Wind developer pulls up stakes, state issues new regs (Vermont)

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/062006/NewWindRegs.shtml

WATERBURY — A new layer of state bureaucracy is prompting one windfarm developer to postpone indefinitely plans to build up to 27 turbines on Glebe Mountain in southern Vermont.

Rob Charlesbois, managing director of Catamount Energy, told the Vermont Guardian in a June 6 e-mail that the company will shelve its main Vermont project, which was expected to save utility ratepayers as much as $700,000 a year, as it focuses on projects in other states.

Catamount’s decision comes as the Douglas administration has issued a third layer of scrutiny of wind projects in two years.

Charlesbois has been critical of the Douglas administration’s opposition to commercial wind projects.

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just think they will be totally unregulated?? I think the state should build some of these on state land and use them as a nonprofit source of energy. I also never thought of this when dealing with wind power:

"This comes on top of rules proposed by the Public Service Board (PSB) to increase public participation, and rules issued last year by ANR that banned commercial-sized wind turbines on all state land. In addition, the Department of Environmental Conservation opposed the construction of four turbines on an abandoned radar base on East Mountain in the Northeast Kingdom, citing a lack of information to determine if the turbines would harm migrating bats and birds."

Vermont has some of the strictest environmental laws in the country. If the State's concerned, there must be a damn good reason.

Redstone

They are environmentally conscious which means they are as interested in alternative sources of energy. I would say that caution is one good step in developing alternatives. We have made enough mistakes in the past by jumping in head first. This time let us do things with advice and consent.

Of course, they can afford the lobbying fees that keep them that way.