BP Wind Energy and Rausch Creek May Bring Wind Mills to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Officials from BP Wind Energy met with community residents at the Williams Valley High School in Tower City, Pennsylvania on December 15, 2009. Tonight, December 16, another meeting will be held at the Tri Valley High School in Hegins, Pennsylvania.

BP Wind Energy is answering questions and providing literature to area residents who wish to attend the meeting. What is all the hype about? What brought BP, who had revenues in excess of $360 billion as of December 31, 2008, to such a small area in Schuylkill County?

The answer lies not only in wind energy, but also with Rausch Creek. Rausch Creek busted onto the scene of this small independent coal mining area in the late 1990's. The company purchased large amounts of land from various owners, most of which were also companies. Rausch Creek leases a large amount of land to area residents who had their homes built on the land before it was acquired by the company.

Rausch Creek History

In 2003, Rausch Creek opened Rausch Creek Off Road Park. The park is often referred to as the Jeep Club by locals as since its introduction the area is often overrun with rock crawling Jeeps, especially on weekends. For the most part the 'Jeepers' have not affected the local residents much. This was a deep concern of the locals when the plans were being discussed to bring the park to the Lincoln Joliett area. Many residents even find interest in the Jeep enthusiasts from out of state and even out of the country.

Prior to the induction of the Off Road Park was the MX ATV Park, located just off Interstate 81 between Joliett and Tremont. That park has since closed down, but Rausch Creek had already obtained the Tower City Trail Riders in its place.

Bringing in these recreational areas was a way to bring the area legal places to ride. Before the acquisition by Rausch Creek, locals could ride most of the land by obtaining a permit from Broad Mountain Hunting Club. BMHC offered members the chance to sell tickets in order to cover the cost of their yearly membership fee and riding permit. Rausch Creek Off Road Park costs hundreds of dollars each year for a pass onto their riding land.

In addition to the lack of availability for the locals to enjoy the land with ATV's and 4x4 vehicles, the locals had worried about how this club was going to affect their hunting. Few things that the locals believe in are coal mining, ATVs, dune buggies, off road 4x4s and hunting. While it remains unclear on what Rausch Creek's final stance on people hunting on their land is, they do issue a statement to their Off Road Park members each year to remember that hunting is in season. This past year they even limited the hours in which members could access the trails to later in the day to avoid a hunting tragedy on either end.

Rausch Creeks popularity is huge, however, mostly with outsiders. Since early 2008, the company has tried to coerce and force some lifelong area residents off of their land by stating the land was not properly cared for or the homeowner did not hold the proper insurances. Some residents fought the company in court. Those who did fight have (thus far) won their case and are allowed to remain in their homes, at least for now.

Those who were not asked to leave, as well as those who won their cases in court, were hit with something much harder. Residents were served with a new lease they had to sign to stay on their land. Included in the lease was a 100% to 700% increase in the cost of their yearly land lease payment.

Speculation had area residents wondering why they would do such a thing, especially in a recession when many residents had recently lost their jobs. Some thought they wanted to move the MX ATV park in the area where their homes were, some thought they wanted to expand the Jeep Club, some thought they might be bringing something big to the area to produce jobs such as another warehouse, while others thought there was just something very strange about the way everything happened over the previous one to two years. In the summer of 2009 there was even talking about a shopping mall being built on the land where the MX ATV Park once was.

Today many residents are speculating that it was all in the works to make a deal with BP Wind Energy because studies have been ongoing on Rausch Creek land for more than a year. The public will probably never know for sure, but the reality is that BP and Rausch Creek are in the midst of striking a deal for a wind farm right in their backyards.

The only people who know about many of Rausch Creek's previous actions are the ones who live on their land, or people who know someone who lives on the company's land. To many Schuylkill County residents, the deal with BP is just another business deal and a way to create a greener country.

BP Wind Energy, Rausch Creek and Schuylkill County

According to an article written by Vicki Terwilliger and published on the Republican Herald's website, BP Wind Energy is looking to bring fifty to sixty wind turbines to the area. The turbines are approximately 262 feet high with a rotor diameter of 328 feet.

The Rausch Creek Wind Farm is set to be operational by 2012. The land on which it would sit includes the townships of Fraily, Porter, Hegins and Tremont, placed within Pine Grove Area School District, Williams Valley School District and Tri Valley School District.

The proposed location for the wind farm includes about 2,000 acres in an area south of Route 25, north of Route 209 and west of Interstate 81.

Residents asked questions about the sound of the wind farm. However, area residents leaving comments on the article posted on the Republican Herald website seem to think that either they were lied to, or the entire truth was not told.

According to BP, the amount of energy made by the wind turbines will be enough to supply energy to 45,000 average homes. One area resident said that those figures do not matter because it is not going to be the area homes that are affected by the wind farm that will benefit.

Construction of the wind farm is said to create 200 area jobs, however, only four or five permanent jobs will remain after construction is complete.

Questions remain, and will probably remain throughout the construction and beyond. What about the trees that will be cut down? What about the noise pollution? What about the eye sore? Will the benefits outweigh the cost? What will this do to local electric rates? How will it affect the hunting lands in Schuylkill County? Will one wind farm in a small county make any type of long lasting difference?

Green energy is important, saving the planet is important, but at what cost is it feasible? Will this wind farm be a step forward in making the area greener, or will it be a step backward for the county residents' way of life?

Sources:

http://www.republicanherald.com/news/residents-company-talk-wind-turbine-plans-for-rausch-creek-1.490955

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=3&contentId=2006926