March 29, 2018
Vermont

Blittersdorf won’t get Kidder Hill fees back

Robin Smith | Caledonian Record | March 29, 2018 | www.caledonianrecord.com

LOWELL – The Vermont Public Utilities Commission says developer David Blittersdorf won’t get a $15,000 filing fee back for withdrawing the Kidder Hill Wind Project.

Blittersdorf’s consultants paid that fee to the state when they filed a petition for a certificate of public good for two industrial-sized wind turbines on his Kidder Hill project in Lowell and Irasburg.

Blittersdorf announced Feb. 28 he was voluntarily withdrawing his petition for the Kidder Hill project.

Nick Charyk, spokesman for Kidder Hill, blamed Vermont Gov. Phil Scott for creating “a turbulent climate for renewable wind energy in Vermont.”

“The Phil Scott administration has made clear that it will do whatever it can to stop renewable wind energy from being built here in Vermont,” Charyk stated.

Blittersdorf’s consultants with the Kidder Hill project asked for the $15,000 fee back or asked the commission to issue an order requiring the Agency of Natural Resources to return the fee.

The commission closed the case for the Kidder Hill Wind Project. The commission also noted that the $15,000 fee is not a filing fee paid to the commission but it is used “to support the activities of the Agency of Natural Resources in reviewing applications for instate facilities …” The commission is not in possession of the funds and the state statutes do not allow the commission to order ANR to return those funds, the commission notes.

“Accordingly, we determine that it is not in our jurisdiction to grant Kidder’s request,” commissioners Anthony Z. Roisman, Margaret Cheney and Sarah Hofmann wrote March 16.

Other Projects

Charyk stated that Blittersdorf will continue to invest his money in other projects to reduce carbon emissions, like a community passenger rail in Vermont and other projects.

He continues to seek a certificate of public good for a singe large turbine on the Dairy Air Farm in Holland. A second site visit for that project is scheduled for April 30 at 11 a.m. at the School Road farm field where the turbine would be erected.

He was involved in partnerships that built two large solar farms in South Burlington and the four-turbine Georgia Mountain Wind Project. He also put up a small solar project in Morgan.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/03/29/blittersdorf-wont-get-kidder-hill-fees-back/