May 30, 2012
Vermont

Work continues on Lowell Mountain

Robin Smith, Staff Writer, The Orleans Record | orleanscountyrecord.com 30 May 2012

LOWELL – Work continues on the Lowell ridgeline in preparation for the raising of 21 industrial turbines for the Lowell wind project.

Meanwhile, wind opponents continue their efforts in and out of court.

Green Mountain Power continues to work on the turbine sites and access road to all 21 turbine sites, officials said.

“We continue to make really good progress,” GMP spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure said Tuesday.

So far, the stormwater runoff controls have performed as expected, she said.

The controls are designed to divert runoff during storms like those experienced across Vermont Tuesday into drainage areas. The runoff ponds and areas line the roads built to handle the large trucks and trailers that would transport the turbine parts, blades and the crane parts to the ridgeline crane path.

The loads of parts and cranes are due to begin arriving in Lowell in July and continue through the summer into September.

The stormwater runoff controls are inspected every week by specialists from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Schnure said.

There were initial problems last fall when the access road was first under construction but GMP’s contractors adjusted the pace of construction and there have been no filed reports of problems since then.

“It’s performing the way it should during rainstorms,” she said.

The opponents of the wind project continue a multi-pronged approach to fighting this and other industrial wind projects.

A chicken barbecue fundraiser will be held June 10 at the Hazen’s Notch Campground in Lowell, sponsored by the Lowell Mountains Group. The group is awaiting a decision by the Vermont Supreme Court on its appeal of the certificate of public good for the wind project from state regulators on the Vermont Public Service Board.

The fundraiser is 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. rain or shine.

A flyer featuring burning wind turbines went to U.S. Postal customers across the region.

Opponents Don and Shirley Nelson of Lowell continue to press their lawsuit against the wind project property owners and GMP, claiming ownership of land at the top of the access road and of the sites of two of the 21 turbines.

A group of six protesters is seeking their day in court to fight trespass charges.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/05/30/work-continues-on-lowell-mountain/