West Virginia Wind Farm Study Released

Coal River Mountain Watch recently published a study purporting to show that a wind project on Coal River Mountain in Raleigh County would produce far more in taxes and benefits for the citizens of Raleigh County than would be produced by mining coal by the mountaintop removal process. The study relies heavily on the "externalities" associated with coal - excess deaths and illnesses, and environmental damage - to buttress the conclusion that coal mining is not economically reasonable. More specifically, the Executive Summary states that "[e]ven without comparing it with the wind scenarios, the mountaintop removal scenario is not defensible from the perspective of Raleigh County citizens when considering just two externalities: excess deaths and illnesses, and environmental damage." Of course, weighing the benefits of coal mining against its detriments (and there are several) requires coming up with some metric for accurately comparing costs and benefits of dissimilar things, such as taxes paid, and natural resources damaged. Having been involved in similar economic calculations justifying proposed development projects, I believe it is fair to say that the valuations used by opposing parties often involve wild flights of fancy. That is true whether parties are valuing natural resources to defeat a project, or calculating the economic benefits of projects to support them.

It is interesting to note that even the authors of the study acknowledge that land owners have concluded that "[w]ind farm revenues were found to be much lower than those realized through mountaintop removal." Since severance taxes and other benefits flow from mining revenues, the study authors must have weighted the "externalities" of coal pretty heavily to offset the financial benefits.

Wind farms present problems of their own. For an explanation of some of their demerits, and concerns about their efficacy, see A Problem With Wind Power.

Not everyone in West Virginia supports wind farms. Here is a site for a group in Pendleton County. I have to admit, I've seen these windmills and don't think they look so ugly, but I don't live around them.