Opinions
Wind farm plan could get stormy
A company has applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to build 131 wind turbines along 18 miles of ridge line between Virginia and West Virginia. The 440-foot turbines would tower above national forest land in Shenandoah, Rockingham and Hardy counties.
If approved, work on the project could start as early as 2010.
That, of course, is a pretty big if.
As attractive as the concept is - letting wind generate electricity instead of air-polluting coal or expensive Middle Eastern oil - the wind farm proposal will almost certainly trigger a battle royal between corporate interests and valley residents.
March 29, 2008
by Bob Wooten
in Northern Virginia Daily
Ray Beaver, a stocky man with a big smile and an easy manner, had two things in his backyard that I had never seen.
One was a satellite dish about the size of a swimming pool. The other was a small shed holding the power of the wind.
I met him back in 1983. My editor had sent me out to do a story on Beaver, who claimed to have found a novel answer to the energy crisis of the day.
Beaver, a retired engineer who loved gadgets, had erected a 60-foot windmill at his country home near Stanley in... [continue via Web link]
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