Windmills on Ice Mountain - Gamesa Wind Turbines

In the meantime, has anyone noticed ?? Trees are being cut down up on the ridge top and they are not wasting any time in doing so. It's a d*mn shame !!!

"they" may not be the big "G," Irish. However, someone is cutting them down, for some reason, and they're not wasting any time in doing so. Go up into Northwood and over the bridge that crosses over I99 for a perfect view.

Huge industrial windmills on ridge tops a bad idea

August 27, 2009 by David Gantt in Citizen-Times

We are blessed in Western N.C. with breathtaking views of layer upon layer of Appalachian ridge tops. In 1983, Sugar Top Condos were built on the top of Sugar Mountain in Avery County. Sugar Top Condos rise 131 feet above the ridgeline and can be seen for several miles. These towering condos were so devastating to the scenic splendor of the mountains that the General Assembly wisely enacted strict ridge top laws to stop these monstrosities from appearing throughout our mountains. While the statewide law was too late for Sugar Mountain, the law stopped similar projects of shocking heights and destruction of the mountains. Sugar Top Condos is a permanent reminder that once a structure is built on our mountain tops, we cannot unbuild it.

Our General Assembly has been debating the possibility of large-scale development of a different kind on our ridge tops - industrial wind turbins. The impetus for the debate is whether the 1983 ridge top law should be amended to permit industrial-sized wind farms on top of the mountains. All research indicates that the best place for wind farms are on the highest ridge tops at the highest elevations available. The best type of turbine to harness the wind and create energy would be as tall as Sugar Top Condos - twice as tall as the BB&T building in downtown Asheville. A proposed Mitchell County wind farm would have as many as 20 of these 400-foot-tall structures. I am very proud of Sens. Nesbitt, Queen and Snow for standing up for our mountains and questioning the scope and size of this proposal.

Installation of most of these turbines will also require use of any existing roads as well as construction of additional roads along the ridge tops and space cut up the sides of mountains for the transmission lines. After the proposed permit process, a one-to-three-year impact study of the wind, environment, birds, bats and other wildlife will begin. A July 15 article in the The Mitchell News Journal stated that construction of the wind farm would create 100-plus jobs for one to one and a half years, but only three to seven full-time jobs once operational.

In my view, the argument is not whether wind energy is a preferable alternative to coal-burning power plants. Nor is it about the creation of badly needed jobs. The concern is with the potential to permanently alter, influence and degrade another precious resource: our mountains. A massive change in these mountains would not only affect the natural habitats of birds, bats, bears and other wildlife, but could also impact private land that would be broken up by eminent domain in order to build transmission lines and roads.

I believe that we do not need to rush through permitting wind farms that will not be operational for a minimum of two years and possibly much longer, depending on the length of time it takes to install the turbines, build the road and create the transmission lines.

We should take a hard look at the alternative of small-scale community wind turbines (rather than an industrial wind farm) that will be allowed under the proposed legislation. Can we not create an acquisition process for residential wind turbines that is reasonable for individuals and create jobs that will last longer than one to two years? There are other alternative sources of energy: solar and landfill gas to name only two that can be used both residentially and on a large scale.

We need to give ourselves time to make sure the energy supplied by a wind farm or any other large-scale alternative energy source will intelligently and thoughtfully replace the energy currently created by coal, and not just merely aid our overconsumption and ultimately maintain the status quo. With development of innovative energy-efficiency technologies, the need for any type of energy generation can be reduced and potentially eliminated. I encourage Sens. Nesbitt, Queen and Snow to continue their good fight to preserve and protect our mountaintops. We don't want to repeat the mistakes of 1983. Sugar Top Condos is a permanent reminder of how the ridge tops we all love and cherish can be changed forever.



David Gantt is a Buncombe County commissioner and lawyer in Asheville. He lives in the Limestone area of Buncombe County.

In response to (My Two Cents) , If you are talking about the trees on the left going up the mountain ,They are being taken out due to Gypsy Moth Damage. That is what a gentleman from Penndot told me a couple of weeks ago .

Thanks stringone.... even if that's the.... "reason".... it's a shame that the area was not sprayed, and that it was let go for so long that they reverted to cutting down trees. Turbine devastation and Gypsy Moth devastation.... my, what a pretty picture.

Thanks Ice Man for posting the informative article from the Asheville Citizen Times. I've been hearing whispers of Wind Energy for a couple of years here in Franklin and other Western North Carolina towns. I fear it's coming, sooner or later. Especially since our present Administration thinks it's the answer....

OMG let is rest already, almost 200 pages now?? Seriously???

Actually, I appreciate the wealth of information this whole thread contains. I can appreciate the passion most of you Tyroners have to save your beautiful area from these rapists, for lack of a better word. I have saved this whole thread into a file just in case WNC, for whatever reasoning, takes another look at wind energy. I personally appreciate and thank all of you posters who have taken the time to share your knowledge, articles, agency reports, etc. to make us all aware of the consequences of allowing them to "get one foot in the door".

RedhairNFreckles , I too hope that NC doesn't buy into the windmill fallacy. I have made several trips down the Blue Ridge Parkway. I think it is one of the most beautiful areas in the country, and it would be a shame if they would build a windplant and blight the view (which is the main reasons for travelling the BRP). Tourism in that region would drop drastically... after all, you can see the ridgetops full of towers cropping up all over, so why bother doing the "Drive" if that's all you are going to see. Good luck.

Altoona Mirror
Friday, September 18, 2009

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Wind benefits questioned

I read the Sept. 2 Mirror article headline "Windfarm generates $42 million in funds" several times in order to attempt to find anything that resembled the "generation" of anything positive, for any citizen in our region.

I read about tens of millions of additional dollars in taxpayer money going into the hands of investors who already have been subsidized millions of dollars for their initial investment in area wind turbines and no new jobs for our region. This is simply a reduction of the investors debt.

This story highlights the insult that the wind industry and our state government has pulled over on us - the citizens, municipalities and elected officials who live here in the front range of the Alleghenies. We have no excuse; there have been many concerned citizens warning us of this scam for the last several years.

Just visit a township meeting where an industrial wind turbine project is proposed. You will see hundreds of concerned taxpayers willing to fight these projects packed into township meeting rooms, but elected officials are frightened by the threat of lawsuits by foreign energy companies and our state backing them up.

Foreign companies and hidden investors are plied with taxpayer money to destroy our ridgetops, assult our migratory birds and raptors, create increased erosion and flood risk, all while permanently ruining our vistas and property values, forcing us to listen to the thump and wooshing and watching the strobe effect of sun glinting through the enormous blades 400 feet in the sky.

How can Sens. Robert Casey and Arlen Spector call this a jobs creator for Pennsylvania with only eight jobs - "with some talent being brought in from other areas" included in the eight jobs?

These industrial wind factories are a fitting place for a portion of the stimulous money. Why not reduce the already subsidized project investors another $42 million for the eight existing jobs? This money will follow other money - right into the pockets of hidden investors at the expense of the residents of our region.

The real question may be with all this new energy created from area wind turbines, how many coal or nuclear power plants have been taken off line? How much less energy do we create from our existing coal and nuclear facilities with this new source? The answer is none. Wind energy is not dependable enough in Pennsylvania to reduce the other supplies and maintain a reliable power source, and we have no technology to store electricity in battery form for this scale.

A headline of "$42 million more diverted" would be more fitting. I wish the Mirror would have chosen an expose on this entire wind turbine scandal, rather than a celebratory headline about something good for our area.

Doug Wolf, Altoona