November 26, 2014
Pennsylvania

Project terminated

From staff reports , Lewistown Sentinel | November 26, 2014 | www.lewistownsentinel.com

BELLEVILLE – E.ON Climate and Renewables North America, is no longer leasing land in Mifflin and Huntingdon counties for an industrial wind project.

The original proposal for the project included 94 turbines on top of Jacks and Stone Mountains.

On Nov. 1, residents who had already leased property to E.ON received a letter stating that the company would no longer be pursuing the development of the project, and the agreements were canceled at the Mifflin County Courthouse.

According to documents filed on the Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland Power Tool website, the project was initiated on Oct. 31, 2012.

A 150.4 megawatt wind project, to be connected to the Penelec transmission system, was proposed. An operation date for the system of October 31, 2016 was planned.

The project would have included a new substation located in Big Valley, according to Dennis Stout, the project developer.

Another wind company, Volkswind, has also withdrawn its project from the PJM Grid, according to the PJM website.

Volkswind was planning to construct 20 Siemens turbines, each 2.3 megawatts, on Jacks Mountain above Belleville. The leases with Volkswind have not yet been terminated.

The changes follow outcry amongst some members of the local community against the project proposals.

SOAR and FJM coordinated in opposition to the project holding a series of meetings intended to inform Mifflin and Huntingdon county residents about possible negative repercussions from the project.

Over several meetings landowners and other residents of the municipalities where the proposed project was to be built learned how the project would impact the watersheds and habitats of the mountains.

“Assaulting Jacks and Stone Mountains with the construction of 94 industrial wind turbines did not make sense,” Cindy Bickel, a life-long resident of Mifflin County involved with the opposition movement, said in an e-mail to The Sentinel after news of the changes was released. “Had E.ON completed this project, residents surrounding these mountains would have forfeited the tranquil, scenic beauty that they now take for granted.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/11/26/project-terminated/