Town of Lyme
Planning
Board
Jefferson
County
P.O.
Box 66
CHAUMONT,
NEW YORK 13622
PH:
(315) 649-2788 FAX: (315) 649-2049 TTD: (800) 662-1220
August 17, 2010
Town of Cape Vincent Planning Board
Town Office Building
1964 NYS Rte 12E
Cape Vincent, NY 13618
St.
Lawrence Windpower FEIS
To: Chairman Richard Edsall and members, Karen Bourcy,
Thomas Ingersoll, Andrew Binsley, and George Mingle:
The Lyme
Planning Board is an involved agency participating in the SEQRA process for the
above captioned project. In spite of our
standing, our board was not presented with a copy of the FEIS as an involved
agency and consequently we have had to undertake a rushed, review of the FEIS.
We understand the FEIS will be submitted to you on August 18 for your
acceptance in accordance with your function as Lead Agency for the SEQR
process.
In our
review of the document titled “FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT, PROPOSED
ST. LAWRENCE WINDPOWER PROJECT, TOWNS OF CAPE VINCENT & LYME, JEFFERSON
COUNTY, NEW YORK,” we find that, in several important respects, it fails to
satisfy the requirements of NYS DEC in an adequate manner and we recommend that
it should not, therefore, be accepted by you in your function as Lead Agency.
Some of the many failures to follow the DEC requirements are
as follows:
Town of Cape Vincent , Planning Board
……………………………………………………………………………Page 2
- There is no description
of the need for and benefits from the proposed
development as is required by NYS DEC.
This would require extensive discussion and analyses demonstrating
by what means the highly variable and unpredictable power generated from
the proposed wind facility will materially reduce the use of fossil fuels
or the emissions generated by the operation of the electrical grid.
- Further, there is no investigation or verification
that the transmission of the power to be generated by this project and the
adjacent proposed BP wind project can be effectively transmitted to areas
of the state requiring such power through the Chaumont sub-station.
- The sound study presented is clearly an attempt to
subvert the intent of the DEC noise requirements. The background noise levels are grossly
overstated and SLW consultant Hessler has chosen to ignore the comments of
Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Dr. Paul Carr, Mr. Clif Schneider and others
on this very point. A recent
article by Nancy Madsen in the Watertown Daily Times also revealed this
shortcoming in the study
- The town of Cape Vincent’s consulting engineers,
including an acoustic expert, stands firm in their recommendation that
SLW/Acciona's estimate of background noise is elevated. As a
consequence, the proposed setbacks between turbines and non-participating
properties are far too close. Therefore, on this basis alone, the
Planning Board should reject this FEIS and require SLW to comply with the
recommendations of the town's engineering consultants, e.g., Bernier Carr
Associates and Cavanaugh Tocci Associates.
- DEC recommends that noise be permitted to increase
not more than 6 dB beyond established background levels. In addition to inflating the background
levels, Hessler treats the 6 dB, not as an upper limit to sound increases,
but seems to use it as a target design value, which will be actually
exceeded under a number of operating conditions. This practice added to the overstatement
of the nighttime background noise levels will result in residents being
exposed to intrusive and annoying noise levels.
- Hessler’s selection of 42 dB as an appropriate sound
level for adjacent residences will result in intolerable noise levels for
many residences. Measurements of
background noise performed locally indicate background sound levels of
about 25 dB at night when people need to sleep. If the resultant limit were 6 dB higher
it would result in a maximum permitted sound level of 31 dB. This limit should be observed at the
property lines of non-participating residents and property owners, not at
the residence as SLW proposes. This
level is significantly more tolerable than the 42 dB proposed by SLW at
(most) residences and therefore will affect the number of turbines and the
placement of those turbines.
- It is apparent that Hessler/SLW look upon the DEC guidelines not as a way to protect residents from intrusive and annoying sound levels, but simply use it as a means to justify Town of Cape Vincent , Planning Board
- .............................................................................................................Page 3
- the highest possible
design sound levels to increase the number of turbines to be located
within the project boundaries.
- SLW relies on the widely discredited Hoen report to
support its contention that property values will not be affected, while
ignoring the simple fact, observed by local real estate brokers, that
virtually everything in Cape Vincent is currently for sale and nothing can
be sold because of the threat of wind development.
- The entire issue of damage to birds and bats by wind
turbines needs to be re-evaluated in view of the disturbing statistics
that have recently emerged from monitoring the damage done by the turbines
on neighboring Wolfe Island.
- Lyme’s own wind survey indicated that 80 % of respondents
wanted the transmission lines to be buried. This possibility is not mentioned or
evaluated in the FEIS even though the bulk of the transmission line will
lie in the Town of Lyme.
- The mitigation measures (renovation of two community
vaults in Three Mile Bay Cemetery and vegetative screening) proposed to
compensate the Town of Lyme for the intrusion of the transmission line are
meaningless and trivial.
- Lastly, it would seem reasonable that if the chief
law enforcement office in the state is investigating wind development and
municipal officials in Cape Vincent that any progress in the SEQR process
should be halted until completion of the AG's investigation and
reporting. There may well be findings that will have a profound
effect on the outcome of Acciona's project proposal.
These
are just a sampling of the inadequacies of the FEIS, which should be rejected
on August 18, as failing to meet the intent of the DEC requirements.
For the Town of Lyme Planning
Board,
Albert H. Bowers III
cc: Lyme Town Board
4 comments:
I was at a meeting in Cape Vincent when Mr. Bowers tried to speak to the Edsall planning board on behalf of Lyme. Men in the green shirts were shouting at him to shut up and go home. This is another example how Marion Trieste's voters for wind were educating the local citizens about Bp's wind project.
Because of Edsall's "interesting" personality we tended to concentrate our focus on his outrageous, disrespectful behavior toward the public. Not that his behavior shouldn't have required attention, but the real travesty of Edsall's leadership was the way he ignored every single constructive and legitimate comment on wind development, including this example from Lyme.
Furthermore, he set the tone for ignoring us all that was then carried forward by all his speechless minions and his worthless legal adviser. They all sat their and watched Edsall ignore us all. And the reason??? Edsall and family stood to gain about a million bucks over the life of BP's wind project.
The recent letter dropped on a business in Cape Vincent asks the question can't we all get along, but a better question would be why did it take this community so long to get rid of officials who were getting paid to do BP and Acciona's dirty work? Why did it take us so long?
I never spoke one word to
Edsall during any of his meetings.
However, on several occasions he harassed me during his meetings as well as others. I was not the only one he intimated and harassed. Voters for Wind sat in the back and chortled.
It took us so long because people were afraid to go to town meetings. There were many reports of voters for wind intimidating members of the community including their own family members. It was all very ugly and the next morning different stories were being told by voters for wind and their advisor and community organizer. But thanks to Pandora the public became informed.
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