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Local
| 3/20/2009 10:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Coos Wind Farm
Will Cover Ridge
LANCASTER, N.H. - Interveners against a wind farm in Coos County and the company representatives proposing it gave closing arguments on the project that, if given the green light, would stretch across more than 15 miles of ridge from Odell to Dixville Peak.
The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee heard the arguments Thursday at the state Forests and Lands Building in Lancaster.
The wind farm is being proposed by Granite Reliable Power, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Noble Environmental Power, which submitted an application to the site committee July 15. The SEC has until May 6 to render a decision.
GRP wants to build a 33-turbine farm that would generate 99 megawatts of electricity and power more than 30,000 homes. The plan would require clearing 58-timberland acres above 2,700 feet for the turbines. The total project area would encompass nearly 3,800 acres.
Representing GRP were Douglas Patch and Susan Geiger.
Patch argued a wind farm in the county would be a great opportunity for the state to diversify and expand its renewable energy sources, curtail greenhouse gas emissions and supply power at a reasonable price.
Citing previous testimony, Geiger said the project would not jeopardize health and safety or contribute to noise because the turbines will be miles away from people and roads.
Interveners argue a wind farm would blight the North Country's unique natural beauty and adversely impact the tourist industry as well as threaten sensitive high-elevation species, such as the American pine marten, Bicknell's thrush and Canada lynx.
Intervener Kathlyn Keene read previous testimony and comments from the New Hampshire Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Department of Interior, and biologists from the state Department of Fish and Game.
Keene said their research all had a common thread - that the project would endanger the Bicknell's thrush, adversely impact the natural environment and degrade the sensitive spruce fir habitat on Mt. Kelsey.
Keene asked that SEC members not approve permits for the project until an environmental impact statement is prepared, as recommended by federal officials.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Roth, who represented the state, argued several points against the wind farm, chief among them that GRP has no operating experience in a project of the proposed size and that it lacks the money to build it.
Patch said construction would not begin until all financing is in place.
The wind farm would require a $275-million investment and entail the construction of more than 10 miles of new access roads and upgrading of nearly 20 miles of existing logging roads, in addition to the construction of 5.8 miles of a new electric transmission line to harness the electricity from the turbines and carry it to the existing transmission line owned by Public Service of New Hampshire.
The Granite Reliable Power Windpark would operate in one town and in four unincorporated locations. The turbines would be in Dixville and Millsfield and the transmission lines would pass through Erving's Location and a small portion of Odell. The power would then go to the distribution center in Dummer and from there feed into the grid.
Each turbine would be 293 feet tall with a 117-foot vane making for a total of 410 feet in height.
The Appalachian Mountain Club and Department of Fish and Game were early interveners who initially opposed the project. But in February, they reached a mitigation settlement with GRP, which agreed to purchase 1,735 acres of high-elevation forest for state conservation and pay $750,000 to purchase additional timberland for protection.
Farrell Seiler, New Hampshire Wind Energy Association president, is 100 percent behind GRP's proposal and said it can produce a sizable portion of the state's electricity.
Against it is Lisa Linowes of the Industrial Wind Action Group who said GRP expects SEC members to "look past the holes" in its application, which she said does not adequately address the environmental impact.
County residents will have a chance to comment about the project during a public hearing 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lancaster Town Hall. Monday's hearing wraps up two weeks of SEC hearings that began in Concord.
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