July 5, 2013
New York

Scaled-back Black Oak Wind Farm nears public hearing

Scaled-back Black Oak Wind Farm nears public hearing; Enfield wind farm environmental impact statement available | Written by Andrew Casler | Democrat and Chronicle | July 5, 2013 | www.democratandchronicle.com

ITHACA – A scaled-back proposal for the Black Oak Wind Farm is moving forward, and the project has an upcoming public hearing.

A public hearing on the project’s draft environmental impact statement is scheduled 7 p.m. July 10 at the Enfield Community Building, 182 Enfield Main Road. Review a copy of the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement visiting www.tinyurl.com/m89rttk. [blackoakwindny.com]

“It is a one-way flow public input to the town board,” said Black Oak Wind Farm Project Manager Marguerite Wells. “It’s not a dialog; it’s not a commentary; it’s not us giving any information about the project, but simply giving feedback on the environmental impact statement.”

All comments will be recorded and noted in the environmental impact statement, Wells added.

The nine-year-old project has shrunk from 15-20 megawatts to 12.6 megawatts. It’s total cost is down too, from $40-45 million to about $35 million, Wells said.

So far, the project has raised $1.2 million from more than 80 private investors, and further investment will be needed, Wells said.

She said minimizing the facility’s impact on neighbors caused the scale back.

“Through the environmental review process, one of the things that comes up is noise and another is flicker and visual, we had to take out turbines that were going to be relatively obnoxious,” Wells said.

Flicker is when a turbine’s blade momentarily blocks out sunlight. The problem can be mitigated by planting trees and putting up blinds in affected homes, Wells said. Black Oak plans to pay for those installations if homeowners request them, Wells said.

In August 2012, the project was estimated to be complete by Christmas 2013, but that date has been set back, Wells said. However, people in Enfield can expect the project owners to break ground before then, Wells added.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/07/05/scaled-back-black-oak-wind-farm-nears-public-hearing/