January 9, 2013
Vermont

Energy siting commission offers lottery for NEK site visits

Amy Ash Nixon, Staff Writer | Caledonian Record | January 8, 2013 | caledonianrecord.com

The first meeting of the New Year of the Governor’s Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission is set for this Friday from 9 a.m. to noon in Montpelier, where the commission will cover perspectives on the panel’s charges from other stakeholders, a news release on the next informational meeting stated, among them, citizens, activists and legislators.

Later Friday, from 1 to 4 p.m., at the Vermont Public Service Department in Montpelier, the Commission will begin its deliberations, according to a news release about the schedule.

The Commission will also deliberate Jan. 15 and Feb. 5, the schedule released in recent days shows.

Friday morning’s informational meeting will be held in the Pavilion Auditorium at 109 State St., in Montpelier.

The Commission will also be visiting energy generation projects, which will be followed by evening public hearings in January and February.

While public participation in those site visits is limited, video recordings from each visit will be posted to the Siting Commission’s website, the news release stated. Also, people can enter a lottery online through Thursday to try to secure a site visit opportunity.

Public participants in the planned site visits will be chosen by lottery at this Friday’s meeting, and anyone wishing to take part in one of the planned site visits is invited to submit their name once either at the start of the meeting, where ballots will be distributed, or by email to: SitingCommission@state.vt.us by 4 p.m. Thursday.

People submitting their name online should submit their full name, street address, email address, phone number and site visit preferences, in order of preference.

The following site visits are planned by the Commission, and are the ones that anyone seeking to participate in can rank in their request to attend: Granite Ridge Energy Natural Gas Facility in Londonderry, N.H., on Jan. 23 1-3 p.m.; South Burlington Solar Farm in South Burlington Jan. 30 noon to 2 p.m.; McNeil (biomass) Generating Station, Burlington Jan. 30 2:30-4:30 p.m.; Sheffield Wind in Sheffield Feb. 12 10 a.m. to noon; and Kingdom Community Wind in Lowell Feb. 12 from 1-4 p.m.

Those who are selected by lottery to attend each site visit must have their own transportation, the state notice specified. Public hearings on the Commission’s charges will be held from 5-7 p.m. on the same evenings of the site visits as follows, Jan. 23: Brattleboro Union High School, Brattleboro; Jan. 30, Aiken 102, Rubenstein School, University of Vermont, Burlington; and Feb. 12, Lowell Graded School, Lowell.

More information on all work and planned site visits and hearings by the Commission are available at the Siting Commission’s website, at www.sitingcommission.vermont.gov. All meetings of the group are open to the public, and anyone requiring reasonable accommodation to should make a request to Michelle Hughes at 802-828-3065 three days before a scheduled meeting, the state panel requested.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/01/09/energy-siting-commission-offers-lottery-for-nek-site-visits/