Stopping a $300 million wind farm project in Greenbrier County by forcing the state Public Service Commission to adopt regulations for the huge windmills on mountain ridges is a priority for the county’s senator.

The Beech Ridge Wind Farm has agreed to use local union workers to construct and maintain the proposed $300 million wind farm project in Greenbrier County, the company and union officials announced on Thursday.

CUMBERLAND - A lot of people don't want wind turbines in their back yard. Wind turbines have come under critical scrutiny by individuals and groups who hope to halt the advancement of the renewable energy resource.

CUMBERLAND - A wind power project developer creates a special company for each of the projects it may have in the works, according to James Cookman, vice president for development of US WindForce, headquartered in Wexford, Pa.

CUMBERLAND - US WindForce plans to establish a new wind farm on Green Mountain in Mineral County, but local officials and residents want more information on wind power before they give their approval.

MONTEREY — Highland County residents opposed to the wind utility proposed by Highland New Wind Development LLC have often cited the proliferation of more such industrial projects as a large concern in granting the first one. And it appears they have reason to believe a second project is planned.

LEWISBURG — Prompted by the mayor of Lewisburg, the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors voted unanimously Thursday to draft a letter opposing the efforts of a Chicago-based company to build electric-generating wind turbines in Greenbrier County.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A citizens group has asked the state Public Service Commission to bar the developers of a wind farm in Grant County from doing any construction until the agency determines that its pre-construction requirements have been met

"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."

Mollohan has compared the situation of wind power in West Virginia to the beginnings of the growth of the coal industry. “With regard to wind energy, the prospects are that West Virginia will be relegated to something of a colonial status,” he said, “with its resources being exploited by and for the benefit of outsiders, and with West Virginians being left with a legacy of environmental damage.

“They (BRE) make it sound like they are doing this out of the bigness of their heart,” he said. “My feeling is that we have just dug out the rest of the story. They are presenting this as a clean and green project but there is plenty of evidence to show otherwise.”

More wind farms could cause major problems for West Virginia’s mountains, Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., warns.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A national panel studying the emergence of wind farms in the Mid-Atlantic region learned Wednesday that West Virginia is still trying to develop effective ways to regulate the industry.

Five members of Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy (MCRE) spoke in opposition to the installation of the 40-story giants on the ridges near Trout and Williamsbug. "To give you some perspective," Dave Buhrman offered, "a county commissioner would be smaller than a quarter photographed next to one of these towers." Buhrman stressed the potentially negative effects on the county's important tourist industry. "Mountain views millions of years in the making will be altered during one building season," he stressed. "When people can no longer get a sense that this area is wild, wonderful, and undisturbed, they will look elsewhere- we are putting Greenbrier County's future economic potential at risk by allowing the wind industry access to our loftiest vistas."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Dave Groberg, project developer for Invenergy Wind LLC told 60 members of Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy (MCRE) Tuesday at Williamsburg’s community center. "While many people find wind turbines graceful and attractive, others disagree." He was referring to the 131 wind turbines his Chicago-based company hopes to erect on the mountain ridges of northwestern Greenbrier County.

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

As Chicago-based Invenergy plans a wind generation factory across the scenic mountains of northwestern Greenbrier County, numerous voices have been raised in protest.