Morbach
Morbach is a municipality that belongs to no "Verbandsgemeinde" – a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also a state-recognized climatic resort ("Luftkurort"). Geography. Location. The municipality lies at an elevation of between 430 and 770 m above sea level in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück on the boundary with the Birkenfeld district, roughly 25 km southeast of Wittlich and 35 km east of Trier. Its population is 11,051. The nearest town is Bernkastel-Kues. The terrain is one of rolling hills, with superbly organized and maintained stretches  of forest interspersed with manicured farmland. Some of the highest (cleanest) air readings in all of Northern Europe have been measured near this area. Constituent communities. The municipality of Morbach is subdivided into the following "Ortsteile": History. Until municipal administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969, the municipality belonged to the Bernkastel district, with its seat at Bernkastel-Kues. The municipality as it is today arose on 31 December 1974 when the new municipality of Morbach was formed out of Morbach itself and the 18 until then self-administering municipalities of Bischofsdhron, Elzerath, Gonzerath, Gutenthal, Haag, Heinzerath, Hinzerath, Hoxel, Hundheim , Hunolstein, Merscheid, Morscheid-Riedenburg, Odert, Rapperath, Wederath, Weiperath, Wenigerath and Wolzburg. Within what is now the outlying centre of Wenigerath lay the US Air Force’s Wenigerath Munitions Depot until 1995. Beginning in the 1950s, several hundred United States Air Force Munitions Systems personnel, otherwise known as “ammo troops”, worked at the so-called Wenigerath Non-Nuclear Munitions Storage Area and lived in Morbach and neighbouring villages in support of NATO operations launched from nearby Hahn Air base. The former “bomb dump”, which ceased operations after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, is  now dotted with wind turbines, photovoltaic cells and various technologies which serve as an “Energy Farm”. Politics. Municipal council. The council is made up of 28 honorary council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the full-time mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: Culture and sightseeing. Particularly worth seeing is the railway viaduct in the outlying centre of Hoxel, which is one of the highest single-level stone railway bridges in Germany. Other points of interest in the Morbach area are: Economy and  infrastructure. Established businesses. Morbach is headquarters to Papier-Mettler, a German manufacturer of paper and plastic packaging. Transport. Public transport is integrated into the "Verkehrsverbund Region Trier" (VRT), whose fares therefore apply. Bus route 300 of the "Rhein-Mosel-Verkehrsgesellschaft" links the municipality every two hours with the main railway station in Wittlich on the Koblenz-Trier railway line. Bus route 343 from "Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe" runs a service on weekdays to the Idar-Oberstein railway station on the Saarbrücken-Mainz railway line. Through Morbach run "Bundesstraßen" 269 and 327, as does the "Hunsrückquerbahn" (“Cross-Hunsrück Railway”), a railway line  between Langenlonsheim and Hermeskeil, which at the moment lies idle, although it is to be reactivated, at least from Morbach as far as Bingen, for its usefulness as a link to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. The municipality of Morbach is the location of a great wind farm with fourteen wind turbines, a big photovoltaic complex, a biogas complex and a wood pellet works. The rent on the wind farm earns the municipality €280,000 each year. The municipality of Morbach fulfils the criteria of a “1a” shopping town and was awarded the certificate in May 2008.