Opinions
Evidence is clear
Those opposed to the industrial development of our mountain ridges — and that constitutes a large majority — worry that government officials are persuaded by the energy lobby’s claims that “green” power on the grid, even if it’s a drop in the bucket, is better than nothing, no matter how adversely it might impact these culturally and environmentally delicate regions and no matter how heavily it must be subsidized by taxpayers to be financially feasible for investors.
The generic arguments about sacrificing for the good of the country made by corporate managers and lawyers working for the wind industry can easily ring true to those so far removed from the reality of our unmatched natural setting. But we believe the state agencies involved in this debate — the State Corporation Commission, Virginia’s departments of environmental quality, historic resources and conservation and recreation, and especially the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — have come to understand those arguments have no legs in the much bigger picture of alternative energy possibilities.
The generic arguments about sacrificing for the good of the country made by corporate managers and lawyers working for the wind industry can easily ring true to those so far removed from the reality of our unmatched natural setting. But we believe the state agencies involved in this debate — the State Corporation Commission, Virginia’s departments of environmental quality, historic resources and conservation and recreation, and especially the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — have come to understand those arguments have no legs in the much bigger picture of alternative energy possibilities.
October 26, 2006
by Editorial Staff
in The Recorder
In Highland County and across western Virginia, many families living in high, windy places are becoming increasingly anxious.
Next week, evidentiary hearings on Highland New Wind Development’s proposal for a utility that would harness Allegheny winds to inefficiently generate electric power will be held in Richmond. It is the first case of its kind in Virginia. The first time the State Corporation Commission hears testimony on wind power of this magnitude.
But it certainly won’t be the last.
For months, thousands of people in the most rural parts of Virginia have been in the unsettling position of relying on agency... [continue via Web link]
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