Wind panel to meet secretly; Committee to discuss turbine regulations without public input
CLAYTON — The newly formed Wind Law Review Committee will meet in secret for several months before it makes recommendations to the Town Council regarding wind turbine noise and setbacks.
The 10-member committee plans to hold its first meeting in January. The group will gather community input and also discuss potential health risks related to wind farms.
The Planning Board and Town Council hope the committee will submit its recommendations for a revised Local Law No. 1 of 2007, which sets noise limits for wind turbines and establishes setbacks for wind farms, by the end of April, although Planning Board Chairman Roland A. “Bud” Baril said there is no deadline.
Mr. Baril said the meetings will be closed to prevent outside influences from steering the committee’s decision-making process.
“Those meetings will not be open to the public. We don’t want to stifle and make them uncomfortable or pressured,” he said.
Mr. Baril said that committee members also are prohibited from disclosing information about the meetings to the public and the media.
According to the state Committee on Open Government, as an advisory body, the committee is not subject to the Open Meetings Law.
“Because this is an advisory body and it is not consisted solely of members of the council, Planning Board and Zoning Board, this kind of group, based on judicial law, is not required to have open meetings,” said Robert J. Freeman, the committee’s executive director.
However, that doesn’t mean the board should hold closed meetings, he said, adding that there is also no legal grounds to enforce a gag order that prevents committee members from talking to the public or media.
“It’s shortsighted and silly,” he said.
By Jaegun Lee
Times Staff Writer
11 December 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
- Planning Board comments on wind law
- Wind panel agrees to let public attend
- Orleans wants Clayton to stay out of it; Wind committee stands behind asking other town to stop pressing its agenda
- Clayton eyes new law on non-commercial renewable energy
- Orleans has committee to study wind’s impact
- Rules would eliminate wind farm; Committee's recommendations would allow only four turbines for Clayton-Orleans project
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
