Believing all renewables, let alone just wind, will produce 20 percent of America's power anytime soon requires a leap of faith only fools would attempt.

Wind power is a problematic energy source, requiring constant back-up from conventional generation as fluctuating winds vary output by up to 70 per cent. It produces a third of installed capacity at best.

In the end, we remain convinced, the entire state [VA] will see clearly that wind power....is wrong for our mountains and that those who pursue it are driven not by concern for the environment, but by the opportunity to pocket huge profits offered by huge taxpayer subsidies. When the smoke clears, there can be no other conclusion. Whether reason will triumph over the leverage of powerful special interests remains to be seen.

Wind needs to be part of that solution. But a critical question is this: How far do you go in trying to save the planet by destroying it? Plastering Pennsylvania's ridgetops with massive wind turbines, to the possible decimation of bats, raptors and migrating songbirds, coupled with the visual impairment inflicted on these green mountains, erosion of thin mountain soils and the loss of public access, suggest to us that we need to find more suitable sites for wind and invest in less environmentally problematic solutions to climate change.

“The environmental benefits of wind are not as great as its champions claim. You’ve still got to have backup sources of power, like coal-fired plants.”