As Virginia wrangles over the visual impact of 400-foot towers on nearby historic properties, a similar situation in West Virginia resulted in a $10,000 grant offer from a wind energy company building 23 wind turbines overlooking some 18 historic places in Mineral County. Not everyone agrees it's an appropriate solution, but Pinnacle Wind Force LLC offered to make that amount available for historic preservation efforts after the West Virginia Division of Culture and History (the State Historic Preservation Office) found its wind project would have an adverse impact on historic resources nearby.

West Virginia boundary commission members Charles Sypolt and Curt Keplinger visited Tamarack Ridge Saturday morning to inspect the site of a proposed industrial wind farm. ...Governor Manchin formed the boundary commission in September after the Pocahontas County Commission alerted him that the wind project might encroach into West Virginia territory. The county commission became concerned after the developer, Highland New Wind Development, LLC (HNWD), issued a site plan with the state line re-plotted on the base topographic map and two turbines very close to the re-plotted state line.

Late last Friday, before a hearing scheduled for Tuesday this week, Highland New Wind Development submitted further analysis of its wind project to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The hearing was set by the State Corporation Commission following a complaint from DHR that a condition attached to HNWD's state permit for Virginia's first wind utility were not being met. DHR said it believed the SCC's condition to "coordinate with DHR for guidance regarding the potential need for archaeological and architectural surveys, recommended studies and field surveys to evaluate the project's impacts to historic resources," had meaning, and that HNWD was not coordinating with the agency as ordered.

The SCC had scheduled the hearing on a complaint from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which had accused Highland New Wind Development of failing to consult with it on how the wind farm will affect the nearby Camp Allegheny battlefield. But on Friday, Highland New Wind provided two preliminary studies to the Department of Historic Resources, according to a motion filed with the SCC late in the day.

The company planning an industrial wind facility on Tamarack Ridge didn't want to talk about visual impact on Camp Allegheny when it seeks approval to build the 19 gigantic turbines. But a Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) hearing examiner ordered on September 23 that visual impact will be considered when the SCC hears arguments over the company's compliance with permit conditions.

State regulators will consider the impact that a planned Highland County wind farm will have on a nearby Civil War battlefield, despite objections from the project's developer. A State Corporation Commission hearing examiner ruled Wednesday that a state agency could present evidence of the visual impacts the 400-foot-tall towers would have on Camp Allegheny, a historic battlefield just across the state line in West Virginia. A hearing has been set for Oct. 13.

While Virginia's State Corporation Commission starts hearing legal arguments this week about the actions of Highland New Wind Development, officials and citizens are telling Richmond officials that Camp Allegheny, the nearby battlefield, needs to be protected from the 19-tower project. ...Allegheny is part of an historic and scenic landscape that belongs to the American people Highland New Wind Development may be located in Virginia and Camp Allegheny in West Virginia, but it is the citizens of the entire country who stand to lose if the 400-foot tall, 285 foot wide turbines are allowed to be built where they are currently sited.

Highland New Wind Development filed a motion Friday, Sept. 18 to exclude any discussion of Camp Allegheny Battlefield from a state hearing originally set for Wednesday. Attorneys for HNWD, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and the State Corporation Commission argued for an hour before SCC hearing examiner Alexander Skirpan in Richmond. Skirpan denied HNWD's motion, and rescheduled the original hearing on DHR's allegations against the developer for Tuesday, Oct. 13.

A state agency has joined the fight against a wind farm in Highland County that could affect a Civil War battlefield. Developers say it's a nonissue, but longtime opponents of the wind farm say they want to preserve the area's beauty.

Highland New Wind Development (HNWD), the self-touted "Greenest Wind Farm in the World," has initiated clearing, road work, and excavation for its 19-turbine project in the remote Allegheny Mountain, Laurel Fork area along the Highland County-Pocahontas County, Virginia-West Virginia border. ...The SCC has scheduled a hearing to be convened on September 23, 2009 to receive evidence and testimony from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and HNWD concerning the wind energy developer's compliance with the SCC's December 2007 order

A U.S. congressman has added his voice to those who seek to protect Camp Allegheny, the Civil War battlefield now considered endangered by the industrial wind energy utility under construction nearby. Congressman Nick J. Rahall II (D-3rd District) of Beckley represents 17 counties in West Virginia, including Pocahontas County, where the battleground lies.

Virginia's national forests are emerging as a potential battleground for wind energy, a key part of efforts to develop alternatives to coal and oil in the United States. Few proposals have been made so far for wind farms in the thousands of acres of Virginia national forest, but those that have been submitted have sparked intense disagreement. ..."The whole wind energy thing is brand new to the forest service. We don't really have any experience or guidance with this," said James T. Smalls, district ranger for the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington & Jefferson national forests in Virginia.

West Virginia might have something to say about Mac McBride's plans for a wind energy utility in Highland County after all. Thursday, Highland resident Dan Foster was invited to speak to Pocahontas County Commissioners, addressing his concerns for Highland New Wind Development's project impacts on Camp Allegheny - the Civil War battlefield site is in Pocahontas ...This week, Foster said Pocahontas officials shared his concerns for the landmark battlefield, and intended to write to McBride, HNWD owner, and agency officials in both states.

As a microcosm of the wind plant controversy, the wetlands issue seems to be typical of the level of scrutiny applied to the plans for turbines on Allegheny Mountain. Highland New Wind's plans for a utility in the Laurel Fork watershed has garnered strong opposition from residents and landowners since 2002, and the current debate about wetlands on the project site is a tug of war ...Recently, three Highlanders submitted a letter to a number of state agencies and county officials, asserting there appears to be a wetlands area under which HNWD will bury a transmission line, and that HNWD has not applied for a federal permit to do that.

A month ago HNWD development made national news when its public relations firm announced that Virginia's first utility scale wind project was ready to start construction. As indicated here, that was a blatant misrepresentation. HNWD does not have a building permit, does not have an Erosion and Sediment Control permit, does not have approval from the FAA, has not satisfied the permit conditions imposed by the State Corporation Commission (SCC), and has not obtained an Endangered Species Act permit.

Six weeks ago, Ann Robinson of Falls Mills, Va., had never heard of wind turbines, but on Sunday afternoon, she was expressing her concerns over a BP Dominion's proposed wind turbine farm on East River Mountain in Tazewell County, Va. "At first I thought, oh well, wind energy, this is green ... this is a good thing, but then I started researching wind turbines and learned differently," Robinson said to a crowd.

Residents filled the auditorium of Washington High School on Monday evening in hopes that their voices would be heard and a change would be made to the proposed route for a high-voltage power line slated for construction in the area. Nearly 150 people turned out for a public hearing about P.A.T.H., which stands for Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, and is a joint venture of Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power that was announced last year.

The fate of a controversial wind turbine project for Tazewell County is still up in the air. A newly created steering committee will now mull over a proposed ridgeline protection ordinance. The ordinance - if adopted by the Board of Supervisors - would regulate the development of tall structures along certain protected mountain ridges, including East River Mountain and Burke's Garden.

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.

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."