Thanks Val, for calling attention to the Post article.
The link to the article is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25818-2003Dec23.html
Another article of particular relevance to our Appalachian area was published
in Baltimore-Sun on 12/14/03. It was titled, " Wind as the new avian villain,"
and the link is:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/perspective/bal-pe.windmills14dec14,0,6900060.story?coll=bal-perspective-headlines
With subsidies and other artificial incentives we may soon be facing rapid
large-scale wind energy development along Virginia's coast and mountain ridges.
I am presently working as a VSO representative to a Virginia Wind Energy
Collaborative environmental subcommittee that is tasked to develop a Landscape
Classification System for consideration of environmental impacts in siting
decisions for utility scale wind farms. One of our objectives is to highlight
the need for careful assessment of potential avian and other wildlife impacts
prior to wind project development. Unfortunately, there is no state-level
regulatory authority that can insure that effective pre-construction assessment
or post-construction monitoring of impacts will occur.
A proposed thirty-turbine project on Allegheny Mountain in Highland County
project, however, has triggered the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
and there is some hope that the issues will be addressed. The bad news is that
the USDA, the agency that is responsible for the NEPA review, is being quite
secretive --not responding to information requests, etc.
Wind energy development is clearly a difficult topic. Most of us recognize the
need for clean and renewable energy. Good intentions alone, however, do not
justify abandonment of the precautions that would otherwise be required prior
to industrial-scale development in our remaining wild landscapes.
Rick Webb
HC 4, Box 15
Monterey, Virginia 24465
540-468-2881 phone
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