| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind Power News: March 2016
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Court says no to turbine appeal
A Prince Edward County group fighting the 27 turbine wind farm proposed for South Marysburgh and Athol wards heard what they didn’t want to hear today(Wednesday). A Divisional Court judge has dismiissed the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County’s attempt to appeal an Environmental Review Tribunal(ERT) decision to allow land clearing at the wind farm site. Today(March 30) the judge dismissed APPEC’s attempt to have the clearing stopped because the court didn’t have the reasons that the ERT decided to . . . Complete story »
Blittersdorf still mum on purpose of structure on Morgan cabin
If Dr. Ron Holland thought he’d get an answer as to the purpose of the “tower” atop David Blittersdorf’s cabin in Morgan, he was mistaken. In Blittersdorf’s second round of answers to questions related to a Public Service Board (PSB) investigation into his unpermitted meteorological evaluation tower (MET) on Kidder Hill in Irasburg, the renewable energy developer declined to answer Holland’s question. The PSB opened the investigation after receiving letters, one from the town of Irasburg, indicating that Blittersdorf had . . . Complete story »
House member aims to expand requirements in energy siting bill
As the Senate considers a renewable energy bill, a freshman representative is ready and waiting with proposals she hopes could become amendments if it reaches her House committee. Rep. Marianna Gamache, R-Swanton, introduced five bills that would increase public notification requirements for proposed renewable energy projects and give communities the right to veto larger projects. Gamache said she didn’t expect the bills would make it out of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, of which she is a member. . . . Complete story »
Campaigners celebrate Saddle Hill windfarm rejection
Campaigners are celebrating victory in their fight against an “industrial scale” windfarm it was claimed would have decimated the tourism market of Glen Isla. Developers Wind Prospect said the £45 million Saddle Hill scheme would have provided enough power for a fifth of the homes in Angus and delivered a £4m community bounty over the next 25 years. But the area’s development standards committee meeting in Forfar backed the refusal recommendation of officials after hearing the 115-metre high turbines, eight . . . Complete story »
Birds and the breeze
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held an information and question-and-answer session Monday at Saratoga Town Hall about the proposed Chokecherry/Sierra Madre wind farm project. The meeting – the 63rd pulic meeting about the project according to Tony Brown, Public Affairs Specialist at the BLM – was attended by about 25 members of the public, plus representatives from the BLM, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as representatives of the Power Company of Wyoming, the company hoping to build . . . Complete story »
Migratory birds are latest issue in Somerset wind power controversy
SOMERSET – The damage wind turbines might do to migratory birds is the latest area of controversy in the Somerset wind power debate, but the developer says the dispute is, well, for the birds. The American Bird Conservancy has listed Lighthouse Wind, the project proposed near the Lake Ontario shoreline by Apex Clean Energy, among the nation’s 10 worst-sited wind projects, either existing or proposed, in terms of its effect on birds. The group’s report claimed that the Somerset-Yates project . . . Complete story »
Cape Wind project is dealt another setback
The Cape Wind energy project suffered another big blow on Tuesday when a state agency recommended that the developer’s request to extend its permit for two power lines for the proposed offshore wind farm be denied. A spokesman for Cape Wind Associates noted that this represents the Energy Facilities Siting Board staff’s “tentative decision” and that the board is scheduled to act on that recommendation next week. Cape Wind had sought to extend a permit for the proposed power lines . . . Complete story »
Dixfield board votes to place wind ordinance on June ballot
DIXFIELD – The Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 Monday evening to place an amended wind energy facility ordinance before voters June 14. The ordinance was written after Patriot Renewables of Quincy, Mass., approached town officials in October 2010 about constructing wind turbines on Colonel Holman Mountain ridge. It passed in November 2012, but zoning restrictions in it were unenforceable. In November 2014, an amended version was rejected. In June 2015, the Planning Board’s original draft was also rejected. In August 2015, . . . Complete story »
Big losses, marginal gains involved in Apex proposal
The APEX wind farm project should not proceed. Without tax and ratepayer subsidies APEX would never come to New York. The wind farm will obliterate property values and lower assessments over a minimum area of 12 miles-by-3 miles or 36 square miles. Wind is a highly variable generation resource and cannot be relied upon to be available to meet the long-term needs of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). New York nuclear plants run above 90 percent availability; the . . . Complete story »
Turbine project gets second wind in Sanborn Co.
LETCHER—A proposed wind farm has drawn the displeasure of some Letcher residents. To the dismay of at least one neighbor, a recently denied renewable energy project seems to have gained a second wind in Sanborn County. Pipestone, Minnesota-based Juhl Energy is meeting with landowners in rural Letcher to discuss a potential 9- to 11-turbine wind farm similar to the rural Mount Vernon project denied in February by the Davison County Commission. The project is still in preliminary phases, with no . . . Complete story »
