Post by L Roebuck on Mar 16, 2006 16:37:33 GMT -5
Blowin in the wind: Tilting with windmills in Highland County
" Virginia homeowners may not be ready for a windmill on every roof, but what about a string of electricity-generating turbines on a distant hilltop and the option to buy green power at affordable prices?
With a controversial wind farm planned for Highland County, 2006 promises to be a year of boom or bust for a power source that the Department of Energy calls today's "most viable renewable energy."
The extension of a federal tax credit and the jump in the cost of petroleum have given the industry a boost, but growth has also kicked up a funnel cloud of opposition to the energy source that critics deride for blighting bluffs and butchering birds and bats.
In Virginia, the state's first utility-scale wind farm, targeted for private land in scenic Highland County, 70 miles northwest of Charlottesville, continues to be mired in citizen opposition. In July, the county approved the application by landowner Henry T. McBride, owner of Highland New Wind Development LLC, to erect up to 19 turbines on scenic ridge-top land. The County stands to gain about $200,000 annually in tax revenue, but the board of supervisors has been sued, and opponents vow to fight on.
Challenges relate to everything from the height of the blades to zoning ordinances to potential threats to endangered species and even to the conditional-use permit itself.
"How Highland County goes will determine how Virginia goes," says turbine defender Alden Hathaway, who directs the EcoPower Program for the D.C.-based Environmental Resources Trust.
"If, as a result of Highland County supporting wind power, Virginia decides to adopt a pro-wind and renewable energy position," Hathaway says, "then Virginia will make a significant impact on the use of coal."
Charlottesville has a wind power company, Greenlight Energy, but the owners have avoided controversy by choosing communities that want a wind farm.
Greenlight's managing director, Matt Hantzmon, says Greenlight is planning a project for Virginia but has moved slowly because the state's best wind resources are in scenic-- and therefore potentially controversial-- areas along ridges and the coast.
Greenlight's projects are now concentrated in the West and Midwest, where Hantzmon says landowners often welcome the income from leasing land to wind companies. In addition, the Midwestern viewshed is so vast and the population so sparse, he says, that few complain about turbines rising hundreds of feet into the air.
Wind supporters believe it's the cleanest and most renewable fuel around. Opponents see dead bats and birds. Supporters see a cure for global warming in reduced greenhouse gases. Opponents see ridgelines littered with whirring blades the size of skyscrapers.
As wind farms move east, so does the debate. "
Rest of the article:
www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/03/16/coverblowininthewind.html
" Virginia homeowners may not be ready for a windmill on every roof, but what about a string of electricity-generating turbines on a distant hilltop and the option to buy green power at affordable prices?
With a controversial wind farm planned for Highland County, 2006 promises to be a year of boom or bust for a power source that the Department of Energy calls today's "most viable renewable energy."
The extension of a federal tax credit and the jump in the cost of petroleum have given the industry a boost, but growth has also kicked up a funnel cloud of opposition to the energy source that critics deride for blighting bluffs and butchering birds and bats.
In Virginia, the state's first utility-scale wind farm, targeted for private land in scenic Highland County, 70 miles northwest of Charlottesville, continues to be mired in citizen opposition. In July, the county approved the application by landowner Henry T. McBride, owner of Highland New Wind Development LLC, to erect up to 19 turbines on scenic ridge-top land. The County stands to gain about $200,000 annually in tax revenue, but the board of supervisors has been sued, and opponents vow to fight on.
Challenges relate to everything from the height of the blades to zoning ordinances to potential threats to endangered species and even to the conditional-use permit itself.
"How Highland County goes will determine how Virginia goes," says turbine defender Alden Hathaway, who directs the EcoPower Program for the D.C.-based Environmental Resources Trust.
"If, as a result of Highland County supporting wind power, Virginia decides to adopt a pro-wind and renewable energy position," Hathaway says, "then Virginia will make a significant impact on the use of coal."
Charlottesville has a wind power company, Greenlight Energy, but the owners have avoided controversy by choosing communities that want a wind farm.
Greenlight's managing director, Matt Hantzmon, says Greenlight is planning a project for Virginia but has moved slowly because the state's best wind resources are in scenic-- and therefore potentially controversial-- areas along ridges and the coast.
Greenlight's projects are now concentrated in the West and Midwest, where Hantzmon says landowners often welcome the income from leasing land to wind companies. In addition, the Midwestern viewshed is so vast and the population so sparse, he says, that few complain about turbines rising hundreds of feet into the air.
Wind supporters believe it's the cleanest and most renewable fuel around. Opponents see dead bats and birds. Supporters see a cure for global warming in reduced greenhouse gases. Opponents see ridgelines littered with whirring blades the size of skyscrapers.
As wind farms move east, so does the debate. "
Rest of the article:
www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/03/16/coverblowininthewind.html