Backers Push Wind Farming

By The Associated Press

BECKLEY – Neighbors concerned about living near strip mines are banding together with environmental groups to push wind farming instead of more mining in Southern West Virginia.

Supporters say a wind farm atop Raleigh County’s Coal River Mountain offers better economic, social and environmental benefits than more surface mines. On Tuesday, they asked the Raleigh County Commission to support a wind farm.

“Our concern today is our homes, our environment and the sustainability of the environment,” said Lorelei Scarbro, who owns property near a proposed 6,600-acre mine. “We want Raleigh County to be in the forefront of renewable energy sources.” The idea also has support from the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and Coal River Mountain Watch.

A 2006 study found the mountain could accommodate 220 wind turbines capable of generating 2 megawatts apiece, said Coal River Mountain Watch’s Rory McIlmoil. According to McIlmoil, that’s enough to power more than 150,000 homes or 90,000 total customers, including residential, commercial and industrial users.

“Once the coal is gone, there will be no more jobs available, the water will be contaminated, many of the residents will have moved out or been bought out,” he said. “The forest, another source of potential jobs and revenue, will be gone for decades to come, as will the possibility of producing clean wind energy on the scale that is currently available.”

Commission President Pat Reed directed supporters to the local economic development authority. West Virginia has two wind farms in the northern part of the state.

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