Frustration reigns over wind facility, budget in Highland

MONTEREY — The Highland County Board of Supervisors adopted a budget for publication that did not raise taxes, but no one on the board seemed happy about it this week, and concerns about the future dominated the meeting.

“We don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” supervisor Robin Sullenberger lamented. He said in the coming year he hoped the county could “deflect” any unfunded mandates from the state.

“We are going to have to work closely with the school board, and try to obtain additional funding,” said supervisor Jerry Rexrode. “We ended up funding a lot of their requests. They are of the same mind we are. How is the school going to operate on a reduced budget in the next few years? In the next 12 months, we need to have a lot of work sessions (with the school board).”

Supervisor David Blanchard was clearly frustrated. “How are we going to get more people to come to this county to use our restaurants, to go to our businesses, and to live? — $2,167 (the money the board approved for the Virginia’s Western Highlands Tourism initiative) is a start to that. I am going to continue to discuss this, continue to bring it up.

“It is really frustrating for me to know what to tell taxpayers (about Highland New Wind Development),” he added. The county is facing litigation because of what HNWD chooses to do, or not to do, with the project, he said. “We are being pulled into it,” Blanchard said. “I can’t give people a good answer.”

“I tell them the truth,” said Rexrode. “The project is moving forward. If someone wants to sue us, that is their choice. At this time, HNWD has done everything that we asked. We have inspectors on the job to inspect. A lot of people are talking about wanting the project stopped, but that’s not where we are at right now. All the public hearings have been held and the permits granted and we are moving forward.”

“We made a decision that this will be good for the county,” said Blanchard. “We are stuck in the middle. That is where I have the greatest stumbling block.”

Rexrode said old arguments against the industrial wind facility were being raised again, but it’s too late to do anything about it. “We looked at all of that stuff that you are being questioned about,” said Rexrode. “We’ve done that. It is done. If an incidental take permit is required, that’s his (HNWD) decision. We were told by legal counsel we could not require an incidental take permit. You can’t thrash an issue over and over. You have got to move forward.”

“This board has every right to be frustrated,” county attorney Melissa Dowd said. “The county board of supervisors and the county itself have been placed in the middle of this whole thing. Folks, and rightly so, have been somewhat frustrated. The real issue starts at the very beginning. They wanted to do this and the whole Commonwealth of Virginia has no procedure (for wind turbines). The prior board addressed it with the only tool they had — a conditional use permit, a land-use decision. It was a very awkward tool … There was a lot of stumbling, feeling it out as the board went along. That board, when the conditional use permit was granted, came up with pieces they had authority to deal with under the zoning ordinance. It wasn’t the best tool to make a decision for the county. The process has been followed at every step based on what was required of Highland County or the Board of Supervisors (at the time). That leaves you with a result that is frustrating.

“With legal issues there is never a black and white, there is always an, ‘it depends,’” she continued. “If you follow one group, you risk a suit from the other side … What has been weighed by our legal staff is the probability of winning a suit from either side.”

Dowd said the board couldn’t go back and change things just because they know how to do it better now. “You can’t now say, ‘Here is the process that you have to follow,’” she said.

“It would be nice to have HNWD accept more of the burden for this,” said Blanchard.

“What burden are you talking about?” Rexrode asked. “Is there action required on the incidental take per mit?” Blanchard replied. “Remove the county from the middle.”

Sullenberger added his own impressions on the project. “We, unfortunately, had to be the poster child for what needed to be developed for this industry to be scrutinized in Virginia,” he said. “There will be the potential for litigation as long as the project is in the construction phase and beyond. It’s the nature of the beast. There are those that believe there are things that should have been done that haven’t been done. We are stuck with that situation.

“The county has come out on the winning end of all of those (court cases),” he added. “Whether you agree or no, it is incredibly difficult to overturn a land-use decision in the court system.”

“It all comes down to a group of citizens that are trying to get this decision overturned,” said Rexrode. “What does an incidental take permit do? It doesn’t stop a project. It says, ‘You pay money if you kill an endangered species. It is just another tool. The incidental take permit was discussed at length. The State Corporation Commission would have put one on (HNWD) if they thought one should be put on.”

Sullenberger said Pocahontas County, W.Va. commissioner David Fleming wanted to avoid the problems with wind development that Highland County experienced. “He implies he wants us to redo what was done,” said Sullenberger. “I’m not convinced we have the authority or the prerogative to do that.”

The supervisors turned the floor over to the public for comments.

Lee Blagg, a former member of the board and a Doe Hill farmer, spoke from the lectern.

“I commend you for keeping the tax rates (the same),” he said. “It’s one of the saddest statements I can make.”

He explained. “Farmers are going to the bank to borrow money to pay the taxes. Litigation is one of the reasons we have a 40-cent tax bill.

“How do we get people coming to Highland County?” he said. “We ought to just keep the ones we got.

He said farmers pay $20-$50 a day in property taxes. “It costs us $33 a day and we’re a medium-sized operation,” he said. “When you lay that on the table every day, who cares about the wind turbines?

“We (farmers) pay the most taxes,” he said. “We keep it (Highland County) looking the way it does. The tax bill is the No. 1 expense.

“We are in serious shape and you care about an incidental take permit,” he said sarcastically.

Coyotes will eat more endangered species than a wind turbine can kill, he added. “You are worried about stuff that doesn’t make any sense,” he continued. “For 40 years we haven’t done anything. We are losing the school system. When my generation is not here any longer, there won’t be anyone here to run the show and tell them what to do. In the four years I was on the board, I never had a man, woman or child give me an alternative (to the tax revenue generated by wind power).”

“Most lawsuits are designed to inflict pain and suffering,” he said. “I know because I’ve been involved in them. I will look the person in the eye and tell them to explain to me why they want to sue the county.”

For Blagg, the status quo means the end of a way of life. “It’s about the next generation,” he said. “It’s about maintaining a lifestyle. Watching Highland County is like watching a friend with cancer and you can’t do anything about it.”