LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Supervisors should protect county's interests 

During an update on the Highland New Wind Development’s planned industrial wind facility at the February meeting of the Highland County Board of Supervisors, the county attorney seems to have turned the conditional use permit into final permission. Regarding the Endangered Species Act, she concluded that the county supervisors cannot require HNWD to get an incidental take permit (the federal permit to allow incidental harm or death to an endangered species) because this would be imposing “additional restrictions.”

The conditional use permit states that HNWD shall obtain all “required state and federal approvals.” Since the Highland County Board of Supervisors issued the conditional use permit, it is not only the right, but also the responsibility of the board to determine what permits are required. This is not an “additional restriction” if the board of supervisors has the right to interpret its own permit. The word conditional means that the board has that right.

If HNWD proceeds without an incidental take permit and is subsequently found in violation of the Endangered Species Act, the project could be shut down. A derelict facility would be of no use, would provide no revenue and would likely be a burden to Highland County. Moreover, the Endangered Species Act provides that a governmental body may itself be held liable when it permits an activity that results in harm to an endangered species.

The Highland Board of Supervisors can and should protect the county’s interest by requiring that HNWD obtain an incidental take permit before going forward with the project.

Richard Holman

Monterey, Va.

The Recorder

7 February 2008

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon