by Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer
KEYSER — The US WindForce Community Advisory Panel met Monday night in Keyser to review plans for use of a community endowment fund the company would establish as part of its Pinnacle wind turbine project, and to review the timeline for the upcoming project hearing before the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
The 6 p.m. meeting at the Wind Lea Banquet and Conference Center occurred as WindForce officials prepare for the Sept. 24 hearing by the PSC. The company is seeking to erect 23 400-foot wind turbines atop Green Mountain just west of Keyser, and the PSC must act on the project application by early January.
“If we get the permit in January, we hope to break ground in April and have the project operational by the end of the year, 2010,” said David Friend, vice president of marketing for WindForce.
The PSC hearing, to be held at the Mineral County Courthouse, will be conducted during two sessions, one at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. “That will be an opportunity for the public to provide both written and verbal testimony,” said James Cookman, vice president of project development for WindForce.
The following day, the three PSC members, together with staff, WindForce officials and both proponents and opponents who have registered as interested parties, will tour the Green Mountain site.
A formal evidentiary proceeding on the Pinnacle project will be held in Charleston in October.
The Community Advisory Panel was established more than a year ago by WindForce to help the company gauge public sentiment and address local concerns related to the Pinnacle project. As the planning process winds down, the panel is playing an active role in determining how the community endowment fund will be set up as it carries forward through the life of the project.
If Pinnacle is approved, WindForce will donate $50,000 to the fund the first year, and $20,000 every year thereafter while the project is active — a period expected to be at least 20 years. Friend said WindForce wants local residents to decide how that money is spent to address area needs.
“We'd like to write the checks and step back,” he said.
The panel appears to be moving toward establishing the fund through the Community Trust Foundation, a local non-profit founded in 2006 to dedicate charitable funds to local needs in Allegany, Garrett and Mineral counties. Among the members of the organization's board of trustees are Mineral County Commissioner Wayne Spiggle, local Realtor Terry Stephens and William Kenny of Westernport.
“Our business is building communities,” said Trish Yoder, executive director of the Community Trust Foundation, who gave a presentation on the organization at Monday's meeting.
Yoder offered a host of examples for how the foundation could help steer the WindForce funding to local needs identified by the Community Advisory Panel.
Also speaking at the meeting was Cumberland physician Dr. Peter Halmos, who helped establish the Community Trust Foundation.
The next meeting of the Community Advisory Panel is set for Thursday, Sept. 3.
Keyser, W.Va. —
