Wind power at issue in Appalachia

February 10, 2004

by The Associated Press

MEYERSDALE, Pa. (AP) — On a map there are ridges running up and down northern Appalachia with locations every bit as beautiful as their names — Laurel Ridge, the Allegheny Front and Canaan Valley.

Overlaying that map with one that shows a 70-mile corridor of recently completed or proposed wind farms along those same windy ridges is a good illustration of the boom-bust year the wind power industry had in 2003, and also of hurdles to come.

Developers in Appalachia and across the country say they are wrestling with a federal tax credit that expires every two to three years, as it did in 2003, bringing projects to a halt and forcing layoffs. They are also in a constant struggle with a small but persistent opposition to the massive turbines that can be seen for miles.

Opponents say not enough is known about the migratory patterns of birds and bats that fly over Appalachia twice a year, though avian mortality has been limited to date. Others say the flurry of new wind farms is marring some of the most scenic vistas in the country.

Two projects that went on line in 2003, one in Pennsylvania and one in West Virginia, were completed before the federal wind energy production tax credit
expired Dec. 31.

At least three others in West Virginia and Maryland did not make the deadline and are in limbo. A three-year extension of the federal tax credit, 1.8 cents for every kilowatt hour produced, is included in the energy bill now stalled in the Senate.

The on-again, off-again tax credit has created havoc, especially for developers in Appalachia, said Tom Matthews, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Wind Force, based in Wexford.

“The entire industry just goes dormant,” Matthews said. “Particularly in the mid-Atlantic, which has a narrow construction window. It’s extremely difficult to build in mountain ridges in the middle of winter.”

Even if the energy bill is passed tomorrow, work could not begin for months, he said.

U.S. Wind Force’s proposed 150-turbine wind farm in West Virginia and 24-turbine project in Maryland istalled along with the energy bill, he said.

Growth in the wind energy industry has moved in concert with the expiration of the tax credit in recent years.

Last year was the second best on record for the wind power industry with 1,687 megawatts of added generating capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association. That was topped only in 2001, the last year the tax credit expired, when 1,696 megawatts were installed, according to AWEA.

There were 50 megawatts and 400 megawatts brought online in 2000 and 2002, respectively, said Tom Gray, deputy executive director of the trade group.

“It’s not the growth pattern we want, though without the tax credits certainly it would be worse,” Gray said.

Developers insist the industry will eventually be able to go without the federal tax help. They say, however, that consistent growth is essential to the development
of technology that will make wind energy competitive with industries that burn fossil fuels.

The wind industry must still deal with an image problem, in some cases, a literal one.

Karen Irvine, whose family owns a farm on Sandspring Mountain, said new turbines have ruined the picturesque ridges around her property in Meyersdale, a town better known for its annual maple syrup festival than its alternative energy.

But the town was put on the alternative energy map with the completion in December of a 20-turbine wind farm, just before the expiration of the federal tax credit.

“I’m not against clean energy, but there should be better regulations and site selection criteria,” Irvine said. “They are industrial turbines not wind farms.”

If the wind is right, the whirr of the turbine machinery can be heard from at least a thousand yards away.

Regulation varies from state to state, and even town to town. There is no federal oversight, a fact that opponents say has led to states moving forward with
projects with little thought of development just over the border.

There are dozens of existing turbines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and more than 500 proposed for sites in the Appalachian corridor near the borders of both states and in Maryland.

A Washington law firm in a letter addressed to Interior Secretary Gale Norton asked for federal oversight under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service issued voluntary guidelines for siting in 2003, but does not have the power to regulate unless federally listed species are involved.

In a letter last month to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, which regulates wind farm development, Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., said the hundreds of wind mills planned for his state will mar pristine wilderness areas, but what “West Virginia receives in return is scant.”

“The contribution to the electric grid is negligible even if you pollute the Allegheny Mountains with them,” Mollohan said in an interview. “It would have to be a truly redefining project on a massive scale to make a significant contribution to the grid.”

Wind energy producers said there will never be that many wind farms. They say that far from polluting, Appalachia wind farms, which have no toxic emissions,
will help reduce haze and acid rain in the Northeast, byproducts of traditional energy sources.

Developers also say the proximity of the mountains in Appalachia to major population centers is the only viable way right now to get wind-generated energy to the East.

A number of small groups that have tried to slow down construction of wind farms say the same winds that draw developers to Appalachian ridges have drawn migratory birds and bats for centuries.

Several acoustic and radar studies expected to be completed this spring may give both sides a better look at migratory patterns through the Appalachians, which remain somewhat of a mystery.

But when the reports will be released is a mystery as well.

Under an agreement between turbine opponents and developers, results of those studies will not be released until the projects where the studies were done are completed.

Those projects, in Maryland and West Virginia, have been put on hold as developers await a decision on the federal tax credit.