Lowell group to lobby against Green Mountain Power wind project in Vermont approved by voters

Voter-approved wind project still has foes in Vt.

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A citizens coalition is promising a vigorous fight against a wind project that would erect 400-foot turbines along a northern Vermont ridgeline, even though a majority of residents have voted for it.

Lowell Mountain Group, which represents residents who oppose the Lowell wind farm, said Wednesday it plans to lobby Vermont utility regulators who are being asked to grant a certificate of public good for the Green Mountain Power Co. project.

The group wants the state Board of Public Service to weigh what it says are legitimate concerns about aesthetics, stormwater runoff and habitat fragmentation before rendering its decision.

On Friday, Green Mountain Power filed for permission to build the $150 million Kingdom Community Wind project, which it says will consist of 20 or 21 turbines built along three miles of ridgeline.

Hotly debated by opponents who see it an eyesore and supporters who consider it a step toward cleaner energy, the project won approval from the town March 2, in a 342-114 vote.

But that was only the town’s opinion.

Now, Green Mountain Power and its partners need the state to decide whether the project is in the “public good,” which will entail months of hearings, expert testimony and ultimately a vote by the board.

“I don’t know that that vote represents a true indication of the impacts and how people are really viewing this project,” said Jared Margolis, a Jericho attorney hired by the group. “I don’t know that they had the full picture — what it would look like, how it would affect the town, how much money was involved.”

A member of the group, 68-year-old former dairy farmer Don Nelson, said Wednesday the town’s approval has scared away would-be buyers for his 570-acre spread, which abuts the land.

“We’ve had a lot of interested parties come, and we speak about the wind farm and they kinda shake their heads and say ‘Well, if you ever win the battle, let us know.’ They just don’t want to deal with it,” he said.

He believes wind farms would change Vermont’s bucolic character.

“You can’t put 440-foot pinwheels up there without putting roads up there to maintain them,” he said.

It’s unclear how many people comprise the Lowell Mountain Group. Margolis said it was “quite a large number,” but neither he nor Nelson knew how many.

As part of the project, Green Mountain Power has agreed to pay the Town of Lowell between $410,000 and $535,000 annually, and it plans a “Good Neighbor Fund” that would pay five surrounding towns — Albany, Westfield, Eden, Irasburg and Craftsbury — a minimum of $10,000 a year for 10 years.

“Despite the overwhelming support in town, we know there’s a small group of opponents, as there is any time you propose any kind of generation project in Vermont,” said Dotty Schnure, a spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power.

The Public Service Board process is important because regulators will weigh arguments on both sides and decide what is ultimately in the best interest of the state’s residents, Schnure said.