MONTPELIER, Vt.
A company’s bid to build a wind farm atop a remote Northeast Kingdom mountain was rejected by the Public Service Board on Monday because of concerns about how the turbines would affect birds and bats.
In its decision, the board said that officials of the East Haven Wind farm had not presented sufficient evidence to show that the four 329-foot turbines would not hurt populations of bats and migratory birds in the area.
“We.. know that wind turbine sites located in eastern forested high-elevation sites have experienced elevated bat mortality rates. And we know that there are likely to be resident bat populations on East Mountain.” Said the board’s 108-page decision.”
“The record shows that there is little solid information on the risks of migrating bird collisions with wind turbines for high-elevation sites in the northeaster United States,” the order said. “Without preconstruction radar studies, we are unable to determine whether the project’s design has been optimized to avoid or minimize bird impacts.”
East Haven Wind farm Vice President Dave Rapaport said Monday officials were reading the decision.
FREMONT PLANNING BOARD GATHERING INFO FOR WIND LAW
Town looking to avoid conflicts taking place in other area municipalities
By Rob Montana staff writer
STEPHENS MILLS-No big decisions were made at the Fremont planning bard meeting Tuesday night- except it’s time for the town to get a wind ordinance in place.
While board members had heard rumors people in town had been contacted by wind companies, none knew of any plans for a wind project in Fremont. Nonetheless, Chairman Robert Osborn said it’s time to draft a law to protect the town in case of future development.
The board has copies of the Howard ordinance, as well as Ever Power’s building permit application submitted to Howard officials for construction of towers there. While the plan is to draft its own law, the board wanted something to look at before writing one.
“We need some sort of outline to go through for an ordinance, “Osborn said.
Code Enforcement Officer Dan Hammond also suggested the board keep the town residents informed about the process, and let them know the board is drafting a local wind law.
“If we get it in here before anybody is approached, they can’t complain.” He said.
“They won’t have a leg to stand on if we keep getting it out there that we’re meeting and talking about a law.”
The main thing, said Councilman Larry Hammond, is to eliminate the fighting that has occurred in other towns dealing with potential wind farm projects.
“What we need is to stay away from all that bickering like there is in Howard, Hartsville, and Cohocton,”he said.
The planning board will meet again at 8 p.m. Aug. 15 at the town hall.
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