November 15, 2010
Massachusetts

Wind farm foes meet

by Kevin Flanders, Stonebridge Press & Villager Newspapers, www.winchendoncourier.com

BRIMFIELD – About 50 people attended an informational hearing at Brimfield Elementary School Friday, Nov. 12. Hosted by No Brimfield Wind, the session included an open house and a talk by environmental and health consultant Kurt Tramposch, of Wayland.

No Brimfield Wind is a group of residents opposed to the proposed construction of eight to 10 wind turbines on West Mountain along the ridge near Steerage Rock. The turbine project proposal was submitted by Boston-based company First Wind Holdings, Inc., which is looking to have the turbines built as early as November 2012.

The company has estimated the Brimfield project could generate more than 150 construction jobs and contracting positions, with the aim to hire locally, if possible.

During his speech, Tramposch echoed residents’ sentiments that the state government is moving too fast in its efforts to build wind turbines.

“The state is so determined to site wind that many siting policies have been fast-tracked,” Tramposch said. “Some policies have been completely ignored.”

According to No Brimfield Wind, officials from First Wind have aggressively pursued construction of the turbines in an attempt to obtain state and federal subsidies, disregarding requests by Brimfield residents to carefully evaluate the long-term impacts on the town.

For more on this story, please see tomorrow’s Southbridge Evening News.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/11/15/wind-farm-foes-meet/