Virginia wind project blows into Pocahontas County

Concerned citizens of Pocahontas County and a resident of Virginia brought the issue of the Highland County wind turbine project intruding on the viewshed of Camp Allegheny in Bartow to the county commission’s attention at Thursday’s meeting.

Virginia resident Dan Foster said his main concern is for Camp Allegheny and preserving the history of the battlefield, where the turbines will be visible from almost every angle.

“The developer, Highland New Wind Development, LLC., said the battle was insignificant,” he related.

Foster explained that Pocahontas County had soldiers fighting in two regiments at Camp Allegheny and that the re-inactment drew more than 300 tourists this year.

“The final order for the project was granted by the Virginia state commission in 2007, but you got the first site plan August 3, three days ago,” he said. “What immediately popped up to me, there is a turbine located in West Virginia and another on the state line. Obviously your questions are relevant if there is a turbine located in West Virginia.”

When the developer was informed that the site plan had two turbines located in West Virginia, the foreman said, “well, I’ll move it” Foster explained.

“If they move the two turbines, the blades are still going to be in West Virginia. Highland County said the turbines will be 1600 feet from the nearest landowner. As you can see,” he said, pointing to the site plan, “a turbine is right in the middle of the setback area. Route 250 is less than 800 feet away from the turbines.”

The heated discussion about the site plan and the impact wind turbines would have on Pocahontas County pitted commissioner against commissioner as Martin Saffer and Reta Griffith struggled to agree on the wording of a letter to be sent to the wind turbine project’s developer and other agencies directly affected by the project.

“I want to look at a due process issue,” Saffer said. “I want to look at the state’s rights to have been involved in an activity in Virginia that would have a negative impact on the state of West Virginia and why our Public Service Commission, our Department of Natural Resources, our Department of Environmental Protection and our state Attorney General were not involved in the discussion on the negative impacts on our wildlife and environment.”

“It was decided that it was a project in the state of Virginia and the only issue is the viewshed,” Griffith explained. “There’s no jurisdiction on behalf of the state (West Virginia).”

Saffer stated the viewshed isn’t the only issue.

“My issue is about bats, birds and other environmental impacts which were never considered,” he said.

As commissioners constructed a rough draft of the letter of concern, they had a difficult time agreeing on wording.

“What I’d like to do, if possible, is slow the process down,” Saffer said. “The action I would suggest first would be to send the letter to our counterpart in Highland County, the developer and all parties affected and say we don’t think the dialogue has been full enough, has not included all the necessary parties that it should have and has not addressed various issues that we feel should be addressed.”

Griffith was concerned about requesting the project be stopped and said she wanted the letter to focus on the issue of the site of the wind project.

“If you really want to affect the outcome, you shouldn’t be so negative in the letter,” she said. “I still like the idea of being more specific, that we feel we’ve been denied the opportunity to comment on the site plan. I won’t vote to oppose the entire project. It’s stating here that we are concerned about the negative impact on Camp Allegheny and the environment. I’m more concerned about the site selection.”

With the help of commissioner David Fleming, the other two commissioners found a common ground. They agreed to send a letter to Highland New Wind Development, LLC. and another letter to the agencies in West Virginia they want involved, along with a copy of the developers letter.

Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer

The Pocahontas Times

12 August 2009

Tags: Wind power, Wind energy

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