Invenergy LLC recently submitted a flawed application to the Roxbury Planning Board for a wind plant that would straddle the towns of Roxbury and Stamford. A total of 22 of the proposed 33 industrial wind turbines aren’t valid, due to landowner refusal. David Groberg of Invenergy claims that they will simply build a smaller project _ an unlikely scenario without the connecting property owner’s consent. (http://www.roxburyny.com/windproject/index.html.)
What could the Chicago-based corporation have up its sleeve? Three possibilities are that it:
1. wants the state to invoke eminent domain.
2. believes everyone has his price.
3. is using our community to qualify for tax breaks and to hoodwink investors.
The proposal is dubious because:
It includes parcels belonging to landowners who have said no.
Invenergy claims it will not have to use dynamite. In order to accommodate trucks carrying such large components _ a single turbine blade is 110 feet long _ they will need a wide, flat road. Clearly, they will have to blast the historic ridgeline to create a truck-friendly mesa.
The proposed turbines are made for sea-level, not mountain elevations.
The turbines are louder at the source than the company admits, and will exceed allowable decibel levels at nearby residences.
Invenergy has thwarted a real project: the expansion of the Plattekill Ski Resort, which would create some 600 local jobs. (The investors will not put up the funding if a wind plant will be the view.)
Since the SEQRA process and lawsuits could take several years to complete, I urge the Roxbury board to submit the turbines to a simple sound test. If the turbines fail that test, as they surely will, then why continue to allow this company to toy with our community? Let it ply its tax-avoidance schemes elsewhere.
Kristina Zill
Stamford
The Daily Star (Oneonta, N.Y.)
7 November 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/11/07/invenergy-plan-wont-work/