The September 22 event, hosted by Friends of the Northfield Ridge, drew
close to 200 people. It opened with Professor Ben Luce discussing his
background, including the fact that he had previously been a wind power
advocate and has worked in New Mexico for solar energy and was also
involved in lobbying for wind energy credits in that state. Luce, who is
now teaching physics and sustainability studies at Lyndon State
College, acknowledged the imperative of reducing carbon emissions but
noted that the solutions need to be regionally appropriate as well as
viable in the long and short terms.
With a PowerPoint presentation and large colorful maps, he juxtaposed
Vermont's potential wind production with that of other states. Among the
data he presented was a relative wind ranking by state that assigned
values based on potential production capacity. Texas, for example, has a
capacity of 1,901 gigawatts annually. Kansas has a capacity of 952;
Montana, 944; Nebraska, 918; and Iowa, 570 gigawatts.
COASTAL AREAS
Vermont, by comparison, has a 2.9-gigawatt capacity. The New England
state with the highest capacity is Maine at 11.3 and much of that
capacity is due to the coastlines. The country's richest wind resource
areas, he said, are its coastal areas and the Central Plains states.
Luce said that Vermont is a wind-poor state compared to other parts of
the country and explained that the only location for wind in Vermont is
on ridgelines. Vermont's raw solar resources, he said, outweigh the
state's wind potential by a factor of 620 times.
He showed slides of the impact of wind development on ridgelines,
talking about the environmental impact as well as the subsequent
unintended consequences for nearby inhabitants. Luce continued with a
series of slides showing how Vermont visitors ranked the state using key
words. That research showed that the words most often associated with
Vermont and the Vermont "brand" are "beautiful, unspoiled mountains,"
something that commercial wind farming along the state's ridgelines
would ruin, he said.
HEALTH IMPACTS
Luce provided information about the health impacts for people and
migratory birds (including migrating raptors) who live near transmission
lines. He discussed new research about sub-audible noises (infra-sonic)
that nonetheless are felt by the human ear and are linked to ill
health. That area of research, he said, is very new, citing a study by
Alec Salt and Timothy Hullar that was published in <MI>Hearing
Research,<D> Volume 268, September 2010, Pages 12-12. That summary
of that study can be viewed at
http://oto2.wustl.edu/cochlea/windmill.html.
The solution for Vermont, Luce concluded, lies in better conservation
and solar. He explained that the per kilowatt cost of solar production
in Vermont had dropped from almost $5 per kilowatt hour in 1978 to under
20 cents today and was expected to continue to drop to less than 5
cents per hour by 2020.
CENTRALIZED VS. DISTRIBUTED
Wind power represented a centralized power generation system while solar
represents a widely distributed power generation system - one less
easily controlled by large corporate interests operating on the profit
principle. He explained Vermont's permitting process in a nutshell and
was followed by Annette Smith who explained the permitting process in
greater details.
Smith told the crowd about how the Vermont Public Service review process
works, including the PSB's ability to include or exclude groups that
would normally have party status under Act 250, Vermont's land use
review law.
Smith provided maps showing where wind projects in Vermont are approved,
under review and/or proposed and also detailed how local communities
would be impacted. Currently, there are three approved projects in
Vermont. Those include five turbines in Georgia and Milton, 16 turbines
in Sheffield/Sutton and two turbines in Deerfield/Searsburg. Wind
measuring devices (MET towers used by companies to determine if the wind
is sufficient) have been approved in Eden. MET towers are up in
Lowell/Albany where up to 21 turbines are proposed and PSB hearings are
ongoing (see related story Page 7). In Londonderry, landowners are
currently being courted by a company that wants to install two turbines.
In Manchester/Sutherland, a MET tower is up and a company is seeking
financing for a three-turbine project.
TURBINE PROJECTS
In Ira/Poultney/West Rutland, there is MET tower up for a 32- to
42-turbine project that is now on hold. Smith said it is likely there
will be a proposal filed for a 50MW wind farm in
Castleton/Hubbardton/Pittsford/West Rutland in 2010, and she mentioned
the fact that Citizens Wind is interested in creating a 15- to
24-turbine wind farm along the Northfield Ridge in Waitsfield, Warren
and Moretown.
Smith also discussed the health and environmental impacts of wind
turbines on the ridges and gave detailed information about how the size
and production capacity of wind turbines had increased over the past
decade exacerbating those impacts.
LEGISLATIVE CHANGE
Both presenters were peppered with questions by those in attendance.
Many people asked questions about how to change the process and were
told it had to be changed through the Vermont Legislature so that local
voices and ordinances had to be included in the review process.
Currently, the PSB is required to consider what a Town Plan says but is
not mandated to adhere to it or a town's zoning ordinance. Several
people used the opportunity to speak out against wind turbines in
general and several people spoke out in favor of wind energy. One
speaker suggested it was elitist for those present to imagine that all
of Vermonters could afford to put solar panels on their roofs and do
their part to reduce the state's carbon footprint.
Last week's meeting was the first of several presentations that Friends
of the Northfield Ridge will hold on the topic of wind, alternative
energy and Citizens Wind's interest in the Mad River Valley.
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