Highland New Wind Development can proceed with its $60 million, mountaintop wind farm, ruled the State Corporation Commission, on the condition that it develop a “post-construction bat and bird mitigation plan.”
The project calls for building 19 windmills reaching 400 feet tall in Highland County — enough to power 20,000 homes. The whirring blades are expected to be deterimental to flying wildlife, however. The SCC order will require Highland New Wind to spend roughly $2 million over 20 years on monitoring, roughly $50,000 a year on measures to minimize the impact on wildlife, and fines of up to $1,500 for the death of rare or endangered birds.
Bacon’s Bottom Line: If we want more renewable energy, we can’t let NIMBYs kill every project that threatens their aesthetic sensibilities. If the windmills can been seen in the far distance from Rt. 250 in the hamlet of Monterey, well, I’m sorry. But wildlife protection is another matter entirely. The SCC has struck a reasonable balance.
Read more details at the Times-Dispatch and Roanoke Times.
(Photo credit of West Virginia windmills: NPR.)
