“Working in the industry has changed my life,” shared Sam Vosloh, a resident of Mineral County who described the impact that employment with Clearway has had on him and his family.
Clearway has commenced preliminary moves to establish a wind energy project on Jack Mountain. This would be similar to one proposed almost two decades ago on the same spot.
Vosloh works at the project established on Green Mountain overlooking Keyser and New Creek. He explained that after earning his degree in history at Potomac State College, that few work opportunities opened up to him in or near his hometown. His first job after degree completion was at the local Walmart.
“I fell into this. It wasn’t my plan,” he said of his job as a technician on the Green Mountain complex. He added that the salary earned enabled him to purchase a home for himself, his wife, and two children.
His story was pretty typical of many who found employment with Clearway. “A friend said ‘you’ve got to get out of there. You need to come up here,’” referring to Vosloh coming to Clearway.
“I would never have been able to do all of this,” Vosloh said, adding that he “paid off . . . student loans pretty quickly” on his salary as well. He also talked of a co-worker who had earned a degree in art who joined him at the site. Clearway had even engaged that co-worker to paint murals in the complex conference room, drawing on his art experience to do so.
He also added that kids who grow up on farms make the best technicians for wind turbines, adding “and that’s a fact!”
Some of those opportunities, says Clearway representative Callie Dayton, come through a workforce training program at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College run by Isaiah Smith. She stated that “a lot of folks working on our sites have gone through that program.”
Dayton herself, a Petersburg native who has in the past served as Grant County Economic Development and also Convention and Visitors’ Bureau director, shared that “I was in a similar situation as Sam. We have a newborn baby. My husband and I worked hard to get what we have.”
She added, “This opportunity has been good to me.”
Nick Benjamin, also of Clearway, spoke to address concerns raised by Pendleton County residents and others about different aspects of the project, including safety issues, potential infringement on important natural, cultural, and historic sites, as well as the potential benefits if they choose to construct the project.
He and Dayton explained that Clearway’s first priority lies in determining if the site is suitable for the project at all. They described a broad spectrum of testing of a number of factors important to site selection.
Part of that process will involve a “desktop assessment” of the site. “Clearway,” Benjamin said, “will consult with state and federal government stakeholders, such as the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, United States Fish and Wildlife, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Culture and History, and other agencies. Work will be done to examine specific issues that are specific to the site, including possible impact on wetlands and waterways.”
The field work will, as Benjamin says, reveal sensitive areas where the wind project will either “stay away or mitigate impacts.”
He also discussed other testing that will measure the potential impact of other issues. “The Public Service Commission expects reports about noise and shadows to be submitted as part of the application process.” Testing equipment will work to determine the potential noise heard from varying distances, although Dayton said that on existing sites “you can hear the crickets more in the background” than noise from turbine equipment when standing nearby.
The potential issue of “shadow flicker,” when the sun is low in the sky and shines through the mechanism, will be tested by computer modeling.
Clearway will also run regular on-site tests “collecting wind data every hour” for at least two years to determine if the wind blows consistently enough and with sufficient force to make the turbines a worthwhile investment. As Benjamin put it, the readings will determine “if the wind is windy enough.”
He added that the “rigorous testing regime . . . (will) either support or won’t support” moving forward.
The different tests will take at least one year and could extend another year if necessary. Twenty or more separate studies may be needed before Clearway starts the application process with the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
Benjamin explained that testing alone will incur substantial risks while costing millions of dollars. Should data show the site unsuitable, Clearway loses their investment of time and capital.
The PSC, currently chaired by Charlotte Lane, has significant authority over energy generation projects, utilities, and other related developments. In 2007, it halted a similar planned project because the previous company’s application failed to satisfy PSC questions and concerns.
“We were not part of that project in 2007,” Benjamin stated.
Many residents who have expressed concerns about the project cited potential problems with safety. Some shared fears after one of the turbines on the Mount Storm site caught fire and linked those with wildfire threats.
Dayton stated first that the turbine fire was quickly contained in that incident. She then related that “we have good relations within the county with first responders. Our site team works closely with them to keep everyone safe.”
“A lot of front end coordination happens between the site and local fire and EMS,” added Benjamin, “and that is before construction even starts.” That takes the form of coordination meetings, planning, and other aspects of preparation.
Vosloh emphasized coordination especially with EMS in forming, then annually updating, response plans. The sites also run safety drills to practice response and the company has adopted safety measures as well, even to limiting parking in certain areas.
Benjamin then provided an example from Texas in which the “string” roads connecting different parts of a wind turbine project allowed access for a fast enough response by firefighters that it prevented a small fire from erupting into a dangerous blaze. He added that local fire officials appreciated the project and its connecting infrastructure as a useful “fire break.”
Another concern repeated among locals is that power generated will go to other states and not serve residents in West Virginia. Benjamin explained how and why “the power will stay in West Virginia.”
He related that the transmission wires from the project will go first to Franklin and that the two major lines from there run into Hardy and Tucker counties. From Tucker, the second line extends into Preston County. “Although it’s impossible to say where every electron goes,” he said, “most will stay in West Virginia.”
During times of high demand, “a lot” will be consumed in Franklin and surrounding areas, Benjamin stated.
When US Wind Force established the turbine project in Mineral County, it created a community fund that handed out grants for projects in county. Clearway has done the same at Mount Storm and, if it does develop its site in Pendleton, will do the same.
The grant funding is tied to the size of the project, Dayton explained. Grant allocation is decided by locals for locally based projects. She gave as examples of organizations assisted — EMS, historical preservation projects, local school needs, and more.
“You name it, we’ve done it in community solutions,” she went on to say.
“As we look into the project more,” said Dayton, “if anything, we just want people to just hear us out and we’ll hear their concerns.”