Giant windmills over Ashton Woods?
Please be aware and voice your opposition (or approval) if this becomes a possibility.
Short Mountain Wildlife Management Area is getting 19 Windmills placed on the ridge. This is a similar Wildlife Management area to Nathaniel Mountain Wildlife Management Area, a short distance away.
I believe it will hurt our property values.
Tim
15 Responses
Explains why we have been receiving letters from developers wanting to buy our land.
Great…and we thought the powerline would come back. 🙁 This is just as bad.
There is a significant amount of robust and statistically-sound research out there that wind farms have no impact on property values, or more precisely that there is a demonstrated “lack of harm”. DOE has links to various studies on their website, including one major study done in 2009 by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where authors collected data on almost 7,500 sales of single family homes situated within 10 miles of 24 existing wind facilities in nine U.S. states. From their results:
“The various analyses are strongly consistent in that none of the models uncovers conclusive evidence of the existence of any widespread property value impacts that might be present in communities surrounding wind energy facilities. Specifically, neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices. Although the analysis cannot dismiss the possibility that individual homes or small numbers of homes have been or could be negatively impacted, it finds that if these impacts do exist, they are either too small and/or too infrequent to result in any widespread, statistically observable impact.” Source (US Dept. of Energy): https://windexchange.energy.gov/projects/property-values
There’s also quite a bit of non-academic literature out there on this topic, most of which supports these conclusions. And while you can also find articles that claim the contrary, I thought the following quote from one article responded to this quite well:
“The evidence for property value impacts is very weak in comparison to the evidence for lack of harm. The studies showing lack of harm are much more robust methodologically and statistically, with much greater rigour which prevents biased selections and comparisons. Property value impacts continue to be assessed at great expense, but every robust study finds that there is no correlation between sales prices and nearby wind farms, and the most recent studies show that there is no impact on rate of sales of properties near wind farms either.” Source: https://medium.com/the-future-is-electric/if-wind-farm-impact-property-values-it-appears-to-be-positively-f205c7787d10
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, West Virginia is the State most dependent on coal for electricity, and among the least dependent on renewables. I would argue that having more windfarms in our area would increase property values, particularly from a large and ever-growing population of buyers coming from the DC area that want to have the option of sourcing their electricity from renewable sources. As our winters continue to get more mild, our summers hotter, and forest fire seasons get longer nation-wide, I would encourage people to reconsider your support for energy developments that would help to stem the inputs fueling these negative environmental changes.
Thanks for alerting! For the Nathaniel mtn, do you know what lot is near it so I can get my bearings?
Can we do anything now to protest this?
Hi Tammey,
See https://www.google.com/maps/place/Short+Mountain+Wildlife+Management+Area/@39.1936545,-78.9417034,11z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89b5761754da3963:0x88f221e7f274fb1e!8m2!3d39.1968474!4d-78.6739117!16zL20vMDgzdDJy
where you can see that Short Mountain Wildlife Management Area is behind you. Nathaniel Mountain Wildlife Management Area is even in between your property and Short Mountain Wildlife Management Area.
Hi Tammey,
See https://www.google.com/maps/place/Short+Mountain+Wildlife+Management+Area/@39.1936545,-78.9417034,11z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89b5761754da3963:0x88f221e7f274fb1e!8m2!3d39.1968474!4d-78.6739117!16zL20vMDgzdDJy
where you can see that Short Mountain Wildlife Management Area is behind you. Nathaniel Mountain Wildlife Management Area is even in between your property and Short Mountain Wildlife Management Area.
Please let us know how we can get involved or who to call to oppose this!
Tim, thanks for your note and very helpful information. We are grateful.
I just spent time researching the status of the project, and here’s what I found:
* A company by the name of Invenergy is behind the project. Their website includes proposed maps.
https://shortmountainwind.invenergy.com/#aboutTheProject
* A Facebook group called “Preserve Short Mountain – say NO to WIND FARMS” last posted in April 2022 cautioning against the wind turbines but no recent postings are shown.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081677270511&locale=hi_IN
* The same group created a petition and includes who in Hardy County to contact to voice your opinion.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-turbines-rezoning-on-short-mountain-hardy
* Two “Moorefield Examiner” articles said the Hardy County Planning Commission had denied the request for Invenergy to build the wind turbines (article published 12 Jan 2022), and the project had stalled due to zoning issues — Invenergy wanted to build in an area zoned for residential (published 9 Feb 2022). Separately, the 9 Feb article mentioned a bill going through the WV State Legislative in 2022 that would have made it easier for Invenergy and other companies to ignore such zoning issues, but that bill seems to have gotten stuck in committee and never voted on by the WV State Legislature.
https://moorefieldexaminer.s3.amazonaws.com/Moorefield+Examiner+1_12_22.pdf
https://moorefieldexaminer.s3.amazonaws.com/Moorefield+Examiner+2-9-22.pdf
I can’t find anything for 2023, so perhaps the project is still stalled? Tim, or anyone else, have you all received updated information that the project is moving forward again. Even if it’s only rumblings about continued interest in the project, it’s useful to understand, so folks can contact Hardy County.
Tim, thank you again for making us aware of the wind turbine project on Short Mount. Whatever the current status, it’s good to know about the planning efforts in case they start up again in the future.
Hilary Collins
Lot 219
As a retired county employee, it is my understanding : the windmills are to create addition electric for the grid- Allegheny Power. They are worthless to local government, only bringing salvage value taxes to the county, a small lease to landowners and no electric to anyone in WV. However the windmills would create loud noise and additional winds for folks living closed to them. Currently on the political side of things, (?) are using the farm bureau to lobby against the Hardy County zoning plan at the state level. Without zoning the planning commission says the windmills will be built. In grant county, the folks used the birds to try and stop them. This delay the windmill project for a few years only. I am against municipal zoning in a class 3 county. It has a major increased in cost associated in future development of your property. They say this will stop your neighbor from putting a pig pen 40 feet from your home. This is not true in WV’s number 1 agriculture county . Just my opinion… Rose
Not sure why my initial comment on 3/28 is still awaiting moderation when several others have posted on this thread since. Not going to repeat the whole comment, but I happy to share more info and the sources if anyone’s interested. There is a significant amount of robust and statistically-sound research out there that wind farms have no impact on property values, or more precisely that there is a demonstrated “lack of harm”. The U.S. Department of Energy has links to various studies on their website (https://windexchange.energy.gov/projects/property-values).
I’ll also note that according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, West Virginia is the State MOST dependent on coal for electricity, and among the least dependent on renewable energy sources. I would argue that having more windfarms in our area would increase property values, particularly from a large and ever-growing population of buyers coming from the DC area that want to have the option of sourcing their electricity from renewable sources. The buyer trends in Lost River are a good example of this. As our winters continue to get more mild, our summers hotter and drier, and forest fire seasons get longer nation-wide, I would encourage everyone to reconsider your support for energy developments that would help to stem the inputs fueling these negative environmental changes.
Cheers,
Ed Gorecki
Eminent Oxford Scientist says Wind Power “Fails on Every Count”, Professor Wade Allison, March 2022.
Besides that, the natural beauty of our mountains are degraded by these imposing structures day and night.
They create light pollution for Astronomers. Do you enjoy looking at blinking red lights all night?
And the Bald Eagles were just making a comeback in the Potomac Valley. These blades have killed uncountable birds that use the uplift to soar and thrive.
The article referenced was funded by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). GWPF is the United Kingdom’s most high-profile climate denier group (multiple sources via google search on this), so anyone should be highly skeptical of the claims made in this article. Second, the arguments made in that article have little bearing on this discussion, as it’s well understood that wind is an intermittent source of power, and that physics and our current technological capacity limit how much electricity we can harness from wind. What it fails to acknowledge is that wind farms and other renewables aren’t putting CO2 into the atmosphere.
I would argue that the aesthetics of wind farms are subjective, and red is the lowest energy visible light, thus the lowest contributor to light pollution. Personally I like watching the blades spin on wind farms, and the lights don’t really bother me. It’s a visual testament of human ingenuity and environmental consideration (but again, this is subjective).
However, the concerns raised regarding bird strikes are legitimate. Windfarms did in fact cause significant damage to bird populations (specifically the California Condor) in the 1960s. Turbines structures back then were made with a lattice structure which attracted the condors to nest, increasing the likelihood of strikes. The modern single column structures of modern windmills have eliminated this issue. Further, federal permitting for wind farm placement has also become much more rigorous, requiring in-depth environmental impact assessments (EIAs) that look at potential bird impacts, relative to major flight/migration corridors. Today, wind turbines represent an insignificant fraction of the total number of bird deaths caused by man-made objects or activities. Admittedly, I had hard time sorting through the multitude of articles out there about this issue to find a truly authoritative, non-biased source, and I don’t have a lot of time to research this thoroughly, but the general consensus was that domesticated cats kills something like 10,000 birds for every bird or bat killed by a windmill; glass windows on tall buildings are somewhere in the middle between those two figures.
If this proposed wind farm managed to clear all of the federal and state permitting hurdles, then you can rest assured that the environmental impacts of this would be minimal, particularly compared to the net positive effects of clean energy production.
Try Uranium, it’s cheaper, more efficient and lot less ugly for God’s beautiful mountains in WV! period
I’ll say this as someone who moved from the suburbs to get away from noise, bad neighbors and so on, I wouldn’t want wind farms either in my view or anywhere it could impact my enjoyment of the property. I already have to do 3 days in Ashburn working on site and I specifically relocated into a development like Ashton Woods for it’s privacy and peace. I don’t know anyone I work with who wants them either and we all work in an industry heavily involved with electrical development and use, so we know the benefits and drawbacks of particular sources of generation. I wouldn’t trust interested parties or agenda based articles from international sources as an indicator of harm on property values and I very much doubt I am the only one who feels this way moving from the DC suburbs. The primary attraction of living here is the views and quiet. This is very troubling.
as a side note I used to drive across the country routinely about every 4 months for work. I watched in the years as scenic vistas and the natural beauty of the southwest was destroyed by wind farms. Not a single place in Death Valley is free from them now and you cannot look at an untouched mountain slope anymore. It’s the same along the brackish marsh land in the upper San Francisco bay area, the western hills of Arkansas, or across the Texas Panhandle. I would hate to see this kind of habitat destruction come to West Virginia let alone our community.
Amen, I had a hard time selling my property in Mt Storm a couple years ago, I eventually sold it at a loss. One reason was the windmills, which were considered an eyesore for potential buyers.