Public comments favor wind proposal
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Associated Press - Published: August 5, 2005
WEST DOVER — A plan to build up to 30 wind turbines in the southern Green Mountain National Forest got mostly favorable reviews during the first of two public forums on the project.
"I'm in favor of wind power," Patti Buck of East Dover said. "The more energy we can generate from alternative sources, the less we will rely on Vermont Yankee (nuclear power plant) in Vernon."
More than 50 people attended the session at the Grand Summit Resort Hotel at Mount Snow on Wednesday night to hear about the plan to build 370-foot-tall, wind-powered generators along two southern ridges in the forest.
If approved, it would be the first wind energy project on national forest land.
While most of those who spoke supported Deerfield Wind LLC's plan for the turbines in Searsburg and Readsboro, U.S. Forest Service representatives said they were looking for concerns and criticisms, as well. The agency has just begun what is expected to be an 18-month review of the project.
Gina Owens, district manager with the Forest Service, said the hearings were part of a "public scoping" process designed to inform the agency about what concerns there might be so that they can be addressed.
She said many people have already raised concerns about the turbines' visual impact on the landscape and possible interference with local wildlife, including birds, bats and bears.
The question before Brewster is not whether wind turbines are an appropriate use for forest lands, but this specific portion of those public lands, Owens added.
"The concerns we hear will frame the analysis of the project," she told attendees. "Everything we do here is built on public involvement."
Representatives from the Forest Service, Deerfield Wind and Green Mountain Power Corp., which installed 11 smaller turbines near the proposed location nearly a decade ago, were on hand Wednesday. They presented maps, charts and photographs detailing the project.
Richard Joyce of Wilmington was one of the most vocal opponents of the project Wednesday. He said the generators would damage Vermont's pristine beauty. "I'm here to kill this project," Joyce said. "It will provide us with very little energy at a big price."
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