By Richard Kerns
rkerns@news-tribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer

NEW CREEK – Members of the US WindForce Community Advisory Panel met this week at the New Creek Volunteer Fire Department to review wildlife reports and other updates from the proposed Pinnacle windpower project.
The Pinnacle project seeks to erect 23 turbines atop Green Mountain, running from the northern end of the Allegheny Wildlife Management Area, northward about 3 miles to the end of the ridgeline near the Potomac River.
In development since 2003, the project is approaching the end of the planning stage, with WindForce officials planning to submit the application to the West Virginia Public Service Commission by December.
“We're getting real close to being ready,” said James Cookman, vice president of project develoment for US WindForce.
Once the application is filed, the PSC has up to 300 days to act on it. That would allow for construction startup around early 2010, if the PSC approves the project. The application itself will be contained in three 6-inch-thick binders documenting every aspect of the project and its potential impact on the community and the environment, from archeological sites to migratory birds.
As part of the company's planning effort, the Community Advisory Panel has been meeting since the spring. With a Charleston public relations firm serving as coordinator between the company and citizens, numerous meetings have been held to outline the project and gain input on community concerns about its impact.
Monday's meeting, which was followed by an open house, drew only a handful of residents and a few public officials, including Mineral County Coordinator Mike Bland, and Keyser City Councilmen Jim Endler and Ed Miller.
David Friend, vice presi-dent of sales and marketing for US WindForce, said the community has embraced the project, which will create more than 100 construction jobs, and about a half-dozen permanent positions for maintaining the turbines.
“None of this is a surprise to the people of Keyser,” he said. “There's been an incredible amount of support. It really hasn't had any opposition.”
Once completed, the wind farm will have a maximum generating power of about 72 megawatts, or about 215 million kilowatt-hours per year. The average American household uses just over 10,000 kilowatt-hours per year, so that the wind farm will supply electricity equivalent to the annual power needs of about 21,000 homes.
Electricity generated at Pinnacle will enter the grid through an existing transmission line that crosses the property.
This week's meeting focussed in part on concerns about the impact on wildlife. One member of the citizens' group expressed concern about the impact on bear hunting in the wildlife area, saying hunters fear the project may push bruins east toward areas not open to hunting. Friend said studies have found that while the bears will move during construction to avoid human activity, they generally return once the construction is completed.
Jennie Henthorn of Henthorn Environmental Consultants, said detailed wildlife studies have found that wind projects in general and Pinnacle in particular are environmentally friendly. She noted that the project must win the approval not only of the PSC, but the Department of Natural Resources and the Fish and Wildlife agency. “We have to please all three of them with what we file,” she said. “Based on wildlife concerns, Pinnacle is a favorable site.”
The next meeting of the Community Advisory Panel will be Nov. 3 at Wind Lea. Among the topics to be discussed is a community fund US WindForce will establish for civic projects in Mineral County.