West Virginia Highlands Voice

News update and call for letters re: Highland New Wind Development’s proposed turbines on Tamarack Ridge in Virginia that would heavily impact the Camp Allegheny Battlefield in West Virginia. (The location is on both sides of US 250 at the WV-VA border.)

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources issued a formal complaint to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on August 19. On August 26, the SCC issued an Order for a hearing regarding Highland New Wind’s failure to address historic concerns to be held September 23. Paul Hawke, Chief of the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service wrote a letter to the SCC, as did Congressman Nick Rahall.

According to Hawke, through masterful exploitation of loopholes in the law, arising from the fact that the turbines are located in Virginia while the historic property adjacent to it is in WV, Highland New Wind has avoided all evaluation of the impact of the development on a National Register site.

If the SCC does not insist that Highland New Wind evaluate and minimize the impact of the turbines on Camp Allegheny, it will set a disastrous precedent indeed for the protection of viewsheds throughout the region.

Hawke’s deputy director, Tanya Gossett, told Dawn Baldwin that it was important to get as many letters to the SCC as possible.

For more info and a model letter, see Dawn’s website:
http://Brightsideacres.com/Save_Camp_Allegheny/