Windmills on Ice Mountain - Gamesa Wind Turbines

[My2Cents]

I am biting my tongue... I certainly hope that younz'es are proud of youze self !!!
Amazing how 2 individuals can have that much authority over something in which they know nothing about !!!
Good Luck, I hope your children and grandchildren will be proud of your decision makings.
$hame on you !!!

[Fightin' Irish]

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN thanks Snyder Township Supervisor James Burket for the respect he has shown for Blair County's natural heritage and for the people of the township. As supervisor Burket noted at yesterday evening's meeting, the vast majority of the people in the township are opposed to the windplant. Supervisor Burket stated the he received many calls and emails from Snyder Township residents opposed to the windplant, but only one from a person in favor of the windplant. Throughout yesterday evening's meeting, on this and on other issues, Snyder Township supervisor James Burket showed the utmost respect for his consituents. SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN salutes Snyder Township supervisor James Burket! :flag:
.

Thank you, Supervisor Jim Burket. :thumb: Your devotion to duty and your respect for us and for our natural heritage will be remembered.

Fightin' Irish

[Something to say]

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN thanks Snyder Township Supervisor James Burket for the respect he has shown for Blair County's natural heritage and for the people of the township. As supervisor Burket noted at yesterday evening's meeting, the vast majority of the people in the township are opposed to the windplant. Supervisor Burket stated the he received many calls and emails from Snyder Township residents opposed to the windplant, but only one from a person in favor of the windplant. Throughout yesterday evening's meeting, on this and on other issues, Snyder Township supervisor James Burket showed the utmost respect for his consituents. SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN salutes Snyder Township supervisor James Burket! :flag:

Unfortunately, he was outvoted by sups Nelson and Diehl. Anyone present at the meeting (and at previous meetings) knows that sup Diehl is arrogant and heavy-handed. He insulted Dr. Stan Kotala after Dr. Kotala's statement by shouting that Dr. Kotala doesn't know where Ice Mountain is. He threatened to "clear the room" after other residents presented independent data showing that Ice Mt is not an appropriate site for an industrial windplant, and he insulted independent scientists by claiming that he knows Ice Mountain better than anyone. He totally dismissed the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory which lists Ice Mt as the ONLY site in western Blair County that earned the distinction of "COUNTY NATURAL HERITAGE AREA OF EXCEPTIONAL CONSERVATION VALUE."

Sup Charles Diehl is a disgrace to his office. His shameful behavior at township meetings speaks for itself.

Sup Robert Nelson, who was elected on a platform of opposing the windplant, changed his mind, saying that he did it "for the children." He gave no further explanation.

He did it for the children? What did he do for the children? Seems to me that the action he will be remembered for is that its okay to deceive people by telling them what they want to hear to gain electoral votes then doing the exact opposite when called upon to take that stand. Seems to me he also taught the children that their own integrity...character...is only worth the next dollar bill waved in front of their faces and at any given point can be sold to the highest bidder.

As for Charlie Diehl.....its just too d*mn bad we couldn't find some way to take all his hot air, bottle it, and heat the entire eastern coast. If a lick of arrogance is worth a dime....he should be put on the auction block. I'm sure he wouldn't mind selling his arrogance...everything has a price tag.
And the funny thing is....if we could ask the children in 50 years what difference Charlie Diehl made while he served the area...their reply would be....Who's Charlie Diehl? Get over yourself...jeez.


Good ole boy ...redneck mentality...know it alls. Seriously...did we really expect them to think?

Supervisor James Burket ..... thank you for hearing your constituents and acting upon their interests. I'm sure the people of Snyder Township and everyone else in the county that didn't want to see your mountain desecrated for the sake of a dollar will remember you fondly for your commitment and integrity. Supervisors Diehl and Nelson, and the elected officials of the Borough of Tyrone could all learn a great deal from you and councilman Hanzir about serving the people that elected them into their positions. :flag:

[mikkevkal144]

Sup Robert Nelson, who was elected on a platform of opposing the windplant, changed his mind, saying that he did it "for the children." He gave no further explanation.

Sup Nelson, was voted in to be an extra voice for the people of Snyder Township, now we all see that was just an empty Campaign promise, should have figured, all he is now is a yes man to Sup Diehl. Thanks a lot to Sup. Burket. Your backbone and time for the township residence speaks for itself. Keep up the good work.....

[sandstone]

SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN thanks Snyder Township Supervisor James Burket for the respect he has shown for Blair County's natural heritage and for the people of the township. As supervisor Burket noted at yesterday evening's meeting, the vast majority of the people in the township are opposed to the windplant. Supervisor Burket stated the he received many calls and emails from Snyder Township residents opposed to the windplant, but only one from a person in favor of the windplant. Throughout yesterday evening's meeting, on this and on other issues, Snyder Township supervisor James Burket showed the utmost respect for his consituents. SAVE ICE MOUNTAIN salutes Snyder Township supervisor James Burket! :flag:

Unfortunately, he was outvoted by sups Nelson and Diehl. Anyone present at the meeting (and at previous meetings) knows that sup Diehl is arrogant and heavy-handed. He insulted Dr. Stan Kotala after Dr. Kotala's statement by shouting that Dr. Kotala doesn't know where Ice Mountain is. He threatened to "clear the room" after other residents presented independent data showing that Ice Mt is not an appropriate site for an industrial windplant, and he insulted independent scientists by claiming that he knows Ice Mountain better than anyone. He totally dismissed the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory which lists Ice Mt as the ONLY site in western Blair County that earned the distinction of "COUNTY NATURAL HERITAGE AREA OF EXCEPTIONAL CONSERVATION VALUE."

Sup Charles Diehl is a disgrace to his office. His shameful behavior at township meetings speaks for itself.

Sup Robert Nelson, who was elected on a platform of opposing the windplant, changed his mind, saying that he did it "for the children." He gave no further explanation.

Supervisor James Burket ..... thank you for hearing your constituents and acting upon their interests. I'm sure the people of Snyder Township and everyone else in the county that didn't want to see your mountain desecrated for the sake of a dollar will remember you fondly for your commitment and integrity. Supervisors Diehl and Nelson, and the elected officials of the Borough of Tyrone could all learn a great deal from you and councilman Hanzir about serving the people that elected them into their positions. :flag:

x 2

[sandstone]

Sup Robert Nelson, who was elected on a platform of opposing the windplant, changed his mind, saying that he did it "for the children." He gave no further explanation.

Sup Nelson, was voted in to be an extra voice for the people of Snyder Township, now we all see that was just an empty Campaign promise, should have figured, all he is now is a yes man to Sup Diehl. Thanks a lot to Sup. Burket. Your backbone and time for the township residence speaks for itself. Keep up the good work.....

The great rift between Supervisor Jim Burket and Sups Diehl and Nelson was VERY obvious on EVERY issue that came up yesterday evening. Here are some examples:

1. Several residents complained about problems with their 911 addresses. Supervisor Jim Burket made a motion that an ad be placed in the paper stating that residents had 60 days to come forth with complaints regarding addresses, after which changes would be made. Sup Nelson refused to vote on the motion, saying "I wasn't there when the 911 names were given to streets." :ahh: Sup Diehl voted NO to notifying residents.

2. 168 residents signed a petition and hired a lawyer to compel Snyder Township to enforce its own junkyard ordinance. A junkyard in Northwood has been out of compliance for more than 2 years. When the lawyer for the aggrieved residents confronted the supervisors 6 months ago, the supervisors gave the junkyard 6 months to come into compliance. Nothing was done in the past 6 months to bring the junkyard closer to compliance. Yesterday Sups Nelson and Diehl voted to give the junkyard another 6 months to come into compliance. Supervisor Nelson said that the extension is necessary because "trucks come and go there all the time." :huh: Supervisor Diehl said that the extension is necessary because "that's the way it's gonna be."

3. Skip Chamberlain and Jeff Morrissey of Snyder Township presented the supervisors with 1,500 signatures of area residents opposed to the windplant. Supervisor Jim Burket told the crowd that he had received only ONE communication from a person in favor of the windplant, but had received many calls and emails and had personal discussions with many people opposed to the windplant. A former Snyder Township planning commission member who was present said that a few years ago a petition with 350 names opposing zoning was hailed by Sup Diehl as evidence that "the people have spoken and they don't want zoning" and asked why a petition with 1,500 names should be of lesser significance. Supervisor Diehl said that it doesn't matter because he hunts and knows Ice Mountain better than anyone. :nuts: Supervisor Nelson stated that he wants the windplant for the children. :jester:

[Woodrat]

Water under the bridge, perhaps, but here's the report from Trish Miller and the golden eagle study group that was presented to the Snyder Township supervisors. (The cover letter appeared a few posts earlier in this thread.)

Golden Eagles and Wind Power Facilities: What Decision Makers of the Proposed Sandy Ridge Wind Facility Should Know
Tricia Miller, The Pennsylvania State University and Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Todd Katzner, National Aviary
David Brandes, Lafayette College
Michael Lanzone, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Dan Ombalski, State College Bird Club

The size of the eastern North American population of golden eagles is small and therefore highly vulnerable to demographic perturbations. Even low levels of turbine-associated or other mortality may be significant for long-lived species with low reproductive rates and slow maturation rates (Drewitt and Langston, 2006; Katzner et al. 2006). Golden eagles tend to migrate and winter within areas of the central Appalachians that are currently under development or targeted for future development by wind energy companies. This species commonly uses slope soaring and ridge updrafts during migration and foraging, flight patterns which are known to increase collision risk (Barrios & Rodriguez, 2004; Hoover & Morrison, 2005). Additionally, a pilot study conducted by Farmer (2007) found that 88% of migrating bald and golden eagles flew at an altitude within the rotor swept area of modern turbines. It is for these reasons and others that golden eagles therefore may be highly susceptible to collision with some wind turbines (Hunt, 2002; Smallwood & Thelander, 2004). Because of their demography, migration and winter flight behavior, and vulnerability to wind turbines, we consider eastern golden eagles to be the raptor species at greatest risk of population-wide impacts from wind energy development in the Appalachians.

Available monitoring data and modeling strongly suggest that eastern golden eagles migrate through a narrow corridor in south-central Pennsylvania (particularly during spring; Brandes & Ombalski, 2004). This corridor includes portions of Bedford, Blair, Centre, Fulton, Huntingdon, Mifflin, and Somerset Counties and likely extends southward through Maryland into West Virginia. Thus, we consider the Allegheny Front and the five adjacent ridges to the east to be a zone of high risk for potential impacts to golden eagles.

Our tracking data show that five of eight golden eagles that we monitored on migration through Pennsylvania used the area in and around Sandy Ridge. Furthermore, the area in and around Sandy Ridge was used by more telemetered birds than any other proposed or existing facility in the Commonwealth. Of these eight birds:
• 62% passed within 3 miles of the proposed facility.
• 50% passed less than 1 mile from the facility.
• 37.5% (3 birds) roosted and foraged within 1 mile of the facility with one bird roosting and foraging within the proposed facility.

For the bird that used the wind facility, we obtained two points while the bird was in flight. The altitudes of these two points were 1086 m and 849 m above sea level. The mean total height (elevation plus turbine height) of the turbines at Sandy Ridge is 855 m ± 35 m. Thus, one of the flight locations was within the rotor swept area of the turbines at Sandy Ridge. Based on these preliminary data, Sandy Ridge appears to provide important migratory habitat for golden eagles.

In addition to the high use wintering areas on West Virginia and parts of Virginia, our preliminary telemetry data and remote camera surveys suggest that many more golden eagles winter in Pennsylvania than was previously known. Importantly, for the two telemetered birds that wintered in Pennsylvania, greater than 95% of their telemetry points were located in high elevation, remote wooded areas. This suggests that, in addition to providing important migration habitat, Sandy Ridge may provide prime golden eagle wintering habitat. Furthermore, studies suggest that raptors are at highest collision risk when foraging (Hunt, 2002; Hoover & Morrison, 2005), thus land managers should consider the potential conflicts that wind energy facilities may pose, not only in critical migratory habitat, but in important wintering areas as well.

To summarize, our data tell us that golden eagles will be impacted by wind power development on Sandy Ridge. Nevertheless, they do not tell us the scale of that impact - how many golden eagles may be at risk from wind power development at Sandy Ridge, nor do they tell us exactly what will happen to eagles, should turbines be built there. The decision to put turbines at this site will have consequences for these Pennsylvania ridge tops and there will be impacts on golden eagles and other species. We hope that our limited preliminary data are useful to those of you who will make the decision whether or not to develop this site.

References
Barrios, L. and A. Rodriguez, 2004. Behavioural and environmental correlates of soaring-bird
mortality at on-shore turbines. Journal of Applied Ecology 41: 72-81.
Brandes, D. and D.W. Ombalski, 2004. Modeling raptor migration pathways using a fluid flow
analogy. J. Raptor Res. 38(3):195-207.
Drewitt, A.L., and H.W. Langston, 2006. Assessing the impacts of wind farms on birds. Ibis,
148, 29-42.
Farmer, C. 2006. Counts and flight altitudes of migratory raptor at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary,
Pennsylvania. Presentation at Wildlife & Wind Energy Conference, Kutztown, PA.
Hoover, S.L. and M.L. Morrison, 2005. Behavior of red-tailed hawks in a wind turbine
development. J. Wildl. Manage. 69(1):150-159.
Hunt, G., 2002. Golden Eagles in a Perilous Landscape: Predicting the Effects of Mitigation for
Wind Turbine Blade-Strike Mortality. Cal. Energy Commiss. Consultant Report.
Katzner, T., E. Bragin and E.J. Milner-Gulland. 2006. Modelling populations of long lived birds
of prey for conservation: a study of Imperial Eagles (Aquila heliaca) in Kazakhstan.
Biological Conservation 132: 322-335.
Smallwood, K.S. and C.G. Thelander, 2004. Developing Methods to Reduce Bird Mortality in
the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area. PIER Final Project Report 500-04-052 prepared for
California Energy Commission.

[Something to say]

I don't know whether to cry or laugh. I find it hilarious that people could be so ignorant, and yet, at the same time....it's truly sad that people can be so ignorant. Supervisor Diehl certainly seems to wield a lot of power in the township...His... "I want and so it is..." attitude is sickening....and the fact that weak followers give him all that power is certainly alarming.

BECAUSE I SAID SO AUTHORITY scares the crap out of me. < BECAUSE I SAID SO AUTHORITY is used when people are clueless >

[Something to say]

[Woodrat]

Since our elected representatives in both Tyrone Borough and Snyder Township have now demonstrated their contempt for the golden eagle, we are clearly no longer worthy of claiming that bird for our high school mascot. Any suggestions for a new mascot? I was thinking the Tyrone Rat-Faced Pea Brains has a certain ring to it. And far from being rare or endangered, those critters are so numerous, we can't even keep them off the borough council and township board of supervisors! Seems like it ought to be an uncontroversial choice, then.

[One lone voice]

Pennsylvania State Constitution, Article I, Section 27:
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

Obviously Sups Nelson and Diehl consider themselves to know better than the writers of our State Constitution on what should be valued by the people and all the future generations. $48 thousand a year is all they figure the Constitutional rights of their grandchildren to be worth. Doesn't seem like enough, does it?

Special thanks to Sup. Burket for actually trying to do his job as a representative of the people.

[Something to say]

Last pic...I promise...Just had to.

[My2Cents]

No, Something to say.... don't stop now. This whole thing has become a joke.... I would say hill-air-re-us, but, I don't know how to spell it and I don't feel like looking it up. !!! Keep on keeping on Sts.... 'cause I said so !!!! Yep, I said so !!!!

[Woodrat]

@yertle, don't you mean "land of green energy and recycling centers"? We might be eligible for some kind of award from the Rendell administration, I'm thinking.

(Seriously, though, I'd buy a copy of that poster.)

[My2Cents]

Hey Zap.... here's one of your "shades of the past" goodies that you submitted way back when....
Whodathunk that 2 people, who didn't do their homework or even listen to the facts, would have the power to cause the distruction of a mountain and all the creatures great and small that fly above and live within it ??!! Their children and grandchildren should be so proud, they will have something to ride their 4 wheelers on... Wonder what they are going to do when their favorite hunting (killing) season comes along....hummmmm, guess they will have to revert to buying their own water and eating Gypsy Moths !!! WOW, what a future !!!