An unidentified company has filed a “pre-application” to construct 90 400-foot wind turbines in parts of Virginia’s George Washington and Thomas Jefferson national forests. Eighteen miles of national forest crest line would be affected by the proposal, says Rick Webb, an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia who opposed another wind farm proposal, since approved, in Highland County. (See the story on NVDaily.com.)
Given the incentives to develop renewable energy resources, Webb sees the application as a sign of things to come. “This is the tip of the iceberg.”
Here’s what’s going on: Virginia, like many other states, has set a goal for electric utilities to generate a significant percentage of their electric power from renewable energy sources in the near/mid-term future. Dominion has been buying wind power projects, and in November it issued a Request for Proposal for more renewable energy projects. (Last week Dominion pronounced that it was “pleased” by the response, which included ideas for wind, hydro, biomass and solar.)
At present, wind power and biomass are the more economically competitive of the renewable energy sources. But they tend to be small-scale, and a large number of projects will need to be built to generate sufficient electricity to meet the state’s quotas for renewable fuels. Consequently, there will be intense pressure to build on the limited number of renewable-fuel sites that are available.
I don’t know for a fact that the proposal for wind farms in the national forest is directly tied to the Dominion solicitation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is — the timing is surely more than coincidental. Regardless, the hearings for the wind power proposal undoubtedly will be a replay of the controversial Highland County project — where concerns surfaced about the giant turbine blades killing birds and bats — compounded by the fact that the scenic vistas of national forest are being despoiled.
Thus, under the guise of environmental values, public policy in Virginia is promoting renewable energy. But under a different set of environmental values, we’ll find that many of those projects are undesirable.
To my way of thinking, energy conservation is the most pristine environmental policy of all — avoid consuming the electricity in the first place. Of course, our current regulatory apparatus encourages Dominion and other electric utilities to pursue renewable energy sources, whatever the cost, because they can pass on the cost to rate payers. By contrast, power companies in Virginia only undercut their market when they invest in conservation measures.
We’re getting what we wished for, and we may not like it.
(Credit for photo of mountain-ridge wind turbines: Appalachian Voice Front Porch Blog.)
