LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Wind rules, revised; Antrim to hold hearing on new ordinance 

Credit:  By Abby Spegman, Sentinel Staff, www.sentinelsource.com 30 December 2011 ~~

ANTRIM – The town’s planning board is again proposing a set of rules for large-scale wind energy facilities, two months after voters shot down similar proposed ordinances.

The new ordinance is more relaxed, said planning board Chairman Andrew J. Robblee, who did not support the previous proposal because he thought it was too restrictive. He called this ordinance a “workable” solution.

The new version has less restrictive environmental standards compared to the prior version. It also allows wind energy generators to be slightly louder, slightly closer to buildings and more visible. But selectmen Chairman Michael D. Genest isn’t convinced it will pass.

“I feel they didn’t make any real substantial changes,” he said of the planning board. And after the vote in November, it was clear voters wanted substantial changes to the ordinance, he said.

There will be a public hearing on the new ordinance next week, and the planning board hopes to get it on March’s warrant.

The large-scale wind energy ordinances were first proposed in response to plans to build a 10-turbine facility on Tuttle Hill from Portsmouth-based Eolian Renewable Energy, through its subsidiary Antrim Wind Energy.

After disagreement among town officials on Eolian’s plan, the company and selectmen petitioned the state’s Site Evaluation Committee – a group made up of members from various state agencies – to review the project to decide if and how it can move forward, which it did this summer.

The planning board opposed that move, and proposed the town draft its own large-scale wind energy ordinance to avoid this disagreement in the future by having a clear set of rules.

Even if the ordinance passes, it likely won’t have an effect on Eolian’s project. According to state law, the committee must consider local zoning and planning rules but may overlook them so long as the decision does not “unduly interfere with the orderly development of the region.”

Robblee said he hopes voters will be able to separate in their minds the issues of the Eolian project and future wind energy development in town. The ordinance would not prohibit future wind energy developments, he said, but establish rules for such projects.

u The public hearing on the revised large-scale wind energy ordinance is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at town hall.

Source:  By Abby Spegman, Sentinel Staff, www.sentinelsource.com 30 December 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon