PSB to hold second hearing on Georgia/Milton turbines
MILTON — Vermont’s Public Service Board (PSB) will hold a second public hearing on the proposed Georgia Mountain Community Wind Project here on Tuesday night.
PSB held a public meeting in Georgia on the project June 9, which drew about 100 people, both supporters and opponents.
The Milton hearing will be held at the Milton Elementary School at 7 p.m.
The project would place three to five wind turbines atop Georgia Mountain on the Milton-Georgia town line. The Harrison family, which owns Harrison Concrete, is the owner of Georgia Mountain Wind.
Which make and model of tower will be installed will depend on what is available when the company is ready to purchase turbines, according to Jim Harrison. Current estimates have the turbines standing 70 to 90 meters high and mounting a rotor of similar diameter, which would result in a maximum height of up to 135 meters (about 443 feet).
Steve Terry, a consultant with the project, estimates it could generate electricity for 3,500 homes.
A wind study, begun in December 2006, determined that the average wind speed at the location is 15 miles per hour, good for a potential site, Martha Staskus, a consultant for the project said. The windmills are expected to generate at full capacity 31 to 33 percent of the time and to generate some electricity 80 percent of the time.
As part of their application to the Public Service Board, which is the sole board with the authority to approve or reject the project, the Harrison’s were required to submit the results of environmental impact and economic studies to the board. The entire application is available at the company’s Web site, georgiamountainwind.com and at PSB’s Web site (psb.vermont.gov).
Nearby landowners have been the primary opponents of the project. They have cited concerns from flicker caused by light reflecting off of the turbines, to a decline in property values, to “wind turbine syndrome,” a term coined by Dr. Nina Pierpont of Malone, N.Y.
Pierpont has self-published a book on the subject, sold from her Web site, in which she argues windmills cause health problems such as insomnia and headaches in people who live near them.
While Pierpont lists other physicians and scientists who examined her manuscript, she has not published any studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals documenting wind turbine syndrome.
Proponents have argued that Vermont needs energy from renewable sources and that this project could be part of the solution to Vermont’s energy problems. Currently, the state purchases one-third of its electricity from the Vermont Yankee nuclear facility and another third from Hydro-Quebec, a massive hydroelectric power project in Quebec.
The St. Albans Messenger
9 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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