Lawmakers Approve
Wind Power Ban
Jul 14 - The News & Observer - Raleigh, N.C.
Senate lawmakers this afternoon brought the state a step closer to a total
ban on commercial wind development on North Caorlina's mountain tops with an
overwhelming vote in the Senate Finance Committee of the General Assembly.
Panel members agreed to restrict wind power development to residential uses
on towers limited to 100 feet tall. That restriction prohibits commercial
wind farms, which link multiple turbines that can exceed 300 feet.
Wind power advocates say banning wind power development in the western part
of the state would prevent harnessing nearly 800 megawatts of estimated wind
potential in the mountains, equivalent to a mid-sized nuclear power plant.
The full Senate could take up the measure as early as this week in Raleigh.
The House also will review the proposal.
Sen. Martin Nesbitt Jr., a Democrat of Buncombe County, said erecting a
fleet of industrial-scale wind turbines would destroy pristine views and mar
the landscape by requiring new roads to be built to access the turbines for
maintenance and to run transmission lines.
"You're not going to plop them down along our ridge lines and destroy
everything we have up there," he said to other lawmakers before today's
vote.
"Some of these things are as tall as the Bank of America in Charlotte,"
Nesbitt said. "If anyone wants to bring in a whole fleet, we will have a
holy war."
The vote this afternoon clarified the 1983 Mountain Ridge Protection Act,
which bans tall structures along mountain ridges, but makes exemptions for
steeples, flagpoles, antennas and windmills. Wind power advocates have
argued that windmills include commercial wind turbines, but wind energy
developers were reluctant to invest in a costly project as long as the
meaning of the law was not settled.
A proposal several years ago to build between 25 and 28 commercial wind
turbines in Ashe County died after meeting fierce opposition from local
communities.
North Carolina's tallest mountains have among the best wind energy resources
in the nation, with average annual speeds as high as 25 miles per hour. Wind
resources on the coast and offshore average between 15 m.p.h. and 20 m.p.h.,
while wind speeds in Raleigh average about 9 m.p.h. and are considered
inadequate for commercial development.
Sen. Joe Sam Queen, a Democrat who represents western counties, said the
proper place for commercial wind development is on the coast, offshore and
in the Midwest.
"Let wind be developed elsewhere while we protect the mountains," said
Queen, who represents Avery, Haywood, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell and Yancey
counties.
john.murawski@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8932
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