Windmills on Ice Mountain - Gamesa Wind Turbines

[My2Cents]

Just checked out their web site... it's changed somewhat from what they had previously.... lotsa' stuff left out.... unless I'm missing it. No longer is the map of the ridgetops shown, with the potential placement of turbines included in the site... the previous map, by the way, showed 30 turbines, not 25. Also included on the old site was their noise determinations for the surrounding area, also included on the old site was a drawing on how they could handle erosion problems none of this is shown on the newer site. Once again it is mention something like although construction plans are not complete... this in itself could cover a lot of territory. I do hope council notices the 'ole come on.. "once a lease is signed, construction plans will then be completed" also the part where they say they will continue to monitor the area after the farm is in operation... what good will that do then ??
What are they gonna' do years from now, when "things" start going downhill ?? They won't be around. This wind farm will have been sold and all these initial promises, promises, promises, will mean nothing !!! BTW, I also noticed their logo has changed... there's a new modernized Dharma type logo for this season. Let's hope we don't get... "Lost" in their tangled web of deceptions.

[Something to say]

This turbine company has/is sending letters out to the public once more... everyone with a Tyrone address probably has one sitting in their mailbox right now. If I knew how to do it, I would post that letter on here.... but, I don't know how. Once again the "magic 55% for" these things raises it's head... to a public that is still MOSTLY unaware. .

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Carnegie Museum/National Aviary/Penn State study that shows Ice Mountain to be important golden eagle habitat. In fact, those researchers clearly stated that a windplant on Ice Mt would harm golden eagles.

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, which designates Ice Mountain as a "unique" Blair County Natural Heritage Area "of exceptional conservation value."

I wish that SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN had pockets as deep as Gamesa, so that we could do mailings to all of Tyrone.

Hmmm...maybe we don't need deep pockets...


What if the most important parts such as the following:......


FROM THE DESK OF SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN



A. An unbiased assessment of the conservation value of Ice Mountain was done by the Blair County Planning Commission through the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory about 5 years ago. As its name implies, the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory is a catalog of our county's natural habitats, focusing on only the best natural areas remaining in the county. These areas are designated as Blair County Natural Heritage Areas and they comprise about 15% of the county. Almost all of the Blair County Natural Heritage Areas are on mountains, because the valleys have almost no remaining natural habitats left (they've been almost 100% converted to agricultural and urban uses). Most of the Allegheny Front, of which Ice Mountain is a part, does NOT have Blair County Natural Heritage Area Status, because of fragmentation by residential areas and strip mines. Ice Mountain is one of the few areas of the Allegheny Front that has earned County Natural Heritage Area status, and the only one that is described as being EXCEPTIONAL.

NOTE: The forrester that provided the following report does NOT receive MONIES from Gamesa...UNBIASED.

B. As a professional Forester with over 45 years experience and an ISA Certified Arborist with over 40 years experience, I am extremely concerned with the construction of large industrial wind turbines being established on our ridge tops.

The fragmentation of an established forest always has a dynamic effect on the ecosystem because of the decades that are required to grow a large tree.

Trees and woody plants -
Breakup the impact of rain reducing mechanical impact erosion.
Provide a mechanical route for water to slowly run down their structure to the soil.
Breakup and defuse the impact of wind lessening its drying effect and reducing wind erosion.
Breakup solar radiation by providing shade from foliage, limbs and trunks thus moderating the evaporation of water from soils and moderating soil temperatures.
Their woody roots anchor the soil and rocks.
Their woody roots open fissures in rock and semi-permeable soils allowing water to seep into the aquifers.
Dead leaves, twigs and wood, insulate the soil from solar radiation; prevent impact erosion from rain; hold and regulate water movement reducing run-off and allowing slow percolation into the aquifers.

The removal of trees and woody vegetation due to clearing for roads, rights-of-way for power lines and areas for the construction of windmills and support structures destroys all these benefits. When this happens on a ridge top, it is especially devastating.


C. The industrial windplant proposed on Ice Mountain near Tyrone is a bad idea for the following reasons:

1. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are designated as a Landscape Conservation Area and County Natural Heritage Area of Exceptional Significance in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory. It was so designated because Ice Mountain represents a large block of unfragmented forest habitat important to forest-interior species, such as the bobcat, the fisher, the black-throated blue warbler, the black-throated green warbler, the scarlet tanager, and the wood thrush. The extensive network of heavy-duty roads, turbine clearings, transmission line corridors, and clearings for substations and accessory buildings would result in extensive fragmentation of this forested area that is described as "unique" in the Inventory because of its lack of such infrastructure.

2. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are also designated as Greenways in the Blair County Comprehensive Plan. Greenways are areas where the preservation of the natural landscape should be given first priority. The Areawide Comprehensive Plan for Blair County states; "The ridge tops in Blair County are one of its defining characteristics. As one looks in any direction, the mountain ridges dominate the landscape. They demonstrate the power and constancy of the natural forces that shaped them. Development along ridge tops should be discouraged so that their imposing beauty is preserved. Ridge lines that should be conserved are the Allegheny Front and Dunning, Short, Loop, Lock, Brush, Bald Eagle, Canoe, and Tussey Mountains." Were a "wind farm" to be built on Ice Mountain then the "wind farm," not the mountain, would dominate the landscape. It is hard to imagine a more shocking and obtrusive feature on the mountain than dozens of 400-foot tall towers with 140-foot long whirling blades.

3. Ice Mountain also is part of the Allegheny Front Important Bird Area identified by the Pennsylvania Biological Survey's Ornithological Technical Committee. During migration, approximately 2 million birds pass over the Allegheny Front each night. In summer, Ice Mountain is home to about 100 species of breeding birds, most of which are dependent upon large tracts of unbroken forest.

4. The US Fish and Wildlife Service guidance document regarding industrial windplants states that wind energy projects should avoid fragmenting large, contiguous tracts of wildlife habitat such as exists on Ice Mountain.

5. The Ice Mountain site is part of a protective forested buffer around the Tyrone Reservoirs, which supply water to area customers. Each wind turbine contains large amounts of oil in its 60-ton nacelle, the center point of the rotating assembly. Each turbine will be vulnerable to lightning strikes, resulting in a high risk of fire in the forested reservoir watershed. The turbines to be built on Tyrone Borough property would require the construction of many miles of new roads on Ice Mountain, resulting in increased runoff and sedimentation. Each turbine also requires the clearing and grading of several acres surrounding it including large roads for construction and maintenance.

Despite the above-mentioned publicly-accessible scientific evidence and county planning designations, industrial windplant developers have targeted Ice Mountain to site an industrial windplant. Their action either ignores or dismisses this area’s long-standing designations, which corroborate Ice Mountain’s unique status and exceptional conservation value. The developers' effort also disregards the public approval of Ice Mountain as a Greenway - essential for the preservation of our quality of life in Blair County.

Juniata Valley Audubon seeks a balanced approach to energy production. It is not unreasonable to recommend that lands designated to have exceptional conservation value be off-limits to industrial wind energy development.

D. Over the past several years, I have studied this subject and have attended numerous Gamesa information (read: propaganda) sessions, community forums, township supervisor and planning commission meetings, and a DEP hearing. What is apparent in all these venues is the wind company's commitment to convincing local officials and the public that this ineffective, expensive and highly tax-subsidized technology is worth sacrificing any area regardless of its ecological importance or proximity to people's homes.

E. 1500 people from the 16686 zipcode signed a petition AGAINST the placement of a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN.

F. In addition.... 45% of the people polled by you, the borough council, said NO to a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN. ALL TYRONE BOROUGH RESIDENTS.


As stewards of Ice Mountain we are asking you to vote NO to this windfarm.



.....Was written and sent to the COUNCIL MEMBERS that will be voting on MONDAY?

[Fightin' Irish]

This turbine company has/is sending letters out to the public once more... everyone with a Tyrone address probably has one sitting in their mailbox right now. If I knew how to do it, I would post that letter on here.... but, I don't know how. Once again the "magic 55% for" these things raises it's head... to a public that is still MOSTLY unaware. .

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Carnegie Museum/National Aviary/Penn State study that shows Ice Mountain to be important golden eagle habitat. In fact, those researchers clearly stated that a windplant on Ice Mt would harm golden eagles.

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, which designates Ice Mountain as a "unique" Blair County Natural Heritage Area "of exceptional conservation value."

I wish that SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN had pockets as deep as Gamesa, so that we could do mailings to all of Tyrone.

Hmmm...maybe we don't need deep pockets...


What if the most important parts such as the following:......


FROM THE DESK OF SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN



A. An unbiased assessment of the conservation value of Ice Mountain was done by the Blair County Planning Commission through the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory about 5 years ago. As its name implies, the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory is a catalog of our county's natural habitats, focusing on only the best natural areas remaining in the county. These areas are designated as Blair County Natural Heritage Areas and they comprise about 15% of the county. Almost all of the Blair County Natural Heritage Areas are on mountains, because the valleys have almost no remaining natural habitats left (they've been almost 100% converted to agricultural and urban uses). Most of the Allegheny Front, of which Ice Mountain is a part, does NOT have Blair County Natural Heritage Area Status, because of fragmentation by residential areas and strip mines. Ice Mountain is one of the few areas of the Allegheny Front that has earned County Natural Heritage Area status, and the only one that is described as being EXCEPTIONAL.

NOTE: The forrester that provided the following report does NOT receive MONIES from Gamesa...UNBIASED.

B. As a professional Forester with over 45 years experience and an ISA Certified Arborist with over 40 years experience, I am extremely concerned with the construction of large industrial wind turbines being established on our ridge tops.

The fragmentation of an established forest always has a dynamic effect on the ecosystem because of the decades that are required to grow a large tree.

Trees and woody plants -
Breakup the impact of rain reducing mechanical impact erosion.
Provide a mechanical route for water to slowly run down their structure to the soil.
Breakup and defuse the impact of wind lessening its drying effect and reducing wind erosion.
Breakup solar radiation by providing shade from foliage, limbs and trunks thus moderating the evaporation of water from soils and moderating soil temperatures.
Their woody roots anchor the soil and rocks.
Their woody roots open fissures in rock and semi-permeable soils allowing water to seep into the aquifers.
Dead leaves, twigs and wood, insulate the soil from solar radiation; prevent impact erosion from rain; hold and regulate water movement reducing run-off and allowing slow percolation into the aquifers.

The removal of trees and woody vegetation due to clearing for roads, rights-of-way for power lines and areas for the construction of windmills and support structures destroys all these benefits. When this happens on a ridge top, it is especially devastating.


C. The industrial windplant proposed on Ice Mountain near Tyrone is a bad idea for the following reasons:

1. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are designated as a Landscape Conservation Area and County Natural Heritage Area of Exceptional Significance in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory. It was so designated because Ice Mountain represents a large block of unfragmented forest habitat important to forest-interior species, such as the bobcat, the fisher, the black-throated blue warbler, the black-throated green warbler, the scarlet tanager, and the wood thrush. The extensive network of heavy-duty roads, turbine clearings, transmission line corridors, and clearings for substations and accessory buildings would result in extensive fragmentation of this forested area that is described as "unique" in the Inventory because of its lack of such infrastructure.

2. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are also designated as Greenways in the Blair County Comprehensive Plan. Greenways are areas where the preservation of the natural landscape should be given first priority. The Areawide Comprehensive Plan for Blair County states; "The ridge tops in Blair County are one of its defining characteristics. As one looks in any direction, the mountain ridges dominate the landscape. They demonstrate the power and constancy of the natural forces that shaped them. Development along ridge tops should be discouraged so that their imposing beauty is preserved. Ridge lines that should be conserved are the Allegheny Front and Dunning, Short, Loop, Lock, Brush, Bald Eagle, Canoe, and Tussey Mountains." Were a "wind farm" to be built on Ice Mountain then the "wind farm," not the mountain, would dominate the landscape. It is hard to imagine a more shocking and obtrusive feature on the mountain than dozens of 400-foot tall towers with 140-foot long whirling blades.

3. Ice Mountain also is part of the Allegheny Front Important Bird Area identified by the Pennsylvania Biological Survey's Ornithological Technical Committee. During migration, approximately 2 million birds pass over the Allegheny Front each night. In summer, Ice Mountain is home to about 100 species of breeding birds, most of which are dependent upon large tracts of unbroken forest.

4. The US Fish and Wildlife Service guidance document regarding industrial windplants states that wind energy projects should avoid fragmenting large, contiguous tracts of wildlife habitat such as exists on Ice Mountain.

5. The Ice Mountain site is part of a protective forested buffer around the Tyrone Reservoirs, which supply water to area customers. Each wind turbine contains large amounts of oil in its 60-ton nacelle, the center point of the rotating assembly. Each turbine will be vulnerable to lightning strikes, resulting in a high risk of fire in the forested reservoir watershed. The turbines to be built on Tyrone Borough property would require the construction of many miles of new roads on Ice Mountain, resulting in increased runoff and sedimentation. Each turbine also requires the clearing and grading of several acres surrounding it including large roads for construction and maintenance.

Despite the above-mentioned publicly-accessible scientific evidence and county planning designations, industrial windplant developers have targeted Ice Mountain to site an industrial windplant. Their action either ignores or dismisses this area’s long-standing designations, which corroborate Ice Mountain’s unique status and exceptional conservation value. The developers' effort also disregards the public approval of Ice Mountain as a Greenway - essential for the preservation of our quality of life in Blair County.

Juniata Valley Audubon seeks a balanced approach to energy production. It is not unreasonable to recommend that lands designated to have exceptional conservation value be off-limits to industrial wind energy development.

D. Over the past several years, I have studied this subject and have attended numerous Gamesa information (read: propaganda) sessions, community forums, township supervisor and planning commission meetings, and a DEP hearing. What is apparent in all these venues is the wind company's commitment to convincing local officials and the public that this ineffective, expensive and highly tax-subsidized technology is worth sacrificing any area regardless of its ecological importance or proximity to people's homes.

E. 1500 people from the 16686 zipcode signed a petition AGAINST the placement of a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN.

F. In addition.... 45% of the people polled by you, the borough council, said NO to a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN. ALL TYRONE BOROUGH RESIDENTS.


As stewards of Ice Mountain we are asking you to vote NO to this windfarm.



.....Was written and sent to the COUNCIL MEMBERS that will be voting on MONDAY?

Good idea, but "Save Ice Mt" already made those points on many occasions during presentations to Council, letters to the editor, etc.

The most essential thing at this point is for Tyrone residents to let their 7 voting borough council members know that the issues that "Save Ice Mt" mentions above are important to Tyrone.

I'm sure that Juniata Valley Audubon's Dave Bonta will be making those points during his presentation to Council on Monday evening. You might want to be there.

[Fightin' Irish]

Throughout the years, I've heard of "stuff" like this happening elsewhere. I always listened, but, chose to ignore... for I have always respected the decisions of those in the know, those in charge..... So, I will continue to do so and keep the faith.
I absolutely cannot believe, with ALL the information that has been presented... everything... I mean everything... there is nothing, nothing anywhere, that says turbines are a good thing..... I cannot believe that our council will sign a lease giving these ridiculious things a go ahead...... I can't imagine this happening... we have good, good, people with good heads, elected to our council... they care for the welfare of this town... they are doing a fantastic job. I just can't imagine them allowing this to happen. It's totally inconceivable.

Greed is a powerful thing. Remember that at least one Council member has already stated that they "don't care about the residents of Snyder Township."

TYRONE BOROUGH COUNCIL MEMBERS: NOTE THE LAST PARAGRAPH BELOW

To the editor;

An unbiased assessment of the conservation value of Ice Mountain was done by the Blair County Planning Commission through the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory about 5 years ago. As its name implies, the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory is a catalog of our county's natural habitats, focusing on only the best natural areas remaining in the county. These areas are designated as Blair County Natural Heritage Areas and they comprise about 15% of the county. Almost all of the Blair County Natural Heritage Areas are on mountains, because the valleys have almost no remaining natural habitats left (they've been almost 100% converted to agricultural and urban uses). Most of the Allegheny Front, of which Ice Mountain is a part, does NOT have Blair County Natural Heritage Area Status, because of fragmentation by residential areas and strip mines. Ice Mountain is one of the few areas of the Allegheny Front that has earned County Natural Heritage Area status, and the only one that is described as being EXCEPTIONAL.

County Natural Heritage Areas are divided into those of exceptional, notable, and high value. Only the best of the best earn the EXCEPTIONAL title. In the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, Ice Mountain (Allegheny Front LCA # 1) is designated as EXCEPTIONAL.

The Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory makes recommendations regarding the management of Blair County Natural Heritage Areas. Regarding Ice Mountain (Allegheny Front LCA #1), it recommends that the area not be fragmented with additional roads.

The Executive Summary of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory describes Landscape Conservation Areas as “large contiguous areas that are important because of their size, open space, habitats, and/or inclusion of one or more Biological Diversity Areas.” It goes on to say;

“These large regions in relatively natural condition can be viewed as regional assets; they improve quality of life by providing a landscape imbued with a sense of beauty and wilderness, they provide a sustainable economic base, and their high ecological integrity offers unique capacity to support biodiversity and human health. Planning and stewardship efforts can preserve these functions of the landscape by limiting the overall amount of land converted to other uses, thereby minimizing fragmentation of these areas.”

Ice Mountain and its surrounding area were also designated as Greenways in the revision of the Blair County Comprehensive Plan; which was based on public comments received in 2002-2005 . Greenways are areas where the preservation of the natural landscape should be given first priority. The Areawide Comprehensive Plan for Blair County (adopted by the Blair County Commissioners in 2006) states;

“The ridge tops in Blair County are one of its defining characteristics. As one looks in any direction, the mountain ridges dominate the landscape. They demonstrate the power and constancy of the natural forces that shaped them. Development along ridge tops should be discouraged so that their imposing beauty is preserved. Ridge lines that should be conserved are the Allegheny Front and Dunning, Short, Loop, Lock, Brush, Bald Eagle, Canoe, and Tussey Mountains.”

Were a “wind farm” to be built on Ice Mountain then the “wind farm,” not the mountain, would dominate the landscape. It is hard to imagine a more shocking and obtrusive feature on the mountain than arrays of 450-foot tall towers with 140-foot long whirling blades. It's not possible to respect the status of Ice Mountain as a unique Blair County Natural Heritage Area of exceptional conservation value and then vote YES to a project that would carve it up with miles of new heavy-duty roadway, large transmission line corridors, substations, clearings for industrial wind turbines, as well as dominate the mountain with gargantuan turbines. That kind of development is inconsistent with the Blair County Natural Heritage Area designation which has been given to Ice Mountain.

Tyrone Borough Council has a responsibility as stewards of Ice Mountain to heed the recommendations of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory and the Blair County Comprehensive Plan. SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN asks that our borough council members vote NO to any proposal to convert Ice Mountain into an industrial windplant.

Sincerely,
Stan Kotala, M.D., spokesman, SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN

Excellent letter! The last paragraph really says it all!

Thank you, Ice Man!

[My2Cents]

I have not had a chance to read everything, but, with what I have read so far in our very own hometown newspaper and also in the Mirror, both published today, Saturday, January 10th... in summation... my very first thoughts/impressions... the public is only being told what this company wants them to hear. Not just the articles themselves, but, the articles surrounding the articles in other areas of the paper.... I feel our council is being pushed into this... pushed into voting on Monday the 12th.... and pushed into giving this thing a go ahead !!! I honestly feel, they are being backed into a corner and have no other choice but to allow this to happen. Most of the general public who are not in the "know" and reading this nicey, nicey, propaganda contained in these articles will wonder why, after reading all that nicey, nicey stuff, our council would do such a thing by voting NO.
Maybe, just maybe, if they stand up to this company and give them an absolute NO... people will start paying attention, and begin to understand, why they voted NO.
Maybe, just maybe, more folks in our community will not take so much for granted and begin to respect what we have, right here in our little corner of the world.
We have a gold mine sitting up there.... it is ours... as it has been for thousands of years. Let's hope it is not given away.
Maybe, just maybe, our council will go down in history as heros !!!

[sandstone]

This turbine company has/is sending letters out to the public once more... everyone with a Tyrone address probably has one sitting in their mailbox right now. If I knew how to do it, I would post that letter on here.... but, I don't know how. Once again the "magic 55% for" these things raises it's head... to a public that is still MOSTLY unaware. .

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Carnegie Museum/National Aviary/Penn State study that shows Ice Mountain to be important golden eagle habitat. In fact, those researchers clearly stated that a windplant on Ice Mt would harm golden eagles.

Nowhere in the letter does Gamesa acknowledge the results of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory, which designates Ice Mountain as a "unique" Blair County Natural Heritage Area "of exceptional conservation value."

I wish that SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN had pockets as deep as Gamesa, so that we could do mailings to all of Tyrone.

Hmmm...maybe we don't need deep pockets...


What if the most important parts such as the following:......


FROM THE DESK OF SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN



A. An unbiased assessment of the conservation value of Ice Mountain was done by the Blair County Planning Commission through the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory about 5 years ago. As its name implies, the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory is a catalog of our county's natural habitats, focusing on only the best natural areas remaining in the county. These areas are designated as Blair County Natural Heritage Areas and they comprise about 15% of the county. Almost all of the Blair County Natural Heritage Areas are on mountains, because the valleys have almost no remaining natural habitats left (they've been almost 100% converted to agricultural and urban uses). Most of the Allegheny Front, of which Ice Mountain is a part, does NOT have Blair County Natural Heritage Area Status, because of fragmentation by residential areas and strip mines. Ice Mountain is one of the few areas of the Allegheny Front that has earned County Natural Heritage Area status, and the only one that is described as being EXCEPTIONAL.

NOTE: The forrester that provided the following report does NOT receive MONIES from Gamesa...UNBIASED.

B. As a professional Forester with over 45 years experience and an ISA Certified Arborist with over 40 years experience, I am extremely concerned with the construction of large industrial wind turbines being established on our ridge tops.

The fragmentation of an established forest always has a dynamic effect on the ecosystem because of the decades that are required to grow a large tree.

Trees and woody plants -
Breakup the impact of rain reducing mechanical impact erosion.
Provide a mechanical route for water to slowly run down their structure to the soil.
Breakup and defuse the impact of wind lessening its drying effect and reducing wind erosion.
Breakup solar radiation by providing shade from foliage, limbs and trunks thus moderating the evaporation of water from soils and moderating soil temperatures.
Their woody roots anchor the soil and rocks.
Their woody roots open fissures in rock and semi-permeable soils allowing water to seep into the aquifers.
Dead leaves, twigs and wood, insulate the soil from solar radiation; prevent impact erosion from rain; hold and regulate water movement reducing run-off and allowing slow percolation into the aquifers.

The removal of trees and woody vegetation due to clearing for roads, rights-of-way for power lines and areas for the construction of windmills and support structures destroys all these benefits. When this happens on a ridge top, it is especially devastating.


C. The industrial windplant proposed on Ice Mountain near Tyrone is a bad idea for the following reasons:

1. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are designated as a Landscape Conservation Area and County Natural Heritage Area of Exceptional Significance in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory. It was so designated because Ice Mountain represents a large block of unfragmented forest habitat important to forest-interior species, such as the bobcat, the fisher, the black-throated blue warbler, the black-throated green warbler, the scarlet tanager, and the wood thrush. The extensive network of heavy-duty roads, turbine clearings, transmission line corridors, and clearings for substations and accessory buildings would result in extensive fragmentation of this forested area that is described as "unique" in the Inventory because of its lack of such infrastructure.

2. Ice Mountain and its surrounding area are also designated as Greenways in the Blair County Comprehensive Plan. Greenways are areas where the preservation of the natural landscape should be given first priority. The Areawide Comprehensive Plan for Blair County states; "The ridge tops in Blair County are one of its defining characteristics. As one looks in any direction, the mountain ridges dominate the landscape. They demonstrate the power and constancy of the natural forces that shaped them. Development along ridge tops should be discouraged so that their imposing beauty is preserved. Ridge lines that should be conserved are the Allegheny Front and Dunning, Short, Loop, Lock, Brush, Bald Eagle, Canoe, and Tussey Mountains." Were a "wind farm" to be built on Ice Mountain then the "wind farm," not the mountain, would dominate the landscape. It is hard to imagine a more shocking and obtrusive feature on the mountain than dozens of 400-foot tall towers with 140-foot long whirling blades.

3. Ice Mountain also is part of the Allegheny Front Important Bird Area identified by the Pennsylvania Biological Survey's Ornithological Technical Committee. During migration, approximately 2 million birds pass over the Allegheny Front each night. In summer, Ice Mountain is home to about 100 species of breeding birds, most of which are dependent upon large tracts of unbroken forest.

4. The US Fish and Wildlife Service guidance document regarding industrial windplants states that wind energy projects should avoid fragmenting large, contiguous tracts of wildlife habitat such as exists on Ice Mountain.

5. The Ice Mountain site is part of a protective forested buffer around the Tyrone Reservoirs, which supply water to area customers. Each wind turbine contains large amounts of oil in its 60-ton nacelle, the center point of the rotating assembly. Each turbine will be vulnerable to lightning strikes, resulting in a high risk of fire in the forested reservoir watershed. The turbines to be built on Tyrone Borough property would require the construction of many miles of new roads on Ice Mountain, resulting in increased runoff and sedimentation. Each turbine also requires the clearing and grading of several acres surrounding it including large roads for construction and maintenance.

Despite the above-mentioned publicly-accessible scientific evidence and county planning designations, industrial windplant developers have targeted Ice Mountain to site an industrial windplant. Their action either ignores or dismisses this area’s long-standing designations, which corroborate Ice Mountain’s unique status and exceptional conservation value. The developers' effort also disregards the public approval of Ice Mountain as a Greenway - essential for the preservation of our quality of life in Blair County.

Juniata Valley Audubon seeks a balanced approach to energy production. It is not unreasonable to recommend that lands designated to have exceptional conservation value be off-limits to industrial wind energy development.

D. Over the past several years, I have studied this subject and have attended numerous Gamesa information (read: propaganda) sessions, community forums, township supervisor and planning commission meetings, and a DEP hearing. What is apparent in all these venues is the wind company's commitment to convincing local officials and the public that this ineffective, expensive and highly tax-subsidized technology is worth sacrificing any area regardless of its ecological importance or proximity to people's homes.

E. 1500 people from the 16686 zipcode signed a petition AGAINST the placement of a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN.

F. In addition.... 45% of the people polled by you, the borough council, said NO to a windfarm on ICE MOUNTAIN. ALL TYRONE BOROUGH RESIDENTS.


As stewards of Ice Mountain we are asking you to vote NO to this windfarm.



.....Was written and sent to the COUNCIL MEMBERS that will be voting on MONDAY?

Good idea, but "Save Ice Mt" already made those points on many occasions during presentations to Council, letters to the editor, etc.

The most essential thing at this point is for Tyrone residents to let their 7 voting borough council members know that the issues that "Save Ice Mt" mentions above are important to Tyrone.

I'm sure that Juniata Valley Audubon's Dave Bonta will be making those points during his presentation to Council on Monday evening. You might want to be there.

It might be a good idea for people who live in the Borough of Tyrone and Snyder Township to copy the letter you suggested and sign it and give it to the 7 voting council members. Not enough time to mail it. Hope they read it by Monday evening.

[sandstone]

Most of the general public who are not in the "know" and reading this nicey, nicey, propaganda contained in these articles will wonder why, after reading all that nicey, nicey stuff, our council would do such a thing by voting NO.
Maybe, just maybe, if they stand up to this company and give them an absolute NO... people will start paying attention, and begin to understand, why they voted NO!!!

That's exactly what the Logan Township Planning Commission did. Close to 60 people spoke up AGAINST the proposed Chestnut Flats Wind Farm (Horseshoe Curve) during a public hearing last month. Only one person spoke in favor of it. And that was in spite of Logan Township being offered close to $100,000 annually by Gamesa for the proposed windplant!

[sandstone]

Maybe, just maybe, more folks in our community will not take so much for granted and begin to respect what we have, right here in our little corner of the world.
We have a gold mine sitting up there.... it is ours... as it has been for thousands of years. Let's hope it is not given away.
Maybe, just maybe, our council will go down in history as heros !!!

Counting Crows
They Paved Paradise

They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples,
LEAVE me the birds and the bees please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now, they paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not?

Listen, late last night, heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took my girl away
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Well, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Well now, they paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I don't wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Hey, hey, hey
Now you wanna give it
I should wanna give it
Now you wanna givin it all away

Hey, paved paradise, put up a parking lot
Paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

[My2Cents]

WOW,sandstone... sooooo very true, we don't even have to try to Name that Tune... we know it !!!
"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone......."

[Ice Man]

Most of the general public who are not in the "know" and reading this nicey, nicey, propaganda contained in these articles will wonder why, after reading all that nicey, nicey stuff, our council would do such a thing by voting NO.
Maybe, just maybe, if they stand up to this company and give them an absolute NO... people will start paying attention, and begin to understand, why they voted NO!!!

That's exactly what the Logan Township Planning Commission did. Close to 60 people spoke up AGAINST the proposed Chestnut Flats Wind Farm (Horseshoe Curve) during a public hearing last month. Only one person spoke in favor of it. And that was in spite of Logan Township being offered close to $100,000 annually by Gamesa for the proposed windplant!

I find it bothersome that the Tyrone Borough Council never organized a public hearing about the Ice Mt windplant proposal. That seems to be the standard procedure in other municipalities. This is particularly worrisome in light of the irregularities at the polling stations regarding the informal windplant poll. Salaman can tell you all about that.

[kayaker-one]

This well-written letter sheds new light on the validity of survey questions, while supporting much of what we know about wind energy.  It would be interesting to use Zampogna’s suggestions to analyze the questions in the Tyrone survey...


http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/artic ... 024776.prt
 
The Daily News
Serving Genesee, Wyoming, and Orleans Counties, NY
 
 
Letter: Wording of Orangeville wind turbine survey was biased
By Dr. Joseph A. Zampogna
Published:
Friday, January 9, 2009 11:01 AM EST
The old adage, "figures never lie, but liars figure," is a most appropriate axiom when applied to the Orangeville wind turbine survey (mailed Aug. 19, 2008). The first of five survey questions is worded to elicit a desired response from Orangeville residents. It reads; "Would you be in favor of a wind turbine energy project in the Town of Orangeville if it reduced your town property taxes for at least 20 years or more?" This conditional question is both hypothetical and directional. Certainly, the majority of property owners will vote yes to a hypothetical that "may" reduce their property taxes.
 
According to David Shapiro of the Wyoming County Planning and Development Office, 73 percent of the respondents marked yes to the survey question quoted above. As expressed, it is surprising that the affirmative responses were not 100 percent. In support of this biased wording, the December 2008 newsletter from the Invenergy Corporation states that this town board survey "proves there is strong, consistent support for wind energy in Orangeville." It also claims that this is a fair and independent gauge of the local support for wind energy.
 
In order for a survey to be "fair and independent," the questions must not contain any directional hypotheses. The survey questions must be thoroughly reviewed to eliminate any prejudicial wording and field tested to determine their objectivity. These controls for bias were obviously not applied when developing this survey.
 
How would the Orangeville property owners respond to the following hypothetical question? "Do you favor a wind turbine energy project in the Town of Orangeville if it significantly reduces the value of your property and negatively impacts your quality of life?" With the exception of the developer's paid supporters, it is highly unlikely that there would be any affirmative responses to such a question.
 
Therefore, what is the motivation for such a manipulative survey question? Do town officials and developers have an altruistic desire to "save the environment" and help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by allowing a wind turbine farm to be developed in Orangeville? Objective scientific evidence clearly rejects the claim that wind energy is a viable large scale alternative to fossil fuels or nuclear energy.
 
Wind energy projects across the globe have not replaced even one fossil fuel or nuclear generating plant.
 
Fundamentally, wind energy is neither reliable nor predictable. It cannot provide power on demand, it is not compact, and it is not economical. (See Droz, J. aaprJohn@northnet.org <mailto:aaprJohn@northnet.org> ).
 
In reality, wind power development is sold to a community based on temporary financial incentives offered by the developers. The only thing "green" in this transaction is the developers' subsidized profit paid for with our tax dollars and shared with local supporters who have signed land-lease contracts with the developers. Some of the current Orangeville town officials are paid supporters of the proposed Orangeville Stony Creek wind farm project having signed land-lease agreements with the developer. In spite of their personal financial interest in seeing this project move forward, they refuse to resign their public position or recuse themselves from matters related to the proposed Orangeville wind energy project.
 
The driving force behind the wording of the survey question quoted above is neither altruism nor sound scientific methodology. Instead, the answer can be found by following the money trail. The unfortunate consequence of this self-serving motivation is that when the government subsidies and tax breaks end, wind turbine projects will languish. This will leave local communities with short term gain for some, and long term pain for all because of an unnecessary exploitation of the environment. Sadly, there is no difference in outcomes between greed and incompetence.
 
We all support new and efficient technologies that will help satisfy our large scale energy needs at a reasonable cost. However, society has limited financial resources and expending large amounts of taxpayer dollars on inefficient wind energy projects will further delay the development of real solutions to all our energy demands.
 
Dr. Joseph A. Zampogna is a citizen of Orangeville.

[sammie]

Does anyone remember the wording of the borough's survey question(s)?

[Ice Man]

I encourage everyone to look at the Executive Summary of the report http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ ... xecsum.pdf, pdf page 6 of 8. That page includes a table of subsidies paid per mwh of generation. A quick summary (subset) below:

Coal is paid $.44 per mwh
Nat. Gas: $.25 per mwh
Biomass: $.89 per mwh
Nuclear: $1.59 per mwh
Hydro: $.67 per mwh
Solar: $24.34 per mwh
Landfill gas: $1.37 per mwh
Wind: $23.37 per mwh

Wind currently gets 14+ times what nuclear receives and a whopping 53x that of coal.

It sure seems like Gamesa is in a win-win situation. Gamesa has received more than $20 million in grants and loans from state and local coffers. Yes, our tax money is hard at work making sure that Gamesa can reap huge profits.

Laura

[cruiser1]

I found it quite funny that Josh Framel would sign off on his letter with " Sincerely". Here is the definition.
sin·cere·ly adverb
— sin·cere·ness noun
synonyms sincere , wholehearted , heartfelt , hearty , unfeigned mean genuine in feeling. sincere stresses absence of hypocrisy, feigning, or any falsifying embellishment or exaggeration <a sincere apology>. wholehearted suggests sincerity and earnest devotion without reservation or misgiving <promised our wholehearted support>. heartfelt suggests depth of genuine feeling outwardly expressed <expresses our heartfelt gratitude>. hearty suggests honesty, warmth, and exuberance in displaying feeling <received a hearty welcome>. unfeigned stresses spontaneity and absence of pretense <her unfeigned delight at receiving the award>.

[My2Cents]

I encourage everyone to look at the Executive Summary of the report http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ ... xecsum.pdf, pdf page 6 of 8. That page includes a table of subsidies paid per mwh of generation. A quick summary (subset) below:

Coal is paid $.44 per mwh
Nat. Gas: $.25 per mwh
Biomass: $.89 per mwh
Nuclear: $1.59 per mwh
Hydro: $.67 per mwh
Solar: $24.34 per mwh
Landfill gas: $1.37 per mwh
Wind: $23.37 per mwh

Wind currently gets 14+ times what nuclear receives and a whopping 53x that of coal.

It sure seems like Gamesa is in a win-win situation. Gamesa has received more than $20 million in grants and loans from state and local coffers. Yes, our tax money is hard at work making sure that Gamesa can reap huge profits.

Laura

I just read thru that entire article and am totally dumbfounded !!! What a waste of taxpayer money !!! It would be fine and worth it if these things produced, and could give us something worthwhile... but they don't, and they never will !! These things have to depend on another form of electricity in order to function themselves... they won't even save the day if there were a power outage. Big picture, I think they bit off more than they can chew and are now afraid to admit it because of all the money being spent, all the money that has been spent.
"Somebody," somewhere, is going to have the guts to stop this exorbitant waste of taxpayers hard earned money... but when,.... after our ridgetops are layed to waste ?? In that article it states, "coal receives more subsidies in absolute terms than wind power." That's OK, it works... it works and it's worth all the subsidies it's given..... all we have to do is spend the taxpayers money, that is being wasted on something that does not work, and find a way to clean up the coal. The article states, "wind is likly to be more dependent on the availability of substdies than the of coal." This is true, and they will ALWAYS require high amounts of subsidies. Windmills cannot function without electricity, they need the grid. The grid is producing electricity from coal (without any problems, I might add) all we have to do is clean up the coal, go nucular, go solar whatever..... why spend all this money on something that has to always have another electrical source to depend on in order to half way function ?? It just doesn't make sense !!!! It has been said over and over again, and it is absolutely true... this all boils down to $$$$$ and greed, deceiving the general public !!! It is so far out of hand someone is afraid to call the shots !!!