Board votes neutrality on wind tower
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: November 20, 2008
MANCHESTER — After more than an hour of discussion at Tuesday's meeting, the Select Board voted to take no position on a proposal to keep a wind measurement tower on Little Equinox for two more years.
Endless Energy, a company based in Yarmouth, Maine, has filed a request with the Vermont Public Service Board to use an existing wind measurement tower to test two products for Vermont companies.
If the permit is granted, Earth Turbines Inc. of Williston would put up an 80-foot high prototype residential-grade wind turbine while NRG Systems Inc. of Hinesburg would test laser-based wind-measurement sensors.
Harley Lee, president of Endless Energy, said there was only a tenuous relationship between the current proposal and one he brought forward in 2005 and 2006.
The earlier proposal called for the construction of five 390-foot high wind turbines that would have sold an estimated 30 million kilowatt-hours generated annually to the Burlington Electric Department.
During Town Meeting Day in 2006, voters, after a long and vigorous discussion, directed the Select Board to oppose the project and appropriated $150,000 to pay for the effort.
At the time, Lee said he planned to hold off on the project out of respect for the voters' wishes. On Tuesday, he said he still had hopes to go forward with the larger project.
"The clear message that came from this whole series of meetings before is, 'How come we have to put up with turbines when the power is going to Burlington Electric?' There's a series of issues, but by far I think the biggest was, 'What's in it for us? What's the local benefit?' So we've been sort of working hard to try to figure out a structure where the local benefits would be far greater, the power will go locally and we'll be able to give discounts, save people money," he said.
However, Lee said the only connection between that larger project and the current proposal would be that Endless Energy would share data about wind conditions with NRG Systems.
Lee said the Vermont companies could have proposed their own test tower, but Lee has a relationship with the order of the Carthusian monastery which owns the land where the tower is sited.
Manchester resident Bradley Myerson urged the Select Board to oppose the permit because of the vote taken during the 2006 town meeting although he acknowledged the current proposal is "very, very different."
"With all due respect, I think that if you say, well, on your own, that this is a different project so we as a board can decide ourselves if we want to oppose this or support it. In light of the very heated discussion that took place a couple years ago, you got to take a different view. I would suggest it's very, very risky and it's going to upset a lot of people and I don't think it's good public policy," he said.
Select Board Chairman Ivan Beattie said he thought it was clear during town meeting 2006 that voters were concerned about the size of the project, the scale of the towers and the benefits for Manchester residents.
"A lot of those things are off the table for this particular project, this particular application. … This is totally unrelated as I understand it. … It's not as simple, I wish it were, to say, 'Well, town meeting's already taken a stance on this,' we could just say no, even though that goes against my personal feelings," he said.
Select Board member Wayne Bell suggested the Select Board tell the Public Service Board they have no opposition to the project, which would serve as tacit approval.
"It could have a good impact on the development of alternative energy sources, responsible Vermont companies and employers. I think there's every reason to support that application," he said.
Select Board members Michael Kilburn and Steven Nichols, however, said they believed taking no position was more in keeping with the town meeting vote in 2006.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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