From the Thousand
Island Sun
by
Pam McDowell,
Thousand
Island Sun
Staff
Writer
1000
Islands - Iberdrola Renewables has confirmed that the meteorological test
towers have been disabled and the company will no longer pursue developing the
Stone Church industrial wind farm in Hammond, a project the company has been
courting for the past several years.
Clayton's
proposed Horse Creek Wind Farm will not be affected. The project could have up
to 48 turbines, near Route 12, south of the village of Clayton. The company
informed the town last fall that it intends to seek project review through the
state siting board. Clayton Planning Board Chairman Roland (Bud) Barll has not
been informed of any changes in plans to move forward with Horse Creek.
Iberdrola's
leases with Hammond property owners for the use of their land were deemed null
and void as of January 1. At least nine leaseholders received registered letters
confirming the leases have been canceled.
Iberdrola
Business Development Manager Jenny Briot has stated that her company is
canceling 100 projects in the United States, according to leaseholder James
Pitcher, who had been in conversations with her regarding the future of wind in
Hammond and elsewhere.
Several
small test towers in Hammond will be donated to schools or colleges, while the
taller towers, measuring up to 288 feet high, will be taken down by the
company, possibly with the help of large cranes from out of the area. Some of
the Hammond towers were erected in 2005.
The
industrial wind issue had been alive in Hammond since the early 2000's and
resulted in a split in the community that turned friends into enemies and
enemies into friends. Committees were formed to study the health, safety and
economic impacts of the project and to report those findings to the town board.
Wind
laws were amended more than once and ultimately rewritten. The issue of whether
to turn the small tourist and agricultural town of Hammond into an industrial
area affected local election results and sparked controversy over ethics and
possible conflicts of interest of public officials.
Lawsuits
were lodged in the past few years by both pro and anti-wind citizens.
Leaseholders saw the wind farm as a means to bolster income in the difficult
and financially challenging business of agriculture. They also hoped the wind
project would boost the local economy as a whole.
As
for the wind company's reasoning on pulling the plug in Hammond, Paul Copleman,
communications manager for Iberdrola, explained that the company must make
difficult decisions about where to allocate capital. They have been scaling
back projects in the U.S., but he stated in an email that the proposed wind
project in the town of Clayton will still be pursued.
"The
decision to right-size of our pipeline of wind projects under development does
not change our position towards the U.S. renewable energy market, to which we
remain committed. We own and operate over 5200 MW of wind farms across the
country, and we continue to develop Horse Creek in Clayton," he said.
Locally,
speculation over the financial viability of the wind company had increased
recently following news reports that Iberdrola sold many of its wind farms in
European countries.
Mr.
Copleman responded, "As to the sales of projects in other countries,
global economic conditions always play a role in corporate decision-making. The
company retains a diversified asset base across 40 countries and maintains
stable cash flows with earnings from different businesses. We have already
indicated that future U.S. renewables development will be selective, but we
continue to pursue good opportunities and explore a range of strategy options.
We just brought online three new wind farms last month, in Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and California.
The
Concerned Residents of Hammond (CROH) was created four years ago by residents
concerned over health and safety issues and "transparency" in local
government. CROH President Mary Hamilton reacted to the news that Iberdrola has
ended its efforts in Hammond.
She
said, in part, "There are no winners in this situation. We watched as a
foreign wind developer stealthily entered our community with promises that
resulted in the creation of a division among residents that may not heal in
this decade or the next. They can now walk away unscathed as it's just a job to
them, void of emotion. Unfortunately, the scenario is allowed to be repeated
across United States, and the people in small, rural communities are pawns in
the game of corporate greed and political lobbying."
Hammond
has been looking to further its economic development through the creation of a
comprehensive plan that outlines the joint goals and guidelines of the town and
village. A hearing on accepting the plan will be scheduled within the next few
weeks.
Representatives
of the business community formed an economic development group to promote
business and tourism opportunities. The group is currently undergoing
restructuring to become a town and/or village board committee.
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The
thousand Islands Sun is a small local newspaper.
3 comments:
This is great news for the Thousand Islands Region.
It is reason to celebrate.
Clayton, Orleans, Lyme and Cape Vincent remain under threat. But we should be grateful for this news and take encouragement from it. We should also be very grateful to the stalwarts in Hammond who refused to allow their town to be sacrificed to the advantage of a small minority.
Hang in there and keep the faith. We will prevail if we STAY FOCUSED.
As a neighbor to Hoosac Wind in MA I can tell you these industrial wind projects make terrible neighbors and the sounds disruptive to sleep even a mile away. Not to mention the economics, science and ecology of these projects are not sustainable and don't reduce fossil fuels one bit. I thought were a good idea until I leaned the facts.
Today Wofle Isand was very, very noisy.
Good luck to the Cape.
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