A proposed windmill farm project, that has been stirring up plenty of controversy, gets a "no" from Elkins city leaders. Elkins city council met this afternoon just after 4 o'clock and passed a resolution opposing the construction of the laurel mountain wind farm.

"I think the battleground is right here in the county right now with the landowners who've said no," said Sites.

Two companies are proposing to convert wind into energy in Tazewell County through the development of 60 large-scale windmills along the crest of East River Mountain. The two unidentified companies are proposing to build as many as 60 windmills that would be 400 feet tall along the ridges of East River Mountain in Bluefield, Va., David Anderson, the Eastern District member of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, said.

Heated debate surrounds Greenbrier County plan

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."

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.

Although the West Virginia Public Service Commission has not yet ruled whether to grant AES' siting permit to construct up to 65 wind turbines on the Laurel Mountain ridge between Barbour and Randolph counties, the company has already secured agreements with landowners to move forward if approved. According to property records at the Barbour and Randolph County courthouses, AES has entered into lease option agreements with 11 land owners ...The agreements give AES lease options for 43 parcels of land, totaling 8,528 acres. No compensation amounts are included in the documents, but Sweitzer said landowners would be paid an option payment and then receive annual payments after the project is constructed.

The state Public Service Commission rejects four appeals against a proposed wind farm in Greenbrier County. The Chicago-based company hopes to start construction this year on a the 300 (m) million-dollar project. Invenergy plans to build the 124-turbine Beech Ridge Energy wind farm in northern Greenbrier County.

Peltz sees windmills as “a small piece of the puzzle,” with the major roles in the energy drama occupied by oil and coal.

A group of Mineral and Grant county residents who own property in the vicinity of the Nancy Hanks Memorial have asked the Mineral County Commission to petition Gov. Joe Manchin for a moratorium on the construction of any additional wind turbines in the state. Harriett Hartman, Bill and Leigh Burt, Joe McKenney, Frank Roleff and Greg Trainor all appealed to the commissioners Tuesday to do what they can to stop the construction of a wind farm along New Creek Mountain and the tip of the Saddle.

A representative from AES provided the Barbour County Commission with an updated timeline for the wind turbine project and requested commissioners pass a resolution to appoint a company to conduct a decommission study to determine the cost to take the windmills down when the time comes.

The question of how Invenergy would "decommission," or tear down, its $300 million Beech Ridge Energy wind farm came into question during Wednesday's state Public Service Commission compliance hearing A plan for decommissioning all of Beech Ridge Energy's 124 wind turbines slated for north-central Greenbrier County was one of 18 preconstruction conditions mandated by the PSC. Beech Ridge hired the Nebraska-based civil engineering firm HDR to prepare a "decommission report".

A challenged $300 million wind farm proposed for a site in Grant County is a public utility immune from any lawsuit seeking to stop its construction, state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin said. Benjamin disagreed with a majority opinion filed by the court to allow a lawsuit filed by a group of homeowners to proceed. The wind farm is to include 200 turbines spread over 10 miles. The Supreme Court's 4-1 decision overruled a Grant Circuit Court judge's dismissal of the lawsuit.

Chicago-based Invenergy plans to hire 200 construction workers and put up 67 massive wind turbines along Greenbrier County's mountain ridges by the end of the year. The company has already started clearing brush, grading land and building a gravel road that will allow trucks to haul wind turbine parts up the mountains. The first set of 67 turbines is expected to be assembled and erected by August or September. An additional 57 turbines will go up next year.

Gov. Joe Manchin proposed legislation for the special session that would temporarily bar siting new wind farms near airports.

A proposed $300 million wind farm project has come under fire from three Greenbrier County lawmakers in the form of bills introduced in both the House and Senate which could result in a major blow to Chicago-based developer Invenergy.

The U.S. Forest Service has rejected a proposal to build a wind farm on Great North Mountain in the George Washington National Forest - for now, at least. Freedomworks LLC, a renewable-energy firm based in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., wanted to put 131 400-foot-tall wind turbines along 18 miles of ridgeline between Virginia and West Virginia.

The Grant County Board of Education has once again reaffirmed its support for a controversial mountaintop wind power project. BOE members recently agreed to submit a legal document in defense of the project, which is being challenged in court by some of its detractors. Known as a “brief,” the document will be filed with the state Public Service Commission and Supreme Court of Appeals. The brief was approved on a 5-0 vote during the BOE’s recent meeting at the Union Educational Complex. Action came after a presentation by Dennis DiBenedetto, prosecuting attorney. DiBenedetto told board members the brief won’t cost them anything and will largely restate arguments in favor of the project already made by the BOE. Some of these arguments include a welcome for $45 million in tax revenues to be gained over the project’s lifespan.

"A wind farm is an industrial installation of vast proportions," noted civic activist Dave Buhrman this week, "and, if erected on the loftiest ridges, its industrial flavor becomes the new focal point for all view-sheds within a 15-mile radius."