Windmills on Ice Mountain - Gamesa Wind Turbines

[sandstone]

Tyrone Borough Council has approved placement of an informal survey at voting booths on April 22nd's primary to check a YES or NO for windmills.

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN recommends that you check NO.

[sandstone]

http://www.tyronepa.com/news/article.php?id=11215

[150thBucktailCo.I]

So, does that mean that the Council will probably not be making any final determination until May on this issue?

I doubt Gamesa will like that seeing as how they are pushing for an approval/final determination NOW...

My other question is if this "informal survey" polling question will hold equal or more weight than the petition drive with Boro Council?

I can think of one council person that it probably will....

[sammie]

Noise level study for wind turbines suffers setback

March 10, 2008 by Kathy Mellott in The Tribune-Democrat

Any proof that the operating noise levels of turbines in the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm are violating local ordinances, as claimed by residents, may be a while in coming.

Paul Heishman, a Mechanicsburg sound expert who agreed last year to analyze the noise at the wind turbines, is no longer able to do the study, leaving local officials searching for a new expert.

"The expert identified at the last meeting is no longer available, and we need to find somebody new," Portage Township Solicitor C.J. Webb said.

Heishman cited family reasons for not undertaking the study, officials of Juniata Township, Blair County, said.

The Juniata officials are taking the lead in the search for a new sound expert and are leaning toward a Vermont resident, they said.

Portage and Juniata townships expect to split what is expected to be about $10,000 for the study, likely to cover several days with a focus on a variety of wind directions and environmental conditions.

"There are many factors to look at. It's going to have to be done over a period of time," Webb said.

Portage Township residents including Bruce Brunett and Juniata Township residents Todd and Jill Stull have complained that the turbines at times run at noise levels far above the 40-decibel limits spelled out in ordinances adopted by both municipalities two years ago.

They live near where township lines for Portage, Juniata and Greenfield, also in Blair County, converge.

Brunett wants to be sure that the expert chosen to do the study provides an unbiased analysis of the turbine noise.

"I caution against picking an expert who is associated with the wind industry," he said.

But equally important is that the expert can work with Babcock & Brown, Webb said. The Australian-based company purchased Allegheny Ridge phase one from developer Gamesa Energy USA more than a year ago.

Babcock representative David Smith said work to replace tape on turbine rotors was geared at reducing the noise level.

Smith said Babcock wants any problems resolved, but until it is proven the noise levels violate the ordinance, the operation will continue as is.

"Our position is we're operating under the permit limits and we'll continue until we're shown we're not," he said.

Meanwhile, Webb is urging both sides to keep an open mind.

"It's as much in their interest to resolve it as it is in ours," he said.

"At the end of the day, we want to make sure the Portage Township ordinance is honored."


Web link: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_...

[Rick]

tyrone borough council approves wind farm survey at april 22 primary voting booths

By KRIS YANIELLO
Staff Writer
March 11, 2008


Due to the consensus of Tyrone Borough council last evening, at the April 22 primary voting booths, borough residents who are registered to vote may check mark an informal survey about his or her thoughts on a proposed Gamesa Energy USA 10 to 15 turbine wind farm on the borough's watershed property on Ice Mountain.
The survey decision comes in the midst of Gamesa increasing payout figures in its proposed 30-year lease agreement with the borough, due to wind resource information gathered from an Ice Mountain meteorological test tower. Gamesa is willing to increase the Option Period for the option to lease the land to $5,000 per year, compared to the original $1,500 per year.
Gamesa has also increased the Operation Period per windmill per year from $6,000 to $7,000. The original three percent gross annual electricity revenue has now gone up to 3.5 percent, and increase to a maximum of 4.5 percent in the latter of the 30-year contract. The gross annual electricity revenue is only paid if it is higher than the now $7,000 per windmill per year.
The windmill survey that will be placed at voting booths throughout the borough requires simply a “yes” or “no” to the proposed wind farm.
Registered borough voters will have to show his or her voting stub before the survey can be taken. Council members and police enforcement will be at the polls to oversee the conducted survey without being of any influence for or against the proposed project.
The results of the survey cannot be binding upon borough council due to Home Rule Charter, but council feels the informal survey will provide a fair and impartial assessment of the opinion of borough residents on the proposed wind farm project.
Borough residents who are not registered to vote but would like to register can do so by coming into the borough office by the registration deadline of March 24.
Tyrone Mayor James Kilmartin feels that not only will this survey be yet another tool for council to use in its decision on Gamesa's proposed wind farm, but he hopes more people will get registered and vote at the upcoming primary.
"We want to hear what the voters have to say, that's very significant," said Kilmartin. "If people aren't registered, we want to get them registered. We want to hear what the borough residents have to say."
He added, "We hear from people all around the area and outside of the area, but we want to hear what the very residents in the borough say. This will be a non-judgmental vote in the way that it's not pressured."
In added fairness, Councilperson Patricia Stoner said that the borough will gather the completed surveys and compile the results with the assistance of not only council members, but also representatives from the “Save Ice Mountain” coalition that consists of borough residents who oppose the wind farm project.
Borough resident Terry Hyde, who attended last night’s meeting and suggested an informal survey at the voting booths in a Feb. 9 Herald "Letter to the Editor," said he didn't want to see the registered voters in the area be "disenfranchised" from a choice that they had an opportunity to at least let council know how they feel about it.
"Whatever way it falls, it falls," said Hyde. "One of the important things of it is that our community is about a 50/50 community, about half of us are retired, and for those who aren't retired are on a limited income base. You have to look at when this all started with the windmill project, people we're talking maybe between $2 to $2.5 million, and now we're up to maybe $3 million coming back to the community from an energy source, of which no other energy source has ever done that."
He continued, "When you talk about green and greed, natural gas wants a 20 percent increase; they didn't give us any money. Coal companies don't give us any money, they just take it from the land. Electric companies aren't giving us any money."
"They're (Gamesa) willing to put $3 million in investment to you, and may go even more, which that money can be used for the Chesapeake Bay project, community projects, or used for anything to help that limited income base out the whole way down," added Hyde.
As Kilmartin stated, Hyde said that the best thing about doing a survey for registered voters is the fact it might draw people into getting registered and voting at the primary.
"Whatever the decision goes, that's the way it goes; but, we're not leaving anybody out of the picture who wants to register and vote," said Hyde.
Kilmartin added of the survey, "It gives us (council) more tools, it gives us more research to be able to deal with."

http://www.tyronepa.com/news/article.php?id=11241

[sandstone]

So, does that mean that the Council will probably not be making any final determination until May on this issue?

I doubt Gamesa will like that seeing as how they are pushing for an approval/final determination NOW...

My other question is if this "informal survey" polling question will hold equal or more weight than the petition drive with Boro Council?

I can think of one council person that it probably will....

Council will not vote on the Gamesa proposal until the polling survey is tabulated, so the earliest possible vote would be in May.

http://tyronepa.com/news/article.php?id=11241

[Something to say]

hmmmm.........

From the article
By KRIS YANIELLO
Staff Writer
March 11, 2008

tyrone borough council approves wind farm survey at april 22 primary voting booths

Due to the consensus of Tyrone Borough council last evening, at the April 22 primary voting booths, borough residents who are registered to vote may check mark an informal survey about his or her thoughts on a proposed Gamesa Energy USA 10 to 15 turbine wind farm on the borough's watershed property on Ice Mountain.

The survey decision comes in the midst of Gamesa increasing payout figures in its proposed 30-year lease agreement with the borough, due to wind resource information gathered from an Ice Mountain meteorological test tower. Gamesa is willing to increase the Option Period for the option to lease the land to $5,000 per year, compared to the original $1,500 per year.
Gamesa has also increased the Operation Period per windmill per year from $6,000 to $7,000. The original three percent gross annual electricity revenue has now gone up to 3.5 percent, and increase to a maximum of 4.5 percent in the latter of the 30-year contract. The gross annual electricity revenue is only paid if it is higher than the now $7,000 per windmill per year.


The windmill survey that will be placed at voting booths throughout the borough requires simply a “yes” or “no” to the proposed wind farm.
Registered borough voters will have to show his or her voting stub before the survey can be taken. Council members and police enforcement will be at the polls to oversee the conducted survey without being of any influence for or against the proposed project.


( I would expect a larger turnout of voters with this election being exceptional....with both a female and a black candidate. People who haven't attended the Save Ice Mountain meetings may be coming out to vote )

The results of the survey cannot be binding upon borough council due to Home Rule Charter, but council feels the informal survey will provide a fair and impartial assessment of the opinion of borough residents on the proposed wind farm project.

( I believe fair and impartial just went out the window with the rest of this article )

Borough resident Terry Hyde, who attended last night’s meeting and suggested an informal survey at the voting booths in a Feb. 9 Herald "Letter to the Editor," said he didn't want to see the registered voters in the area be "disenfranchised" from a choice that they had an opportunity to at least let council know how they feel about it.
"Whatever way it falls, it falls," said Hyde. "One of the important things of it is that our community is about a 50/50 community, about half of us are retired, and for those who aren't retired are on a limited income base. You have to look at when this all started with the windmill project, people we're talking maybe between $2 to $2.5 million, and now we're up to maybe $3 million coming back to the community from an energy source, of which no other energy source has ever done that."
He continued, "When you talk about green and greed, natural gas wants a 20 percent increase; they didn't give us any money. Coal companies don't give us any money, they just take it from the land. Electric companies aren't giving us any money."
"They're (Gamesa) willing to put $3 million in investment to you, and may go even more, which that money can be used for the Chesapeake Bay project, community projects, or used for anything to help that limited income base out the whole way down," added Hyde.

This package is looking better and better as time goes by. I suggest that the people who oppose this project gather the most important facts ( flyers and an article in the Herald )...and get it out there to the general public before the primaries. Door to door distribution if necessary? Any thoughts?

[Something to say]

So, does that mean that the Council will probably not be making any final determination until May on this issue?

I doubt Gamesa will like that seeing as how they are pushing for an approval/final determination NOW...

My other question is if this "informal survey" polling question will hold equal or more weight than the petition drive with Boro Council?

I can think of one council person that it probably will....

This primary election could draw out more people than usual....some of which still have no clue to the reports which have been given in this forum regarding how this windfarm is detrimental to Ice Mountain. I mean... the petition was signed by more people than have even voted in past years...but if people who normally don't bother with politics come out to vote ...many may check yes just because of the monetary gain that was reported in the Herald. The numbers then may even out...giving council a reason to go ahead with the project.

[sandstone]

hmmmm.........

I suggest that the people who oppose this project gather the most important facts ( flyers and an article in the Herald )...and get it out there to the general public before the primaries. Door to door distribution if necessary? Any thoughts?

Door-to-door distribution of flyers is a great idea. That'll need to be done by borough residents and 16686ers, just like the petition was. Any volunteers?

Petitions will also be available for you to sign at the SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN public forum. The voting poll will only involve borough residents, but the petition will be open to all 16686ers. After all, the windplant will be in Snyder Township, not the borough.

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN
PUBLIC FORUM

Wednesday, March 26, 6:30-9:30pm

Tyrone Area High School Auditorium

The Borough of Tyrone is considering leasing watershed land to an industrial windplant developer to construct 400-foot-tall wind turbines, heavy-duty roads, transmission lines, and substations on Ice Mountain.

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN invites you to attend this informational forum featuring experts on industrial windfarms, wildlife, noise, and the effects of windplants on communities.

They will answer any questions that you might have.

Speakers will include;

Several people who live near industrial windplants in PA. None of them want their names released prior to the forum because they fear intimidation by the windplant developers/owners. They will relate their experiences with the turbines, the roads, and the developers/owners of the windplants.

Dan Boone: Are the Claims About Wind Power Accurate?

A professional botanist, wildlife biologist, ecologist and natural resources policy analyst, Mr. Boone has 30 years of experience in studying plants, wildlife and their habitat throughout the Appalachian region. He began his career as a wildlife biologist with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in the Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Lab at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD. Mr. Boone later served as the Coordinator of the Maryland DNR's Natural Heritage Program and worked as a Forest Ecologist with The Wilderness Society.

His career has focused on the identification and protection of the state's and the region's biological diversity. He currently is a private consultant working on issues related to species and habitat protection.
Mr. Boone formerly served as the Conservation Chair of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, and also was a member of the Environmental Working Group of the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative – and a co-author of its report: A LANDSCAPE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM: Addressing Environmental Issues Associated with Utility-Scale Wind Energy Development In Virginia.
He co-manages the Virginia Wind website – http://www.VAwind.org .

Mr. Boone has been actively engaged with issues and concerns regarding utility-scale wind energy development for over 5 years.


Laura Jackson: Turbine Turmoil – a survey of industrial wind projects in southcentral PA

Laura Jackson is a science educator who recently retired from teaching environmental science and advanced biology at Bedford High School in Bedford, PA. She is now the director of Bedford’s Environmental Center. She has received many local and state teaching awards, including the NSF Presidential Award for Science Teaching and the Pennsylvania Outstanding Conservation Educator of the Year Award. Numerous grants have enabled her students to monitor local watersheds, participate in stream rehabilitation projects, and improve habitats for wildlife. She has presented many community programs on nature, photography, and conservation. For the last 2 1/2 years she has researched industrial wind energy and its impact on human and wildlife communities.

Ms. Jackson is the chairperson of Save Our Allegheny Ridges (SOAR), a grassroots organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the historic, natural, and scenic integrity of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny mountain ridges. Energy companies are constructing wind turbines on Pennsylvania's mountains, which fragment the forests, destroy wildlife habitat, and kill birds and bats. Our forested mountains sustain critical ecosystems that are threatened by this industry. SOAR members are active in educational efforts to help residents understand the real impact of wind turbines in rural communities, as well as working with government officials to develop ordinances to regulate wind turbine development on our forested mountains.

SOAR does not oppose wind energy when properly sited. Areas such as reclaimed strip mines, brown fields, or agricultural areas may be suitable for wind turbines, if sufficient pre-construction monitoring is conducted to determine environmental impacts.

More information about SOAR and industrial wind can be found on the website:
http://www.saveouralleghenyridges.com

Written comments may be submitted to SOAR P. O. Box 178 Everett, PA 15537


Kim van Fleet: The Allegheny Front and Ice Mountain: An Exceptional Value Area for Birds

Kim Van Fleet is the Important Bird Area (IBA) Coordinator and staff biologist with Audubon Pennsylvania. Her early work as a field ornithologist with Audubon involved siting, installation, and maintenance of point counts, habitat characterization, and monitoring breeding populations of birds in a number of IBAs throughout the central and western regions of the state. In addition, she worked in the capacity of IBA volunteer coordinator. Prior to Audubon she was employed as a biology instructor at both Shippensburg and Penn State (Harrisburg) Universities. She received her B.S. and M.S. in biology from Shippensburg University where her undergraduate and graduate research focused on diurnal raptor migration across the Ridge and Valley Province of central Pennsylvania. Kim has worked on a number of field studies and research projects primarily focused on bird and mammal populations from 1991-present. She has made numerous presentations to groups and organizations across the state and currently serves on the Science and Conservation Committee of the Hawk Migration Association of North America.


For further information, contact Dr. Stan Kotala at 946-8840

[My2Cents]

Noise level study for wind turbines suffers setback

March 10, 2008 by Kathy Mellott in The Tribune-Democrat

Any proof that the operating noise levels of turbines in the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm are violating local ordinances, as claimed by residents, may be a while in coming.

Paul Heishman, a Mechanicsburg sound expert who agreed last year to analyze the noise at the wind turbines, is no longer able to do the study, leaving local officials searching for a new expert.

"The expert identified at the last meeting is no longer available, and we need to find somebody new," Portage Township Solicitor C.J. Webb said.

Heishman cited family reasons for not undertaking the study, officials of Juniata Township, Blair County, said.

The Juniata officials are taking the lead in the search for a new sound expert and are leaning toward a Vermont resident, they said.

Portage and Juniata townships expect to split what is expected to be about $10,000 for the study, likely to cover several days with a focus on a variety of wind directions and environmental conditions.

"There are many factors to look at. It's going to have to be done over a period of time," Webb said.

Portage Township residents including Bruce Brunett and Juniata Township residents Todd and Jill Stull have complained that the turbines at times run at noise levels far above the 40-decibel limits spelled out in ordinances adopted by both municipalities two years ago.

They live near where township lines for Portage, Juniata and Greenfield, also in Blair County, converge.

Brunett wants to be sure that the expert chosen to do the study provides an unbiased analysis of the turbine noise.

"I caution against picking an expert who is associated with the wind industry," he said.

But equally important is that the expert can work with Babcock & Brown, Webb said. The Australian-based company purchased Allegheny Ridge phase one from developer Gamesa Energy USA more than a year ago.

Babcock representative David Smith said work to replace tape on turbine rotors was geared at reducing the noise level.

Smith said Babcock wants any problems resolved, but until it is proven the noise levels violate the ordinance, the operation will continue as is.

"Our position is we're operating under the permit limits and we'll continue until we're shown we're not," he said.

Meanwhile, Webb is urging both sides to keep an open mind.

"It's as much in their interest to resolve it as it is in ours," he said.

"At the end of the day, we want to make sure the Portage Township ordinance is honored."


Web link: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_...

How "expert" does an "expert" have to be ?? $10,000.00 for a "new expert" to do a sound study... that's absurd !! Bringing a " new expert" in from Vermont to do a sound study on something that is obviously making noise and disturbing the peace ??!! This makes no sense at all !! Even if the noise is 39 decibels and within the limits spelled out by the ordinances, it is still a disturbance to the residents in general... otherwise, they would not be complaining !!! The residents are the experts in this matter. Ask them, they have lived there all their lives.... they don't need someone coming in, for $10,000.00, to tell them if something is noisy or not.

[My2Cents]

hmmmm.........

I suggest that the people who oppose this project gather the most important facts ( flyers and an article in the Herald )...and get it out there to the general public before the primaries. Door to door distribution if necessary? Any thoughts?

Door-to-door distribution of flyers is a great idea. That'll need to be done by borough residents and 16686ers, just like the petition was. Any volunteers?

Petitions will also be available for you to sign at the SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN public forum. The voting poll will only involve borough residents, but the petition will be open to all 16686ers. After all, the windplant will be in Snyder Township, not the borough.

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN
PUBLIC FORUM

Wednesday, March 26, 6:30-9:30pm

Tyrone Area High School Auditorium

The Borough of Tyrone is considering leasing watershed land to an industrial windplant developer to construct 400-foot-tall wind turbines, heavy-duty roads, transmission lines, and substations on Ice Mountain.

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN invites you to attend this informational forum featuring experts on industrial windfarms, wildlife, noise, and the effects of windplants on communities.

They will answer any questions that you might have.

Speakers will include;

Several people who live near industrial windplants in PA. None of them want their names released prior to the forum because they fear intimidation by the windplant developers/owners. They will relate their experiences with the turbines, the roads, and the developers/owners of the windplants.

Dan Boone: Are the Claims About Wind Power Accurate?

A professional botanist, wildlife biologist, ecologist and natural resources policy analyst, Mr. Boone has 30 years of experience in studying plants, wildlife and their habitat throughout the Appalachian region. He began his career as a wildlife biologist with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in the Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Lab at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD. Mr. Boone later served as the Coordinator of the Maryland DNR's Natural Heritage Program and worked as a Forest Ecologist with The Wilderness Society.

His career has focused on the identification and protection of the state's and the region's biological diversity. He currently is a private consultant working on issues related to species and habitat protection.
Mr. Boone formerly served as the Conservation Chair of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, and also was a member of the Environmental Working Group of the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative – and a co-author of its report: A LANDSCAPE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM: Addressing Environmental Issues Associated with Utility-Scale Wind Energy Development In Virginia.
He co-manages the Virginia Wind website – http://www.VAwind.org .

Mr. Boone has been actively engaged with issues and concerns regarding utility-scale wind energy development for over 5 years.


Laura Jackson: Turbine Turmoil – a survey of industrial wind projects in southcentral PA

Laura Jackson is a science educator who recently retired from teaching environmental science and advanced biology at Bedford High School in Bedford, PA. She is now the director of Bedford’s Environmental Center. She has received many local and state teaching awards, including the NSF Presidential Award for Science Teaching and the Pennsylvania Outstanding Conservation Educator of the Year Award. Numerous grants have enabled her students to monitor local watersheds, participate in stream rehabilitation projects, and improve habitats for wildlife. She has presented many community programs on nature, photography, and conservation. For the last 2 1/2 years she has researched industrial wind energy and its impact on human and wildlife communities.

Ms. Jackson is the chairperson of Save Our Allegheny Ridges (SOAR), a grassroots organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the historic, natural, and scenic integrity of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny mountain ridges. Energy companies are constructing wind turbines on Pennsylvania's mountains, which fragment the forests, destroy wildlife habitat, and kill birds and bats. Our forested mountains sustain critical ecosystems that are threatened by this industry. SOAR members are active in educational efforts to help residents understand the real impact of wind turbines in rural communities, as well as working with government officials to develop ordinances to regulate wind turbine development on our forested mountains.

SOAR does not oppose wind energy when properly sited. Areas such as reclaimed strip mines, brown fields, or agricultural areas may be suitable for wind turbines, if sufficient pre-construction monitoring is conducted to determine environmental impacts.

More information about SOAR and industrial wind can be found on the website:
http://www.saveouralleghenyridges.com

Written comments may be submitted to SOAR P. O. Box 178 Everett, PA 15537


Kim van Fleet: The Allegheny Front and Ice Mountain: An Exceptional Value Area for Birds

Kim Van Fleet is the Important Bird Area (IBA) Coordinator and staff biologist with Audubon Pennsylvania. Her early work as a field ornithologist with Audubon involved siting, installation, and maintenance of point counts, habitat characterization, and monitoring breeding populations of birds in a number of IBAs throughout the central and western regions of the state. In addition, she worked in the capacity of IBA volunteer coordinator. Prior to Audubon she was employed as a biology instructor at both Shippensburg and Penn State (Harrisburg) Universities. She received her B.S. and M.S. in biology from Shippensburg University where her undergraduate and graduate research focused on diurnal raptor migration across the Ridge and Valley Province of central Pennsylvania. Kim has worked on a number of field studies and research projects primarily focused on bird and mammal populations from 1991-present. She has made numerous presentations to groups and organizations across the state and currently serves on the Science and Conservation Committee of the Hawk Migration Association of North America.


For further information, contact Dr. Stan Kotala at 946-8840

Also, letters to the editor. I've been meaning to write one but haven't done so yet. Many people open that Saturday paper, look at the obituaries then move on to reading the Letters To The Editor.

[sandstone]

Also, letters to the editor. I've been meaning to write one but haven't done so yet. Many people open that Saturday paper, look at the obituaries then move on to reading the Letters To The Editor.

M2C is right. Many studies regarding newspaper readership have shown that the comics are the most read section, followed by letters to the editor.

[sandstone]

Noise level study for wind turbines suffers setback

March 10, 2008 by Kathy Mellott in The Tribune-Democrat



Paul Heishman, a Mechanicsburg sound expert who agreed last year to analyze the noise at the wind turbines, is no longer able to do the study, leaving local officials searching for a new expert.

"The expert identified at the last meeting is no longer available, and we need to find somebody new," Portage Township Solicitor C.J. Webb said.

Heishman cited family reasons for not undertaking the study, officials of Juniata Township, Blair County, said.

_...

How "expert" does an "expert" have to be ?? $10,000.00 for a "new expert" to do a sound study... that's absurd !! Bringing a " new expert" in from Vermont to do a sound study on something that is obviously making noise and disturbing the peace ??!! This makes no sense at all !! Even if the noise is 39 decibels and within the limits spelled out by the ordinances, it is still a disturbance to the residents in general... otherwise, they would not be complaining !!! The residents are the experts in this matter. Ask them, they have lived there all their lives.... they don't need someone coming in, for $10,000.00, to tell them if something is noisy or not.

Come to the SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN public forum and talk to the people who live near the Allegheny Ridge Wind Plant to find out why Mr. Heishman resigned. It was not "family reasons."

[sandstone]

I'd like to share with you this letter from Jack Buchan of Somerset County, who is facing the possibility of an industrial windplant in his neck of the woods:

A power shortage occurred in Texas last week when the wind stopped blowing after coal burning power plants had been taken off line in favor of wind turbine generated electricity. Wind energy prices in west Texas surged to $1,055 a MW hour verses $299 a MW hour elsewhwere in the state where power is generated from traditional sources. Big industrial consumers of electricity were forced to shut down or drastically scale back consumption and operations. The utility paid them dearly to do so. Consumers will foot the bill shortly in their monthly electric bills. The high cost of wind power is always passed on to the consumer.

Some states (California, Texas) are even suggesting forced shut downs of big electric consumers under a "voluntary agreement" to ratchet back electricity demand to meet dips in wind power output.

In PA our wind resources a sorely insufficient. Wind turbines here operate at only a 25%-30% capacity because, unlike the Great Plains, western mountains and oceans, where wind turbines can operate at up to 85% capacity, our winds do not blow consistently. There is currently NO technology available to store electricity produced by wind turbines which often generate electricity at night when demand is low. Electricity must be used when generated. There is also no way to accurately and consistently predict when, where and how hard the wind is going to blow so it is almost impossible to know when it is safe to shut down coal power plants. They must be kept up and running always or power shortages and soaring electricty prices will occur when the wind quits blowing, just like happened last week in Texas.

The technology to make wind power a reliable and affordable alternative energy source does not yet exist. Maybe someday it will, so it is worth pursuing. But in the here and now, is it worth it to allow wind developers to destroy the last wild areas of Pennsylvania for so little, unreliable, expensive power, especially when there are millions of acres of strip mines where they could develop their experimental technology and harvest their government subsidies without harming the natural environment? The cost to the citizens of the Commonwealth simply outweigh the limited benefis of these industrial wind power plants if they are built in the wrong places. Pennsylvania currently has no law that regulates the siting of wind plants. They can be built virtually anywhere as long as they get a water quality permit from DEP.

Shaffer Mountain in Somerset County is a prime example of the "wrong place" to build a wind plant and brings the siting issue squarely into focus. Shaffer Mountain is 10,000 acres of unfragmented Appalachian Mountain forest with 3 dirt roads. It has two of the highest quality native Eastern Brook Trout streams in the Mid-Atlantic, a world renowned raptor migration corridor on the Allegheny Front (Eastern Continental Divide), rare exceptional value upland wetlands, a maternity colony of a federally endangered species (Indiana bat), and has been designated as a Natural Heritage Area of Exceptional Significance by the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Project. Gamesa has selected this site to build a massive industrial wind power plant with 18 miles of industrial base roads which will surround the wilderness trout streams and eventually wipe out the native eastern brook trout habitat through erosion ans sedimentation. The turbines will be built in the middle of the raptor migration corridor and prime Indiana bat habitat. Turbines have killed thousands of raptors in other parts of the US. They also attract and kill bats by the thousands. The Meyersdale wind plant, 15 miles south of Shaffer Mountain, has recorded the highest bat mortality in the world. What makes the selection of this site especially egregious is that 1.5 miles to the west lies one of the largest reclaimed strip mines in Somerset County -- the perfect site for such an industrial development. It is high, open, and windy with a main road system already in place. And it is owned by the same corporation that owns the proposed Shaffer Mountain site.

Gamesa can build their industrial wind power plant on the reclaimed strip mine, OR build 18 miles of roads and thirty-three 404 foot tall industrial wind turbines in a PA Natural Heritage Area of Exceptional Significance, degrade the highest quality waters in the Commonwealth and kill federally endangered species. This is the choice.

Opponents of Gamesa's proposed Shaffer Mountain wind plant are not against wind development. They welcome it on appropriate sites. Legislation is needed to direct developers to appropriate sites.

Thank you.

[banksy]

Tolstoy Thread