Despite Highland New Wind Development's request for streamlined treatment from state agencies, the Department of Historic Resources has determined the company must still submit a detailed site plan and visual impact study, particularly because its proposed 39-megawatt wind energy utility would be near a protected Civil War battlefield.

A mountain ridge overlay ordinance has been adopted by the Bluefield, Va., Town Council pending a final approval today by the Bluefield, Va., Planning Commission, Mayor Don Harris said. The ordinance will regulate the development of structures with a maximum height of 35 feet or more. When asked if the ordinance was in response to a large-scale windmill project proposed for East River Mountain, Harris said the windmill project is not currently planned in the corporate limits of Bluefield, Va.

The beauty of East River Mountain is in jeopardy according to a group of citizens who are against the proposed wind turbine project. This group has grown from a group of 6 to a group of 150. They have a laundry list of reasons why they don't want industrial size wind turbines on our mountains.

Dominion Virginia Power and a subsidiary of the BP energy company are planning two wind-power projects in far Southwest Virginia. ...Rick Webb, a University of Virginia scientist who opposes the Highland project, says it's wrong to put windmills on scenic mountain ridges. He said he would feel better about the Southwest Virginia projects if they went on sites that had been used for mining: "My real objection is the pointless sacrifice of our remnant wild landscape."

The magnitude of these structures shocked our county officials but will they generate revenue of the same magnitude? "Land owners get their annual fees from what is produced. Then also the county would only be able to do the personal property tax. And a personal property tax would be on each individual wind turbine. And under personal property, it would depreciate each year too." says Supervisor David Anderson. The construction phase would create some revenue as well.

Anderson, Bluefield, Va. Town Manager Todd Day, and other officials traveled to the Mount Storm windmill site in hopes of learning more about a large-scale windmill proposal for East River Mountain. Several companies are looking to develop as many as 60, 400-foot tall windmills along the crest of East River Mountain.

Do windmills make a lot of noise? And are they really an ugly blight upon a scenic mountainside? And will folks actually travel from miles and miles away to see a giant windmill farm. Yes, windmills can be a tourist attraction, at least according to members of a local consulting firm.

“During the months of August and September, active negotiations with a variety of interested parties resulted in two executed Letters of Intent,” he wrote. “However, before the due diligence periods expired, the financial markets collapsed and the interested parties started to disappear one by one. Turbines are more available now but financing is more difficult to obtain.”

David Anderson, the Eastern District member of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, has been busy in recent days answering phone calls and e-mails from supporters and opponents of a proposed large-scale windmill project. ..."Don't get me wrong, I've heard a lot of positive, and I've heard a lot of negative," Anderson said Tuesday. "There are still people who are very pro-windmill. But the majority of the feedback I've received have been real concerned about the natural beauty of East River Mountain."

Ryder began working on the ordinance in response to a request from the planning commission last month. The county is working with James Madison University on a field test of the Virginia Renewables Siting Scoring System, or VRS3. The test will use a scoring book to evaluate factors related to siting wind energy facilities in various parts of the county. However, work on the book is still not complete.

Rockbridge County is a step closer to having a wind energy ordinance on the books. The Planning Commission last week recommended adoption of the ordinance as well as approval of the first application for a wind energy system - two micro turbines that are to go on top of Howard Johnson's Hotel. The wind energy ordinance was supported by several citizens who spoke during a public hearing.

Without investors or a final plan, Highland New Wind Development nevertheless remains optimistic about getting Virginia's first wind energy utility built here in Highland County. HNWD attorney John Flora told county supervisors Tuesday the market for wind energy is down, but the company is proceeding with its plans. ...Because HNWD does not know which kind of turbines it will use, it has not submitted a final site plan, something both the county and state require. Supervisor David Blanchard wondered why the company had not at least put together several site plans based on the options for turbines.

Clarke County Planning Commissioner Kathy Smart, who wants a "greener" home, has an appointment to discuss her heating system. She is considering the installation of a solar- or wind-power generation system to replace the oil furnace that warms her baseboard heating units. But first, Smart must determine if enough wind blows across her property to make a wind-power generation system viable. She is also waiting for the approval of a new county ordinance that would permit small wind turbines for home use.

Appalachian Power Co. customers may soon be able to write a larger check for the monthly bill to support the generation of electricity with wind, water and other renewable sources. The utility said the minimum investment will be $1.50 a month. A typical residential customer could elect to fully offset his electrical consumption with green energy by paying about $15 monthly.

Highlanders for Responsible Development remains committed to its watchdog role involving the Highland New Wind Development industrial wind facility, says HRD president Randy Richardson. "We remain concerned, we are not disappearing, we are going to keep an eye on it." Formed in August 2005 largely in response to the proposed wind turbine project, the non-profit organization continues to meet monthly and monitor wind-energy activity.

Is it too expensive to survey historic resources before Virginia's first wind energy plant is constructed? Highland New Wind Development says it would have to fork over between $50,000-$75,000, or more, to do what state officials have been steadily requesting for two years. ...DHR archeologist Roger Kirchen, however, told The Recorder his agency needs the results of these surveys before a review of the project is completed. "The final SCC order directs the applicant to work toward providing us with information," Kirchen said Monday. "The SCC order has the authority. We've exchanged some documents (with HNWD) ... but none of these issues have been resolved. At this point, we're just trying to identify the potential effects."

A team of university scientists and industry experts has narrowed its sights on an initial project - about 100 wind turbines installed at least 12 miles off Virginia Beach, costing more than $250 million. The whirling turbines, each about 300 feet tall, would not be visible from shore, researchers said, and would take advantage of strong, consistent winds found in that part of the Atlantic, especially during winter. ..."If wind energy development in the eastern U.S. is going to make a real rather than symbolic contribution to solving our energy and air pollution problems, it will certainly be offshore development," Rick Webb, a University of Virginia scientist.

Virginia may have given a controversial power line an initial "yes," but Pennsylvania has given it an initial "no." In a ruling released late Thursday, regulatory judges in Pennsylvania recommended that the state's Public Utilities Commission deny applications from Allegheny Power and Dominion Virginia power to build the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line. A hearing examiner for the Virginia State Corporation Commission has recommended approval for the controversial power line, but only on the condition that West Virginia and Pennsylvania also sign off on the plan.

After reviewing thousands of pages of testimony and comments from numerous public hearings, Judges Mark A. Hoyer and Michael A. Nemec in a 364-page document said Allegheny Energy, through its transmission line subsidiary TrAILCo had "failed to carry the burden of truth" for the entire 240-mile project. "Based on our review of the entire record, we have concluded that little or no need for reinforcement in the Prexy service area presently exists," the judges wrote.

The three-member committee, appointed in May by the Planning Commission, has drafted a text amendment regulating the installation of wind turbines for residential use that could come before the commission in the fall. The amendment will have another committee review and could be on the commission's September agenda to set a public hearing, county Natural Resources Planner Alison Teetor said this week.