State warns wind project will impact bear habitat
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By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald - Published: November 7, 2008
READSBORO — The proposed Deerfield Wind project, an expansion of the state's only existing wind energy facility in Searsburg, could have a big effect on the bear population in the area.
But exactly how big is a matter of dispute, with the U.S. Forest Service hedging its bets until the Vermont Public Service Board makes a decision on whether construction of the 17-turbine project would be in the "public good." The state technical hearings on the project, postponed from September, are due to start in early December.
The Agency of Natural Resources, however, has drawn a line in the forest, so to speak, saying that no expansion should occur on the western ridge, which is located in the town of Searsburg.
The other half of the project is in Readsboro, and is located on the same ridgeline as the existing wind project. On Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service held a meeting in Readsboro to gauge public opinion about the proposed project, and to answer questions. Both towns have voted in favor of the project.
The proposed utility scale wind development would be built in a section of the Green Mountain National Forest, and it was the first proposed for national forest land. But Meg Mitchell, forest supervisor, told the group that there are now other wind projects proposed for public lands in other states, but that the Vermont project is the furthest along in the permitting process.
The Green Mountain National Forest issued a draft environmental impact statement in September, and while it failed to take a formal stand on the project it came up with two other alternatives to the proposed 17-turbine project, which could generate up to 35 megawatts of electricity. The two alternatives either reduce the array of the 10 turbines on the west ridge, or reduce the array of seven new turbines on the eastern ridge.
The existing Searsburg project, which is owned by Green Mountain Power, was designed as a research case for wind turbines in cold weather climates. The new turbines would be double the original size, just short of 400 feet tall, with white towers and blades. The wind facility will have to be lit at night, because of Federal Aviation Administration rules.
The Searsburg project's towers are just less than 200 feet tall, with white towers and black blades, and because they are less than 200 feet tall, they didn't need to be lighted.
Forrest Hammond, a wildlife biologist and bear expert for the state of Vermont, said the bear habitat on the western ridge was so important to the regional bear population that the agency had gone on record against the western part of the project.
Hammond said there were hundreds and hundreds of bear-scarred beech trees in the project area, proof that bears use the trees and their nuts for food.
"It's the best of the best in the state. It's a very poor place to put a large industrial project," said Hammond, who has studied the area for more than a dozen years. "We've asked them to look at other sites."
And the expansion of the eastern side, which is located on Mount Waldo, needs to be changed to lessen the impact on bear habitat in that area as well, Hammond said Thursday in a telephone interview from his office in Springfield.
But John Sease, a wildlife biologist with the Green Mountain National Forest, had a different take on the impacts. He said he assembled a panel of bear experts to review the project, since he has no expertise in bears, and said the experts said that while the proposed site was an important bear area, it wasn't a critical one.
And Sease said Hammond's experience was in evaluating the impact on bears from ski area development, which isn't the same as wind projects. Sease said the access road to the project would be closely restricted.
About a dozen residents attended the session. Most questions criticized the project for destroying prime bear habitat and being another example of foreign investors controlling the country's energy future.
The developer, Deerfield Wind LLC, is a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables of Spain.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
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