Published: January 15, 2009 08:10 pm      

Tazewell officials get up-close view of windmills

TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell County officials may have gotten a glimpse of the future during their recent visit to Mount Storm in neighboring West Virginia.

“I’ve learned a lot,” David Anderson, chairman of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, said of his visit to a large windmill site near Elkins. “To actually see one on site — you don’t realize the magnitude of it until you see it on site.”

Anderson, Bluefield, Va. Town Manager Todd Day, and other officials traveled to the Mount Storm windmill site in hopes of learning more about a large-scale windmill proposal for East River Mountain. Several companies are looking to develop as many as 60, 400-foot tall windmills along the crest of East River Mountain.

“We actually toured the facility, and went inside of the windmills,” Anderson said. “They are huge structures.”

Anderson, and Tazewell County Attorney Eric Young, also confirmed Thursday that at least one company is now taking steps to pursue an option on land in Tazewell County for wind energy.

“It’s an option agreement saying they have a certain amount of time (to purchase the land),” Young said.

Young said the company is still in the process of acquiring the land.

Anderson said if land is purchased, it won’t change the ridgeline protection ordinance being considered by the Board of Supervisors, or a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 3 in Tazewell on the windmill issue.

“They are a landowner,” Anderson said. “That doesn’t change the public hearing or the direction we are heading right now.”

Anderson said the tour of the Mount Storm facility was a part of the fact-finding process of local officials.

“I’ve been actively pursuing as much knowledge as I can get,” Anderson said. “I’m just still trying to do my homework, and get as much information as possible and prepare for the public hearing on Feb. 3.”

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com