Last update: 4 February 2008
Highland New Wind Development, owned by H. T. “Mac” McBride of Harrisonburg, VA, has proposed building as many as twenty-two 400-foot wind turbines on his land at Red Oak Knob and Tamarack Ridge on the crest of the Allegheny Mountain. The latest version of this facility would consist of 19 two-megawatt turbines, generating up to 38 MW of power. Highlanders for Responsible Development is opposed to the wind turbines for a number of reasons.
Advertisement in The Recorder, November 2005, which gives some additional insight into our position on the wind-turbine issue. In January 2006 we sent a letter to HRD associates regarding the upcoming SCC hearings.
HRD presented an informational meeting on 26 February 2006 at The Highland Center in Monterey. On the agenda were speakers addressing the upcoming SCC public hearings and a general sharing of ideas. Details about the meeting are in our ad in The Recorder.
Article from The Recorder reporting on Dan Boone’s talk at the meeting.
Article from The Recorder reporting on Lucile Miller’s talk at the meeting.
Article from The Recorder reporting on Steve Fullerton’s talk at the meeting.
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Highland New Wind Development filed its permit appliction with the State Corporation Commission in November 2005, case no PUE-2005-00101. The SCC held four public hearings in Monterey in March 2006. The Recorder published a detailed report on the issues to be covered at these hearings in its 6 January edition, SCC sets wind plan hearings.
Reports are available on the March SCC hearings and a second round of hearings in November as well as links to the HNWD application and other documents. The Planning Commission once more reviewed the HNWD project and determined that, in their minds, it conforms to the Comprehensive Plan. Reports on these meetings are also available.
There was a hearing on 12 December 2005 in Highland County court on a citizen suit to block the Highland New Wind Development project on a variety of planning, zoning, and procedural issues. Attorneys for the Highland County Supervisors filed a variety of motions requesting that the suit be dismissed without a hearing, all of which were rejected by the judge. The case went to trial on 27 June 2006 and ultimately was decided in favor of the supervisors. The Recorder published two detailed reports on this preliminary hearing in its 16 December edition. These are available on line at:
Wind energy suit will go to trial
Plaintiffs trump county’s bid to dismiss suit.
When these cases were decided unfavorably in the local court, Highland citizens appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court. Those appeals were dismessed on technicalities, without the justices ever considering the merits of the cases.
Early on, in February 2005, Highlanders appealed to the county planning commission to adopt zoning amendments that would prohibit industrial wind development in the county. This appeal was ignored as the commission approved amendments proposed by the Board of Supervisors, which favored such development, over the objections of most of the citizens of the county. That decision led to the above court case.
In December 2007 the State Corporation Commission issued a permit to HNWD for its project. The SCC attached stringent conditions to the permit, requiring in-depth monitoring of wildlife impacts for the life of the project and the development of mitigation measures under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The ball is now in HNWD’s court and they have not indicated their next move. It is unclear whether the conditions attached to the SCC permit are sufficient to cause potential investors to shun the project. If HNWD is to move forward they must apply for a local building permit. Meanwhile, elections for county supervisor were held last November. Only one of the two proponents of this project remains on the board. We hope that this will mean closer scrutiny of HNWD if they ever proceed with construction.
