Lowell voters reject anti-wind measure

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Green Mountain Power’s Kingdom Community Wind project got a vote of confidence from Lowell residents on Town Meeting Day. The 65-megawatt wind project in the Northeast Kingdom has been the center of the debate over industrial-scale power generation in the Vermont – criticized by some as damaging to the state’s natural ridgelines and supported by others as a step toward meeting the state’s renewable energy goals.
Voting 110-27 in favor of the project, Lowell voters backed the 21-turbine project for the second time – rejecting a town meeting article critical of the project’s impact on the surrounding environment.
Green Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, said in a statement the vote represents lasting support for the project.
“Projects like this demonstrate that renewable energy development of this size and scope can succeed at generating clean, cost effective and reliable energy for Vermont with the ongoing backing of local communities,” said Mary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain Power, in a statement.
Green Mountain Power provides Lowell with an annual tax payment of $535,000, according to a news release.
The Lowell Mountains Group, an organization opposing the project, said in a statement it plans to continue fighting ridgeline wind development.
In a statement about the vote, the group said: “We have lost headwater streams, we have lost wildlife connectivity, more than 135 acres have been cut and grubbed (deforested, our forest is our first defense against climate change), we have a storm water system that is failing with sediment continuously running off the mountain; not to mention that the tops of the mountain peaks have been blown off; more than 700,000 lbs of explosives were used to create the crane path and turbine pads.”
The Kingdom Community Wind project was completed in 2012. Currently, there are several other stalled proposals for wind projects in the state.
Iberdrola Renewables, a company headquartered in Spain, has placed three meteorological (MET) towers – two in Windham and one in Grafton – on land owned by the New Hampshire forestry company Meadowsend Timberlands. If the site is used for a wind project, it would be Windham County’s first utility-scale wind project.
The Deerfield Wind project received a certificate of public good for a 45-megawatt wind project. The project would place up to 24 wind turbines on about 80 acres of Green Mountain National Forest land in Searsburg and Readsboro. The developer is yet to find a buyer for its power.
The developer of the proposed Grandpa’s Knob Windpark in Rutland County canceled easement agreements with surrounding landowners last month. The 20-turbine, 50-megawatt project would span Pittsford Ridge.
PHOTO: Opponents of the Lowell wind farm put up these posters last summer. vtdigger photo.