October 13 Hearing Will Go Forward!

According to Kathleen Kilpatrick, Director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the October 13 public hearing with Highland New Wind Development (HNWD) will go forward. Visual impact evidence regarding Camp Allegheny Battlefield will be presented at the hearing, the purpose of which is is to determine whether or not HNWD has met the conditions of the Virginia State Corporation Commission's (SCC) Final Order of December 20, 2007.

Anne Adams, publisher of The Recorder (Monterey, VA), who spoke with Ms. Kilpatrick both before and after her October 6 private meeting with HNWD, is convinced that the enormous public outcry is responsible for Ms. Kilpatrick's change of focus.

The People succeeded in reminding Ms. Kilpatrick that it is her tax-payer-funded duty to protect historic resources, not to make things easy for wind power developers.

Thank you to everyone who wrote, emailed and called.

Because of your efforts, accurate information regarding the location, pristine condition, and historic and cultural significance of Camp Allegheny Battlefield, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and widely considered to be among the most well-preserved Civil War battlefields in the nation, will be presented before the SCC for the first time.

HNWD's assertion before the SCC (repeated most recently at the September 23 "Motion in Limine" hearing), that Camp Allegheny is 2 or 3 miles from the closest proposed wind turbines will be revealed to be a falsehood.

Citizens of Virginia and West Virginia have come together to develop physical presentations of evidence (including a topographic map, line-of-site measurements, photographs, and historical accounts) that show, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the key battle area,Varner cemetery, and Varner homestead battlefield hospital are all within 1.5 miles of the closest proposed turbines. This evidence also puts paid to HNWD's insistence before the SCC and in the media that no sites of archaeological or architectural interest exist at Camp Allegheny. (See the slideshow below.)

While it is true that the Battlefield includes land that is 2 or more miles away from the closest proposed turbine, HNWD's "viewshed analysis" consisted of a single snapshot taken from that most-distant vantage point . This photo does not constitute a "viewshed analysis," let alone a "visual impact study," not according to the best management practices of wind power developers in other areas of the country, where cooperation with regulatory agencies and transparency with the community are valued and demanded.

If Hearing Examiner Alexander Skirpan rules as Brightside Acres believes the evidence must compel him to rule, then on October 13 he will find that HNWD has not met the conditions of the SCC's Final Rule. Mr. Skirpan will find that HNWD has not conducted the visual, archaeological or architectural studies necessary to evaluate and ultimately to mitigate negative impact on Camp Allegheny. He will order HNWD to take further action.