Granite Reliable Power: Coos wind park

[Pat McCotter]

Committee to rule on Coos wind farm
Federal agencies call for more information

By Chelsea Conaboy
Monitor staff
March 20, 2009

The state Site Evaluation Committee heard closing arguments yesterday on whether ridgelines in Coos County should become host to 33 wind turbines. Meanwhile, two federal agencies last week wrote letters asking the committee not to issue a permit, saying not enough is known about the environmental impact of the project.

Lawyers for Granite Reliable Power, the company that wants to build the 99-megawatt wind park argued that the company has done all that is required of it in making its case for the project. Residents and a lawyer for the public argued the opposite, saying the company has not given the state enough information on the environmental ramifications or the project's financial viability.

Doug Patch, a lawyer with Orr & Reno representing the company said the project would add diversity and reliability to the state's energy mix and be an "economic bright spot in an area of New Hampshire that has been struggling."

Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Roth, who represents the public in the proceedings, urged the committee to reject the proposal, saying the company had left too many questions unanswered: How would it pay for the project? How would it handle decommissioning when the time comes? Had it adequately looked at alternative locations for the turbines? How will storm water be managed onsite?

"This might be a good project, but it's not quite ready. It's not ready for the major league," Roth said. "Do we want this developer to learn on the job in Coos County, working on Mount Kelsey?"
Granite Reliable Power wants to put the turbines on peaks in Millsfield and Dixville with roads, transmission lines and buildings developed in Dummer. The development would occur in a block of largely unfragmented forest. The most contested locations for the turbines have been on Dixville and Mount Kelsey peaks, which contain old-growth forest and critical wildlife habitat.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service, in letters to the committee, called for the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental-impact study.

The committee, which is charged with reviewing any new energy facility, has spent the past two weeks hearing testimony on the project. Until yesterday's closing, those hearings were held in Concord. Some North Country residents and interveners in the case were frustrated by that.

Wayne Urso, a resident of Millsfield, a three-hour drive from Concord, couldn't attend yesterday's hearing but said in a phone interview that hearings should have been scheduled in the North Country.

"It might as well be scheduled in Florida," Urso said in a phone interview. "They've effectively shut all of the Millsfield folks out of the process."

Roth said the transmission lines and the sight of the turbines will affect the scenery as people travel through Dixville Notch toward 13 Mile Woods, a place that people visit because it is all forest - not concrete and steel, he said.

Roth also questioned whether the wind turbines were the best use of resources for the North Country.

"There is a difference between building a permanent structure with roads and bridges and culverts and concrete foundations," he said. "That's different than logging an area and then waiting 80 years to log it again."

Patch said there will be a net environmental benefit to the project, in part because the no-emission power the turbines generate will offset power produced by fossil fuels.

Susan Geiger, also from Orr & Reno and representing Granite Reliable, said the turbines are far enough away from homes and businesses so that none will be affected by the sound or the flicker of the blades.

The Fish and Wildlife letter, signed by Thomas Chapman of the New England field office, included 11 pages of concerns about the project and said, "The project would likely have a significant effect on the environment."

The state Fish and Game Department and the Appalachian Mountain Club had originally contested the project, with specific concerns about development on Dixville and Mount Kelsey. However, the parties worked with Granite Reliable to create a mitigation package that all agreed to in a settlement.

The company agreed to protect 1,735 acres of high-elevation forest, with ownership transferred to the state. That includes 1,281 acres on Mount Kelsey. It would also give the state $750,000 to conserve more property in the North Country, with a focus on high-elevation land in Coos County. An additional $200,000 would go toward the study of rare and threatened species in the area.

Kathlyn Keene of Jefferson, an intervener in the case, said the mitigation plan does not nullify the testimony or letters from several organizations, including the Appalachian Mountain Club and state biologists, that Mount Kelsey should be left out of the development proposal.

"Eight turbines are still proposed when all the experts say it should never be developed by any proposal," she said.

Richard Roach of the Army Corps of Engineers said his group is taking comment on whether an impact study is needed. The Site Evaluation Committee will hold a final public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lancaster Town Hall. The committee must make a decision by May 6.