Horns Reef [wind farm in Denmark] is emblematic of enormous subsidies to industries that would not exist in a free market. In the U.S., such industries are being supported by massive government subsidies and tax write-offs that shift the cost of resulting electricity to unsuspecting Americans' tax bills and monthly electricity bills.

On Jan. 31, The Recorder newspaper printed an interview that Judge Theodore "Ted" V. Morrison Jr. gave to Anne Adams, staff writer for the paper. He was one of three commissioners on Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which recently approved Virginia's first industrial wind project in Highland County over well-organized protests from residents and landowners. Morrison has been on the SCC for 19 years ...Morrison stressed the federal production tax credits are what make commercial wind facilities attractive, but the reality is the renewable electricity utilities will never substantially change the country's need for larger power plants.

The evidence is clear. At this juncture in the debate on whether to build industrial wind utilities in the Allegheny Mountains, there is one point on which nearly all experts agree: No one knows enough about the effects these 400-foot towers could have on our unique and sensitive environment and we should do everything possible to find out more before any more are erected.

Will we increasingly rely upon new energy efficiency measures, conservation and renewable energy sources? Yes. All of those important objectives are addressed in the legislation. But will those efforts by themselves suffice? No. That is why financial incentives have been included in the new legislation to ensure the availability of capital dollars crucial to building the state's 21st-century infrastructure, including major environmental programs that will benefit Virginia residents. Never has Virginia's potential economic growth been greater. But growth, in itself, poses its own set of challenges. Thanks to last week's overwhelming votes by the General Assembly, Virginia will soon have a framework in place to fulfill its potential. Dominion will be able to attract investors and acquire the capital it needs to construct major energy projects. In short, we will keep the lights burning today, tomorrow and long into the future.

If there could ever be a bill custom-tailored to boost Highland New Wind Development’s plans for a wind energy utility in Highland County, this one is it. Sen. Frank Wagner introduced legislation in this session of the General Assembly that not only flies in the face of proper land use procedures, but is designed specifically to help HNWD get its project up and running. His bill would change the law regarding utility plan reviews by local governing bodies. The way HNWD’s project has been handled here is precisely what residents and landowners are challenging in an appeals process now slated for a full hearing before Virginia’s Supreme Court. Wagner may argue his bill would help companies statewide who hope to develop renewable energy, but it’s a thinly veiled attempt to help this particular company industrialize Allegheny Mountain, and it needs to be resoundly defeated by the House this week.

The problem of carbon emissions and global warming is finally and rightly emerging as a major public concern. However, it remains to be seen whether public policy will move beyond wishful thinking and symbolic gesture to meaningful responses. Although the proposed Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) legislation may seem like a step in the right direction, closer examination reveals that what little it may achieve in terms of benefit will be obtained at a disproportionately high cost. Simply stated, the proposed RPS legislation will not seriously reduce demand for electricity generation by traditional sources, and it will drive industrial-scale wind energy development in some of our most highly valued, scenic, and ecologically sensitive areas — including our mountain ridges and the Chesapeake Bay.

Lately, communities have touted their use of “green power”, supposedly cleaner electric power generation by windmills, rather than by coal-fired power plants. And, of course, at significantly greater cost. (See: Press reports on Fairfax County, and Arlington). Indeed, Fairfax County officials hope to increase their wind power use, having already invested in 5.8 MKw over the past two years. The Board of Supervisors thinks it will make the air cleaner. Sadly, they are wrong. As professors Liik, Oidram and Keel demonstrated over three years ago, wind power tends to increase pollution because of the need to rely on coal-fired power plants to handle the variation in generation that occurs when the winds themselves vary. Because the wind power is so variable, there always has to be a back up base plant to even out the electricty on the electrical grid. That base plant is coal fired and the more it has to accelerate and decelerate its operations, the dirtier it runs. This is a lot like our cars. They get a lot more milage and much less pollution on the highway than in start-and-stop city driving.

Localities escaped a close call when the House reaffirmed that nuclear, wind and LNG facilities would have to meet local zoning and land-use restrictions. But they should be wary of the coercive spirit shown by the Senate, and all Virginians should be wary of the flawed energy policy crafted in their name. The issues involved deserve more thoughtful, balanced consideration. In the interim the best thing that could happen to this bill would be a veto from the governor.

It would be foolish to enact any legislation promoting wind power prior to the completion of objective studies of where turbines could be located and what the actual benefits and environmental tradeoffs might be.

Let’s hope our elected officials in Richmond and Washington don’t fall for the same untested arguments our supervisors did. Sen. Allen’s response to Mr. Flora’s thoughts is reassuring in this regard. Legislators willing to examine the issue fully are finally starting to smell something rotten about how this [wind] industry operates.

In a recent fiasco the Highland County Board of Supervisors issued a permit for a wind energy project supported by only 20 percent of 97 speakers at the public hearing. Prior to the hearing more than 1,000 residents and landowners of this county with a population of only 2,500, signed a petition opposed.

Editor’s note: The following letter was written to Del. Chris Saxman and shared with The Recorder.

The bill would basically tell people, especially those who in the past objected to the siting of natural gas transmission lines and windmills, to go fly a kite.

We hope other Virginia localities watching these proceedings will profit from learning that currently unreliable wind power is green only for those who are allowed to siphon off government money at taxpayers’ expense and that as this high-cost energy is fed back into the grid, it will result in higher, not lower, electric bills for users. And we hope the cumulative anguish of Highlanders expressed during the hearings will give other decision-makers pause when they consider the real costs of wrongly-sited wind power.

If there’s anyone left in Highland who still believes in our county supervisors’ power to control wind utility development, this is your wake up call.

The issue of reliability is brushed aside. Cape Wind proposes to replace (Greenpeace citation) 75 percent of now-fossil-produced power to the area. Imagine what happens if the wind stops or becomes too brisk. In the former case, you had better have a source of standby power available immediately. In the case of too much wind, the effect is the same. The turbines are designed to "feather" to self-protect, but the result is the same as no wind at all.