

A proposed wind-power project in Highland County goes before the State Corporation Commission today - and opponents are lined up to raise their objections to the developers' plans to place 20 400-foot turbines in Laurel Fork. "This project is simply a bad investment for the wind industry and a bad precedent for the Commonwealth," said Rick Webb, co-manager of the advocacy group Virginia Wind and co-author of a National Academies report on environmental impacts of wind projects.

Highland New Wind is testifying that it cannot afford the wildlife protections recommended by wildlife agencies, conservation groups, and citizen respondents in the case. Despite the prospects of government incentives, which would cover the majority of development costs, it remains a marginal project, promising negligible benefits and huge environmental costs.

MONTEREY - Preparations have been under way for weeks, and this Tuesday, the State Corporation Commission will hold its second evidentiary hearing on what could be Virginia's first industrial wind energy utility. After months of testimony, the SCC did not reach a decision on whether to grant Highland New Wind Development a state permit to build its facility here atop Allegheny Mountain. Instead, the three commissioners remanded the case back to the SCC hearing examiner with instructions to gather more information, particularly on how to prevent or reduce the 39-megawatt plant's impacts on the environment, and monitor those after construction. HNWD is expected to call some of the same people it did at the first hearing to rebut testimony of expert witnesses who have spoken on behalf of The Nature Conservancy and Highland citizens opposed to the project.

Turning algae into fuel? Building a windmill on Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay? Setting wind turbines miles off the Virginia Beach coast? The ideas might sound futuristic, but they are the primary alternative-energy projects that the state will support with $1.5 million in research grants, to be awarded next week.

Frederick County's federal elected representatives are keeping an open mind about a proposed power line that would end in Kemptown. U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-6) touted the benefits of the proposed twin-500 volt power line that will run through parts of the county in a statement Friday. "Residents and businesses in the Sixth District expect to have electricity for heat, light and air conditioning when they need it," he said. "In addition to these benefits, an upgraded transmission system could accommodate more renewable energy generation, such as wind or solar power." The state's two senators, however, were more reserved when discussing the line.

WASHINGTON - The House rejected a resolution Wednesday that would block government plans to spur construction of major new power lines in many states regardless of local opposition. The issue has been contentious in parts of the East Coast and in the Southwest, where two high priority transmission corridors for power lines were proposed. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., warned colleagues that unwanted power lines could come to their district.

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.