Gary Abraham
170 N. 2nd St.
Allegany, NY 14706-1045
May 12, 2008
Dear Sen. Schumer:
Your recent statement that the Iberdrola merger would "make New York a center for wind energy" shows no understanding or knowledge of the growing level of complaints upstate about the adverse impacts of utility-scale wind projects on host communities. Chief among these is the noise impact, which is higher by multiples than wind developers disclose in their EIS.
Recently retired NYSDEC biologist Glen Schneider, concerned about the Cape Wind project proposed for his home town, went to the Maple Ridge wind farm to measure actual sound levels. He found that hub-height winds above wind turbine cut-in speed occurred when ground-level winds were quiet. This magnified turbine noise as a result of reflection within the lower height wind gradient and the absence of wind masking noise at ground level.
Schneider forwarded his results to NYSDEC, asking the agency to take lead agency in more projects because local town boards are unable to adequately review potential noise impacts.
Nor does your statement reflect an appreciation of the land area such wind projects require. Wind plants in NY generally require a 25 square mile project area. Since NY lacks any class 5 or 6 winds, and wind energy is intermittent, these projects have an effective capacity of 10 percent.
Thus, a single wind farm has a rated capacity of about 100 MW, but an effective generation rate of 10 MW. To generate 300 MW, the equivalent of a conventional power plant, would call for 750 square miles for wind energy plants. This would fundamentally change the character of upstate, but for a fraction of one percent of our energy needs.
I am an environmental attorney involved in more than one wind farm case in NY and would be happy to brief your staff on the other side of the wind issue.
Sincerely,
Gary Abraham
716-372-1913
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