Published on April 12, 2006

MONTPELIER — Sutton may well turn out to be the fly in the ointment as UPC Wind goes before the Public Service Board (PSB) for a certificate of public good (CPG) to build a wind farm along the ridge lines of Caledonia County.

Objection from town officials and the King George School — a private school for students with special needs in Sheffield — surfaced early at a preliminary hearing before the board last week.

Bob Michaud, chairman of Sutton’s planning commission, presented the board with the results of a Town Meeting vote that went six to one against the project.

The town’s early opposition was joined by King George, whose lawyer, Barbara Ripley, a former secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, argued for a more extended hearing schedule than the one proposed by UPC.

Ms. Ripley, who also represents the anti-wind group Ridge Protectors, said their wildlife expert would need a winter season to collect data before submitting written testimony.

“This project will go right through the center of the school’s campus,” she said.

UPC, a Massachusetts wind company that already has received regulatory approval to build a wind farm in Mars Hill, Maine, wants to build a 26-tower wind farm running along ridge lines in Sheffield and Sutton.

A public hearing on what is being called the Sheffield project is scheduled for April 25 at the Miller Run School.  Roughly 20 of the towers would be within Sheffield’s town line and, unlike its neighbor Sutton, a majority of Sheffield voters have approved the project.

Last Thursday’s hearing, the first meeting before the board, was largely given over to preliminary matters such as how the hearings will proceed and who will apply for party status.  Under the rules of the process, only those with party status can present evidence and put on witnesses.

In addition to the two towns, several individuals and the village of Lyndonville have asked the board for party status.  A decision could come by the end of next month.

Board Chairman James Volz said that one of the reasons for an early public hearing is to give members of the public a chance to see if they want to file for party status.  Board member John Burke said it is likely that more than one public hearing will be held.

UPC is being represented by the same firm that represents East Haven Windfarm in its bid to acquire a CPG to put four towers on East Mountain in East Haven.  Now entering its final phase before the board, oral arguments in the case scheduled for this week have been pushed ahead to May 4.

UPC attorney Andrew Raubvogel submitted a schedule proposal, adding that his clients would like to get the process under way as soon as possible.  Under the proposal, technical hearings before the board would begin in October.

Ms. Ripley, however, proposed a more extended timeline that recommended the hearings get under way no sooner than May 2007.

As the second petition to come before the board to put wind towers on Northeast Kingdom ridge lines, the hearings on the Sheffield project will be heard before the full three-member board.

Testimony on the first project, the East Mountain project, was presided over by hearing officer Kurt Janson, whose recommendation to deny it has come under increasing criticism from the wind industry and its supporters.

Last week, however, a fellow hearing officer, Ed McNamara, said the full board usually conducts the hearings, but was unable to do so in the East Mountain case because of a heavy workload.