In his letter Madden is warning of the economic losses that will result in developing a protective wind law.
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May 5, 2010
Town of Cape Vincent Planning Board
1964 NYS Rt. 12 E
Cape Vincent , NY 13618
The Town of Cape Vincent has been working on developing a wind ordinance for almost two years now. Through this time, BP Wind has supported the development of a wind ordinance so that expectations for siting, construction and operations of wind farms can be clearly established and uniformly enforced.
However, despite recent efforts, it appears that a wind ordinance will not be implemented this year, largely due to lack of agreement on noise limits. As everyone involved in these discussions knows, measuring noise and establishing noise limits are complex issues. Ambient noise varies by season and even minute to minute due to wind, insects and other natural and man-made noise sources. Wind turbine noise also varies with wind speed as the blades increase and decrease in velocity. Furthermore, it is easy to get sidetracked on technical issues like method of measuring and which noise standards to use.
As you know, Cape Vincent is not the first town to implement a wind ordinance. Hundreds of communities in the U.S. have similar concerns and resolved them in a manner that protects residents and allows for responsible development of wind energy.
Here in New York, we are aware of 22 towns that have implemented wind ordinances that include noise limits below 50 dBA. Yet many of these towns have operating wind farms without any significant noise issues and some are even pursuing expansion of their projects.
While we would all prefer if wind turbines were completely silent, the fact is that wind turbines are not as noisy as critics claim. Anyone who has visited a wind farm and talked to the people living near operating turbines can attest to that, However, establishing unrealistic limits on noise will simply act as a de- facto ban on wind energy in Cape Vincent. While wind energy opponents would cheer that idea, it would prevent the town and the region from receiving tens of millions of dollars in economic benefits the wind farm would provide.
Some would ask that you not consider economic benefits when considering a wind ordinance. Therefore, we have developed the enclosed estimates of the economic benefits of the BP Wind project, based on various noise limits. We used NYSERDA data on construction and operations jobs and revenues, as well as the recent Galloo Island PILOT agreement for tax revenues.
This analysis shows an expected total 20- year economic benefit to the region of over 86$ million from our project , assuming noise limits are set at 50dBA at non- participating property lines. As limits are tightened, there will reduction in number of turbines and reduction in economic benefits. At 48 dBA, the economic benefits are reduced by $13 million, to about $73 million, while at 47dBA, there would be $68million in estimated economic benefits.
Finally, the analysis shows that a noise limit of 42dBA at property lines would result in a 36MW project and only $27million in economic benefits over 20 years, if it was built. In reality, the economics will not support a 36 MW project, so the project could not be built.
While the discussion of noise limits and setbacks is important, the Town of Cape Vincent should keep in mind the economic impacts of these decisions and that there are practical limits to what can be done with current wind energy technology.
Sincerely,
Jim Madden
Business developer
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Foiled Copy of Maddens letter below
Below are charts and data that Madden put together to show that
a too restrictive wind law IS A BAD THING
Madden says that it will cut into the community and leaseholder profits. I think that BP is more concerned about their profits than those of the community or lease holders .
2 comments:
Since Madden wrote that letter there has been a great amount of new information coming in from around the world about the real impact of wind turbine noise on people.
The first generation of wind farms were built in very sparsely populated settings. As developers pushed their projects closer and closer to settled communities, problems with noise became more and more evident.
Governments and regulatory authorities are beginning to take official steps to look at an obvious problem. After years of foot dragging, not wanting to impede the growth of renewable energy, governments are now seeing they can't duck the noise issue. They have to deal with it.
That means that there are many areas, especially here in the relatively well populated northeastern US, where wind projects can't exist side by side with any significant concentrations of people. What may be acceptable in west Texas or North Dakota doesn't fit standing next to and looming over the towns and villages of the northeast.
Politically driven renewable energy goals lost sight of impacts on real people. Thankfully, that blindness is beginning to change.
Do you recall when Beth White, Marty Mason, Donnie Mason and Mickey Orvis all threw out the settled issue of noise at a May 2010 meeting of the town's wind committee? Beth White presented figures on noise levels and money she said were her calculations. These leaseholders argued to toss the previously discussed and settle noise regulations in lieu of more liberal, developer-friendly regulations. This tactic killed the committee's work, they never again met or tried to continue efforts to complete a wind law. Remarkably, a short time later the aforementioned letter from Madden appears, with exactly the same figures that Beth White told the committee were hers. The obvious point to all this is that BP was manipulating our local legislative process. They obviously fed the numbers to White and had them lead the charge to get rid of regulations they found meddlesome. What continues to be meddlesome, however, is BP's continued, surreptitious efforts to subvert and influence local efforts that might restrict their plans. Now we find they may also be trying to subvert local opinion by using VFW dupes to intimidate bloggers and people who anonymously comment on public issues.
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