Jun 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Cody Lowe The Roanoke Times, Va.


A Roanoke Valley nonprofit organization that promotes energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions has endorsed a controversial windmill farm on Poor Mountain.

The Chicago-based Invenergy company proposes to place 15 to 18 windmills standing some 440 feet high on the ridgeline near the Bent Mountain community.

The Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition board of directors unanimously endorsed the plan earlier this month.

Diana Christopulos, the coalition's principal officer, said Monday that while her organization has given away thousands of fluorescent light bulbs in recent years, "we know that can't solve the whole problem. ... We have to use clean, renewable energy."

 The board studied the proposal for months before deciding to endorse it -- with the provision that it receive all the necessary environmental and other regulatory approvals.

The windmills could reduce carbon emissions by 98,000 tons annually by replacing some of the electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, Christopulos said, adding that they could generate up to 45 million watts of electricity, enough to power about 10,000 homes.

There's a nearby transmission line owned by Appalachian Power Co., which she said would help mitigate environmental impacts of the windmills.

At a public meeting earlier this year, though, some Bent Mountain residents expressed objections to the project.

Those included fears that the turbines -- which will be approximately twice as tall as the nearby radio and television towers on Poor Mountain -- will be a visual blight, as well as cause environmental damage, particularly by killing birds and bats.

Christopulos said her board visited the site and considered the project's environmental and recreational effects, the overall nearby land uses, and its impact on wildlife. She said it is likely to be negligible compared with the negatives associated with the use of fossil fuels, the existence of tall buildings and house cats.

Cool Cities did not consider the project's aesthetics.

"We're really excited. We understand some people we agree with on 90 percent of other issues may disagree with us on this. But we will not call them names and we hope they will not call us names," Christopulos said.

Ed Elswick, the Roanoke County supervisor who represents the area, said he and county staff are still studying the proposal.

"I hope they [Cool Cities] have done a little research before issuing opinions about windmills in an area [where] they don't live," he said.

The $80 million to $100 million project wouldn't be completed before late 2012.

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