Letter to Governor Manchin (WV) re. Wind Power

The Honorable Joe Manchin, III
Governor, State of West Virginia
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305

Re: Wind Power

Dear Governor Manchin:

If there ever was a time to proceed cautiously, it is now with respect to “wind farms” in West Virginia. The potential benefits to the State are so insignificant, while the potential environmental and economic consequences so enormous, that a moratorium on all wind power facilities (not just those near airports) is in order.

Wind developers have targeted West Virginia as the guinea pig for large-scale wind development in the Appalachians for many reasons. The main one is that we are considered to be too poor, unsophisticated and hungry for any development to mount any significant opposition. The county commissioners and local delegates know nothing about wind energy and are easily swayed by the promise of additional tax revenues touted by the slick lobbyists employed by the wind industry. Opposition to hundreds of these huge structures dominating the landscape for many miles is dismissed as simple “NIMBYism.”

Most people are unconcerned because they don’t realize that, due to their placement along ridgetops, wind farms will transform our most scenic mountain areas into an unimaginable level of industrial blight. Once they are built, residents will flee, recreation seekers and second-home buyers will go elsewhere and the affected counties’ economies will stagnate. Lawsuits will fly, pitting neighbor against neighbor. When the thinly-capitalized wind farms go bankrupt, the State will be stuck with the removal costs, as the demolition bonds are completely inadequate. These will be disasters and the blame game will follow. You don’t want to be the Governor who presides over this boondoggle. Many other states are having second thoughts about wind farms. We have nothing to lose by letting them go first.

Very truly yours,

Vincent A. Collins