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

State seeks comment on siting of wind turbines 

Credit:  By PATRICK CASSIDY | November 16, 2013 | www.southcoasttoday.com ~~

State energy regulators want public comment on the best way to site wind turbines.

But anyone interested in having a say has only until Dec. 6 to submit initial comments.

In an order issued at the end of October, the state Department of Public Utilities proposed to develop the “wind-siting guidance” in an effort to balance the state’s goals for wind energy with obstacles to installing turbines.

Although there have been a number of legislative efforts to develop wind-siting regulations, including some by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, none of these initiatives has succeeded.

Patrick has set a goal of 2,000 megawatts of wind energy in the state by 2020, with the majority of it coming from offshore projects.

And while the DPU order was advertised in Boston newspapers and in the Massachusetts Environmental Monitor, there has been little indication that the general public is aware of the opportunity to comment.

The guidelines for best practices that are expected from the DPU process are not regulations but would be offered to towns to use in existing reviews of wind-energy projects, DPU spokeswoman Mary-Leah Assad wrote in an email.

The guidelines may also be used by state permitting agencies or for programs that “involve grants, technical assistance, community engagement and other such activities,” Assad wrote.

In addition to advertising the order in newspapers, emails were sent to hundreds of individuals and organizations and the order opening the investigation into the guidelines is featured prominently on the DPU homepage, Assad wrote.

Public hearings will be scheduled starting in January, a draft guidelines proposal issued by the spring and, depending on the issues raised during the public comment process, final guidance could be issued by the end of 2014.

There are plenty of examples for such guidelines in other states and countries that will also be reviewed, said Catherine Finneran, senior director for renewable energy generation at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which is assisting the DPU.

“It’s very much in the beginning of the process and the information-collecting phase,” Finneran said.

The process has raised concerns among wind energy opponents.

“I believe it’s a way to circumnavigate the law frankly,” said Lilli-Ann Green, a Wellfleet resident and board member on Windwise Massachusetts and Windwise-Cape Cod, groups that have vociferously opposed wind energy development.

Green said opponents of this kind of siting measures will ask that the DPU extend the deadline for comments.

“They’re asking for comments almost immediately on a topic that’s very broad and very deep,” she said.

Source:  By PATRICK CASSIDY | November 16, 2013 | www.southcoasttoday.com

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