Town goes on attack against tower plan
Toolbox
By SANDI SWITZER HERALD CORRESPONDENT - Published: June 25, 2009
CLARENDON – The town's Select Board plans to file documents with the state Public Service Board opposing a wind farm proposal to be located in Clarendon, Ira and neighboring towns.
Board members voted Monday to oppose Vermont Community Wind Farm's plan to develop an 80-megawatt wind facility and to erect a 197-foot temporary wind measurement tower on Susie's Peak in Clarendon.
Town officials further voted to direct the local planning commission to review the Clarendon Town Plan and take the necessary steps to address projects of this magnitude.
They also agreed planners should meet with their counterparts in Ira, Poultney, West Rutland, Tinmouth, Middletown Springs and other communities impacted by the wind farm proposal in order to develop a regional strategy.
The board's action came in response to a petition submitted by Bruce Anderson and signed by 56 citizens calling for the town to oppose VCWF's proposal.
Anderson told board members he was not opposed to wind power or renewable energy projects. However, he said the developer had not been forthcoming with regard to the potential ramifications of building the state's largest wind farm.
"It is beyond our absolute wildest nightmare as to how this will look," Anderson said.
The Clarendon resident explained the project's towers and blades measuring nearly 500 feet each to be situated on Susie's Peak and the Taconic Mountain ridgeline would "rape our pristine mountain tops."
Anderson noted there was not enough information available regarding the project's potential health impacts on citizens and wildlife in the area.
Other concerns included the level and repetitive nature of the noise emitted by the wind turbines, as well as the blasting and clear-cutting of large swaths of land necessary to construct access roads for the 35 to 40 towers, he said.
"I hate to see a 25-year commitment made to these monsters and then have a break through in solar that could have the same benefit," Anderson explained.
The Clarendon resident added that he would not be joining the VCWF bus trip on Saturday to view wind towers in Lempster, N.H.
Anderson indicated the towers were located on lower ridges and out-of-sight locations. "They are unseen and unheard — that would be good if the same thing happened here," he said.
VCWF representative Jeffrey Wennberg said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was disappointed in what he termed a premature decision by the Select Board regarding a project that has yet to be clearly defined.
"I'm obviously disappointed especially given we're at the very beginning of the process and the project. Recently, we made the decision to scale back the number of potential sites by 25 percent and we've eliminated a ridge line," Wennberg said. "I think we've demonstrated that we're sincere when we say this project is very much in the conceptual development phase and there continues to be opportunities for modifications as we get more feedback and more information from the studies."
He encouraged Clarendon residents to "listen to all sides, get some of the facts, share their concerns, and give us the opportunity to modify the proposal further if we are inclined to do that based on the concerns."
Wennberg dismissed the notion the Lempster wind towers were not a fair representative of the local project. "It is comparable in terms of the actual turbines and it is comparable in terms of terrain and elevation. No two places are identical, but there are residential properties closer to the actual turbines in Lempster then we're proposing here," he said.
Wennberg clarified the current proposal called for 1.5 megawatt turbines built by General Electric that measured 397 feet from base to tip of blade. "If you go up to the absolute biggest one — which is still under consideration but is not the one being proposed at this point – that gets up to 485 feet."
He added VCWF still wanted to "engage in a dialogue with the town of Clarendon and the people of Clarendon, and we still want to hear their concerns."
The Select Board voted 4-1 in opposition to the VCWF project and the developer's plan to erect a temporary meteorological tower on Susie's Peak.
Selectman Robert Sebasky explained his decision to break with the majority by indicating local officials historically allowed citizens to determine the community's position on large projects through town-wide votes.
In other action, the Select Board appointed Anderson to fill a vacancy on the town's planning commission.
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