Published on September 27, 2006

To see an aerial photograph showing the location of the proposed wind towers click here.

ST. JOHNSBURY — UPC may have seized the initiative in the preparations building up to the hearings that are scheduled to start in December before the Public Service Board (PSB).

Early this week the multi-national wind company announced that it is scaling back plans to build a wind farm on the ridge lines of Sheffield and Sutton.

In its preliminary plans submitted to the board earlier in the year, the company proposed a 26-turbine operation.  On Monday, however, it announced that in the face of public concerns, it was altering its proposal to include only 16 turbines.

The company needs the board’s approval in the form of a certificate of public good before it can proceed with construction.

The new proposal would eliminate the construction of turbines on Hardscrabble Mountain and sweep away the need for an access through property owned by King George School, who has been among its staunchest opponents.

In a press release, Sheffield Wind project manager Matt Kearns said the company made the alterations after listening to public comments.

“We met with a variety of citizens and state officials and listened carefully to what everyone had to say,” said Mr. Kearns in his release.

“While we were confident that our original plan was a good one, we believe that these changes address the issues that were raised by vocal project opponents, local landowners, and state agencies.”

He went on to say that the modified plan “is truly a Vermont scale wind farm.”

It is too early to tell if the changes will satisfy the concerns of either King George officials or the Department of Public Service (DPS).

The school has said a nearby wind farm will cause it to close down.  And recently in August, DPS said in its pre-hearing filings to the board that it could not support the company’s petition for a certificate of public good.

Speaking for the department, Rob Ide raised a host of reservations, saying in part that the 26-turbine proposal would be “out of scale and out of character with the surrounding area.”

To mitigate those concerns, UPC says its revised project will have a more benign impact on wildlife and reduced visual impact.

The revision calls for slightly taller towers — 420 feet compared to 398 feet — but Mr. Kearns says in his release that the revised project will have a smaller footprint and a diminished visual impact for the two towns and the surrounding communities.

“The project is no longer visible from Berry Hill Road or the Miller Run School, and the removal of the Hardscrabble turbines reduces the number of turbines visible from I-91 and Crystal Lake,” states the release.

According to Mr. Kearns, the project “will no longer be visible from Danville, Kirby, St. Johnsbury, or Walden.”

Originally, 20 of the towers were to go up within the town line of Sheffield, with the remaining six slated for ridge lines in Sutton.  Under the revised plan, Sheffield would host 14 turbines and Sutton two.

If UPC sought to hold out an olive branch with its scaled back revision, the gesture is being regarded as empty-handed by the company’s most ardent foes.

“They’re trying to hide a herd of white elephants behind a bush,” said Greg Bryant in an e-mail Tuesday night.  “Whether there are 26 or 16 it doesn’t matter, it can’t be done.”

Mr. Bryant is a spokesman for the Ridge Protectors, a citizen action group opposed to building industrial wind farms on Vermont ridge lines.

Mr. Bryant noted that the group’s experts will have to study the revised proposal before commenting on the specifics.  But he was sure about the big picture.

“The magnitude of this project is simply out of scale for our northeastern corner of the state,” he stated in his e-mail.

Still unclear is whether the company’s revisions will alter the schedule of hearings before the board that are slated to start on  December 4.