A Virginia company is seeking state approval for a proposed $250 million wind farm on the Barbour-Randolph county line. Arlington, Va.-based AES Corp. wants to build up to 65 turbines on a ridge top near Elkins that would connect to an existing Allegheny Energy. Inc. 138-kilovolt transmission line, according to a Jan. 31 filing with the state Public Service Commission. If local, state and federal regulators approve the project, AES said the turbines could begin transmitting electricity by the end of 2009.

The reception was somewhat on the chilly side, Tuesday, when a pair of mountaintop residents brought their protests about windpower electricity to the Grant County Commission. Residents Bruce Halgren and Richard Spicer appeared before commissioners as part of a campaign to reduced the number of windpowered turbines being erected in the community by NedPower and Shell Renewables and Hydrogen. The pair asked commissioners to oppose six turbines to be constructed within 820 feet of public roadways. They say the turbines present an "ice throw" hazard to motorists on Grassy Ridge Road and state Route 93.

The Grant County commissioners focused much of their attention at their recent public meeting on taking action to address the concerns of residents in the mountaintop region of the county related to road damage and threatened water resources. Commissioner Jim Cole said that the residents have had their patience pushed to the limit during the last few months. "Their water supply has been threatened by Wolf Run's application for a mining permit and they have had to wait hours with the roads blocked while equipment is transported to Grassy Ridge by NedPower/Shell WindEnergy," he said. The county commission has gone on record opposing the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection granting a permit to Wolf Run. However, the commissioners noted that they need to continue to do whatever else is necessary to ensure the residents have safe, potable drinking water.

The two big energy companies behind construction of a Grant County wind-power project say they want to expand it by more than half its size, even though a lawsuit challenging it is headed for trial. Dominion Resources Inc. and Shell Wind Energy Inc. announced on Tuesday that they intend to build 50 more turbines next year, generating 100 megawatts of power, on a mountaintop near Grassy Ridge.

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.

Despite an ongoing court challenge, developers expect to connect the NedPower Mount Storm wind farm to the state's power grid by this fall. NedPower's Dave Myers says turbines will begin producing power as they're hooked up one at a time come October. Right now, he says, developers are putting up 300-foot towers, installing equipment and doing other work on 82 turbines. Shipments of the turbine's 150-foot blades are expected to begin soon.

Liberty Gap Wind Force has decided not to ask the state Public Service Commission to reconsider its decision to deny a siting application for a wind turbine facility on Jack Mountain. Liberty Gap attorney Anthony P. Tokarz informed PSC Executive Secretary Sandra Squire on Thursday that the company would not file a petition for reconsideration. Tokarz did not make any other comment. Developers Have Options Frank Maisano, spokesman for a coalition of wind developers in West Virginia, said Liberty Gap still has two alternatives: to appeal to the state Supreme Court within 30 days or to refile the application. "That is still an option," Maisano said of the second choice.

The West Virginia public service commission has rejected "U.S. Wind Force's" application to build wind turbines along Jack Mountain. "I would say the basic majority are opposed to 'em because of the beautification issue," Mary adds. And now the mountains that reign high above Pendleton County will remain clear. "Good ridance...good ridance to a bad idea." So it looks like the battle is over for now, the wind farms not going up here in Pendleton County however the developer U.S. Wind Force says they're going to review their options.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The state Public Service Commission says a developer can't build a wind farm in Pendleton County because its application lacks information on several key issues, including the project's impact on cultural resources and noise. In an order released Friday, the PSC rejected Liberty Gap Wind Force LLC's application for a permit for the proposed 50-turbine Liberty Gap wind farm. It was the second setback for the wind industry in West Virginia in less than a month. On June 8, the state Supreme Court revived a lawsuit challenging a wind farm proposed for Grant County.

Earlier this month the State Supreme Court sided with local residents in Grant County who are trying to stop a wind power project on Mount Storm. The Supreme Court sent the lawsuit back to Circuit Court where the case had been dismissed. But even as the lawsuit moves forward, the wind power project is taking shape.

The high court heard the appeal during its LAW Day program in Hampshire County in late April when attorney Richard Neely of Charleston argued on behalf of the residents and Samuel Brock of Charleston argued on behalf of NedPower. Supreme Court Justices Robin Davis, Elliott Maynard, Larry Starcher and Joseph Albright disagreed with Jordan, saying in the opinion, written by Maynard, that the residents were entitled to their day in court on the nuisance complaint and that the PSC's only jurisdiction was in siting the project. Supreme Court Clerk Rory Perry said that the case will return to the circuit court jurisdiction where new proceedings will be held.

In a 4-1 decision, state Supreme Court justices said a Grant County judge was wrong to dismiss a complaint filed by a group of homeowners opposed to a huge wind power facility planned for a site nearby. Now a nuisance case against two companies that want to build the $300 million wind farm can go forward after a circuit judge dismissed the case last year. "Our decision in this case is merely that the (homeowners) have alleged sufficient facts to avoid dismissal on the pleadings," wrote Justice Spike Maynard for the majority in the opinion released today. "In other words, the (homeowners) should have their day in court. Beyond this, we offer no opinion on the ultimate success or failure of the (homeowners') claim."

The state Supreme Court has breathed new life into a lawsuit challenging a $300 million wind farm in the Eastern Panhandle. In a ruling issued Friday, the court said a Grant County Circuit judge had no legal basis to dismiss the suit and sent it back for more proceedings. The decision is a victory for the plaintiffs, a group of homeowners who live near the proposed NedPower Mount Storm wind farm in the Grassy Ridge area. The homeowners contend their property values will plunge if the 10-mile string of 330-foot-high-turbines is completed. The Supreme Court's action gives them a chance to prove that claim.

People who live near the planned Nedpower Mount Storm and Shell Energy wind farm in Grant County have sought to have it enjoined by having it declared a nuisance. The plaintiffs have previously lost in the Circuit Court of Grant County. In mid-April they argued an appeal of that decision to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Although most people would consider a "nuisance" to be mosquitoes, telemarketers, lawyers, or the like, in the eyes of the law a "nuisance" is a use of land that interferes with someone else's use and enjoyment of their land. It is what is called a common law cause of action.

In a stunning reversal of fortune for anti-windfarm advocates, the state Supreme Court of Appeals on Wednesday unanimously agreed to hear two cases claiming the West Virginia Public Service Commission erred last fall in their decision to give the green light for building 124 electric-producing wind turbines in northern Greenbrier County. The decisions by Chief Justice Robin Davis, and Justices Larry V. Starcher, Elliott E. "Spike" Maynard, Joseph P. Albright, and Brent D. Benjamin were released late Wednesday by court information services director Jennifer Bundy. Mountain Communities For Responsible Energy (MCRE), along with Jeffrey and Alicia Eisenbeiss, filed the petitions asking the high court to hear why they disagree with the PSC ruling. The Eisenbeiss' filed "pro se" - without the aid of a lawyer.

Property values were at the center of a court case that pits homeowners against a planned $300 million wind farm in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle that one lawyer labeled a "brothel on top of the hill." The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that pits a group of property owners against NedPower Mount Storm LLC and its owner, Shell Windenergy Inc. The companies want to build a 10 1/2-mile string of 200 wind turbines along a ridge top in Grant County. Residents claim the project would severely damage the value of their property. The companies argue the 330-foot-tall turbines will not only bring economic gain to the area, but the homeowners' concerns have already been dismissed by the state Public Service Commission.

Two anti-windfarm advocates will present oral arguments today to the state Supreme Court that their cases should be added to the high court's docket in hopes of stopping a planned $300 million project slated for northern Greenbrier County. Mountain Communities For Responsible Energy, along with Jeffrey and Alicia Eisenbeiss, filed the petitions after the state Public Service Commission's landmark decision last fall giving the green light to a wind energy developer's request to build 124 turbines along 23 miles of ridgeways owned primarily by MeadWestvaco.

The NedPower wind turbine project at Mount Storm is the first case that will be heard by the West Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday as it convenes for the 2007 LAWS program.

Opponents of a 200 turbine at Mount Storm, W.Va., will have their case heard by the state Supreme Court in April. The project was approved by the West Virginia Public Service Commission and a circuit court judge turned down a previous appeal by opponents to reverse the WVPSC decision, the Cumberland Times-News reported. NedPower, a Dutch company, received permits and has begun land clearing and early construction.

Rep. Alan Mollohan says he wants the state Public Service Commission to look more carefully into the potential environmental impact of windmills proposed by companies like NedPower Mount Storm and Shell WindEnergy Inc. “The whole issue of industrial windmill siting is an important public policy question,” said Mollohan, D-W.Va., on Friday. “It cries out for public debate and legislative action to put some real siting criteria into place.”