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

Lawmakers approve tighter sound rules on wind power 

Credit:  April McCullum, Free Press Staff Writer | Published Oct. 26, 2017 | burlingtonfreepress.com ~~

After an extended debate, Vermont lawmakers have imposed new statewide limits on wind power that are meant to prevent sound from disturbing neighbors’ health and sleep.

Some renewable energy advocates claim the restrictions will effectively stop the construction of large wind projects in Vermont.

The rule, proposed by the Public Utility Commission and approved Thursday by a legislative committee, will limit noise from large wind projects to 42 dBA during the day and 39 dBA at night, as measured 100 feet from the residence of a homeowner who isn’t participating in the project. Small and medium projects would be limited to 42 dBA.

The Public Utility Commission believes the limits “are both protective of public health and safety and capable of allowing future development in Vermont of appropriately sited wind generation projects,” the regulatory panel wrote in a letter this week.

Margaret Cheney, a member of the Public Utility Commission, confirmed at the hearing Thursday that she believes the rules will continue to allow “utility-scale wind” in Vermont.

“These are not the lowest sound limits in the country,” Cheney said, according to a live video of the hearing recorded by Vermonters for a Clean Environment, a group concerned about the impacts of wind.

Renewable energy advocates are skeptical of wind’s new future.

“There will be very few locations, if any, that will allow large wind projects, and that means it’s being taken off the table as a significant resource here in Vermont,” said Sarah Wolfe, a clean energy advocate at Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

Wolfe said VPIRG favored a 45 dBA limit during the extensive rulemaking process.

Austin Davis, a spokesman for Renewable Energy Vermont, said that at best the rule would have a “slight chilling effect on wind energy.”

“However, wind energy still remains the cheapest new renewable energy available to New England,” Davis said.

The Legislature ordered state regulators to set statewide standards on wind project sound in 2016. An earlier version of the rule would have also required large wind projects to be set back from homes at a distance of 10 times their turbine height. The Public Utility Commission deleted that part of the rule this month at the committee’s request.

Mark Whitworth, president of the board of directors for Energize Vermont, was disappointed that setback requirement was abandoned.

“In the absence of the setback, I don’t think that protections are strengthened,” Whitworth said.

Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, was not satisfied with the rule. She wanted stricter sound limits, limits on lower sound frequencies, and setbacks.

“The wind industry did succeed in chipping away at the rule,” Smith said.

Sen. Mark MacDonald, chairman of the committee that approved the rule Thursday, voted to reject it. He said he wanted more details about how the Public Utility Commission calculated its decibel limits.

MacDonald, D-Orange, said the rule had been improved throughout the committee process and hoped it would result in “no harm done.”

The Public Utility Commission’s rule applies to new wind project applications. No advocates were willing to say Thursday whether they would challenge the rule in court.

The Kingdom Community Wind project in Lowell seen in 2012.

Source:  April McCullum, Free Press Staff Writer | Published Oct. 26, 2017 | burlingtonfreepress.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

Tags: Noise, Video


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