September 25, 2006
Vermont

Revised Testimony Filed At PSB Today; A Change Is In Wind For UPC

[UPC] Vermont Wind will be filing revised testimony concerning a proposed project in Sheffield and Sutton with the Public Service Board today.

Matt Kearns, project manager for UPC, would not be specific, but said it does have to do with the company’s plans to build a commercial wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton.

“There are some changes,” Kearns said Sunday. “But that’s all I can say. We have to let the Public Service Board know first.”

UPC filed for a certificate of public good with the PBS earlier this year to build 20 398-foot wind turbines in Sheffield and another six in neighboring Sutton. Sutton residents are opposed to the plan and expressed their opposition in a nonbinding vote at town meeting in March. The town had hired Norwich attorney Daniel Hershenson to fight the project, but ran out of money this month. Sutton selectmen had approved spending $25,000 in May to fight the project, but that money was gone in three months.

The issue of how much the town should spend on a lawyer to fight the wind project is scheduled to come up at the next meeting of the selectmen on Thursday.

Word on the street is that UPC plans to pull out of Sutton, but Kearns would not confirm that during a telephone interview Sunday. He said a press release would be issued today.

UPC plans to erect 20 398-foot wind turbines between Hardscrabble Mountain and Libby Hill in Sheffield and another six in neighboring Sutton. It has been a contentious issue in both towns. Sheffield and UPC have worked out an agreement whereby the town will receive payments of between $400,000 and $550,000 a year if the project is completed.

In exchange, Sheffield has agreed to support UPC’s efforts to gain a certificate of public good from the PSB.

By Jeanne Miles, Staff Writer

caledonianrecord.com