The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Our Readers Speak

May 20, 2009

Our Readers Speak — May 21, 2009

Windmills don’t destroy mountains, pollute water

The people who support windmills on Coal River Mountain are apparently better informed about the alternative than some people who rant about pretended environmental concerns about wind energy.

We are totally against mountaintop removal, which is the devastating alternative for this mountain. To suggest that wind farms would compare in damage to mountaintop removal demonstrates vast ignorance of both methods of electricity generation. Wind farms don’t destroy mountains, pollute our water or degrade our communities, and they provide lasting, safe jobs in their construction and maintenance.

Yes, we use coal to make the steel for wind turbines, but that is a far better use for steel than coal-fired power plants. Windmills provide clean, sustainable energy that will be there long after the coal is gone, which could be within 15-20 years. We’ll continue to mine and burn coal for electricity until we have developed enough clean, renewable energy and efficiency measures to stop depending on it. There will naturally be a transition period. But we must make a concerted effort to develop our wind energy to ensure an affordable, available energy source for when the coal runs out. And just as buggy makers and blacksmiths became automakers and mechanics with the rise of the auto industry, so can coal workers become green energy workers if we diversify our economy before it’s too late.

Mountaintop removal destroys the economic feasibility of developing wind because the wind resource is related to the ridge altitude. Wind can provide the vast majority of West Virginia’s electricity, and the land area disturbed would be a tiny fraction of that of mountaintop removal. Compare that to the fact that only one out of 16 tons of coal mined in West Virginia provides electricity to West Virginians.

Mountain residents deserve to no longer be considered collateral damage for coal company profit margins. We deserve this chance to rebuild our communities with clean energy, green jobs and strong enforcement of safety measures for underground coal miners during the transition. This is our message and it has been consistent. Some people have just not been listening.

Vernon Haltom

Naoma

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