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 In the News This Week -- July 28, 2006 |
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 VAN HORNESVILLE Otesgo 2000 volleyed back Thursday, July 27, at the final public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the 75-turbine Jordanville Wind Project, fielding three consultants who detailed impacts the project will have on sight-lines from Otsego Lake, hydrology and cultural landscapes. Hydrogeologist Nicholas C. Pressly of Pressly & Associates, Brookhaven, said turbity in area streams will be increased by runoff from roads, herbicides and chemicals used for dust suppression. He said dust-suppression measures used by the 195-turbine Maple Ridge Wind Farm on the Tug Hill Plateau caused die-off at the state Fish Hatchery at Lowville. Patricia M. O'Donnell, principal in Heritage Landscapes, based in Vermont and Connecticut, said the DEIS had significant gaps, completely ignoring the proposed Waggoner Patent Historic District and all but a small piece of the 15,000-acre Glimmerglass National Historic District. The wind farm, which will extend 7.5 miles across the towns of Warren and Stark, is "too large," she said, and she urged "careful siting on considerably smaller acreage." David Healy, vice president of Applied Information Management, said the view-shed analysis included in the DEIS was "as good as far as it went," but that it didn't go far enough. He proposed an "extended analysis," including a balloon test, a photo montage and a tower-by-tower assessment. In summing up the experts' testimony, Drayton Grant, Otsego 2000's environmental lawyer, called the DEIS "adequate" for public hearing, but not for the "FEIS," the final document. She asked that the present document be considered a "preliminary DEIS," and that a second draft EIS be prepared for comment before matters go into the final phase. The public comment period on this part of the process expires on Friday, Aug. 4. The public hearings, following the guidelines of the state Environmental Quality Review Act, are like the sound of one hand clapping. For a third time Thursday evening, members of the Warren and Stark town boards sat stoically at the front of a hall, listening to pro and con opinions on whether the 75-turbine Jordanville Wind Farm should be built. Other than Warren Town Supervisor Richard A. Jack reading the names off cards submitted by people who had registered to speaking and, after 2 1/2 hours, saying "that's it," the officials did nothing but listen. Of the people who spoke, for many it was a reprise performance. They had spoken before, some twice before, at two hearings held at the Warren Town Hall in Jordanville, at the end of June and in mid-July. Gordon Maurer and his wife, Shirley, for instance, who hope to host several windmills. Sue Brand, from Advocates for Stark, an anti-wind farm effort. More than 100 people attended.  Van Hornesville Windmill Hearing
Ron Empie, Town of Warren planning board chairman, expresses his reservations about the 75-turbine Jordanville Wind Project being proposed in his town and neighboring Stark. By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN There may be no natural gas under Otsego Lake, but land agents from Elexco Ltd., which has drilled successful wells along New York's Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania, are trying to find out. Elexco Ltd., a company that provided land and title services for the oil and gas industry, has 40-50 agents scouting the Trenton-Black River Formation, a gas-rich geological feature that runs from Virginia, through the Binghamton-Painted Post area, and across Upstate New York into Canada. So far, 60-70 wells have been drilled in New York and Pennsylvania, 25-30 percent have been successful and "some of them are just tremendous wells," said Jack Norman, a Canadian who founded the company in 1976. "You don't have to have near as big a success as you did a few years ago, when the market was depressed," Norman said. "Natural gas prices are strong and oil prices are very high." In the past week, landowners on the east and west sides of Otsego Lake have reported being approached by Scott Swan, an Elexco agent who said he is prospecting the area with his brother-in-law, another agent. Swan is approaching local people with proposed leases that, at the outset, will simply allow exploration; if natural gas is found, the lease will allow a company to "drill, maintain, operate, cease to operate, plug, abandon and remove wells." Norman said his company only acquires the leases; then other companies, from the biggest energy producers to more entrepreneurial ventures, do the actual exploration, driving wells as deep as 12,000 feet, although many in New York State are considerably shallower. If a well produces a million cubic feet of gas a day, or 1,000 MCFs -- an MCF is a unit comprising a 1,000 cubic feet -- that would translate -- as of Tuesday, July 25 -- into $6,880 in revenues for a company, and $860 for the landowner, who gets 12.5 percent of revenues. A million cubic feet a day is "not a great well" at the 12,000-foot-level, but "not a bad well" at a shallow depth, said Norman, who was raised in Calgary, Canada's oil capital, and never considered doing anything outside the energy business. A deep well can take 45-60 days to drill, while "shallower wells could take a week," he said. Earlier this month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced natural gas production is the highest in state history: 55.2 billion cubic feet in 2005, up 18 percent from 46.9 BCF in 2004. Last year's production was enough to heat 800,00 homes for a year, the DEC said. While you may not think of the Empire State as a fossil-fuel producer, the state reported there are 11,700 gas and oil wells in production, plus 932 underground natural gas storage wells, 136 brine production wells, and 33 geothermal wells. The DEC estimated gas and oil production last year was worth $440 million, of which $53 million was distributed to landowners. In the county-by-county breakdown, Otsego wasn't included, although neighboring Madison (240,000 MCF) was. Maureen Wren, a DEC spokesman, said her department has a dual role: To help develop mining -- which includes gas drilling -- and to regulate mining at the same time. She read from a position paper that said, "We foster and encourage the development of a sound and stable mining industry," at the same time seeking to ensure such mining does not damage the environment. The proposed lease talks about getting permission to "use or install roads, electric power and telephone facilities, and to construct piplines with appurtenant facilities." For his part, Norman said any environmental impact would be minimal. "Our footprint is negligible," he said. According to Robert Titus, a Hartwick College geology professor who studied the Trenton-Black River Formation for 30 years, the formation is limestone, and therefore porous. Natural gas is produced by a "black muck" that becomes shale -- like Utica Shale in this vicinity -- and porous rock allows it to accumulate. By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN The 24 windmills being proposed in Cherry Valley and the 175 in southern Herkimer County within sight-lines from Otsego Lake are just the beginning. Five projects in all are being considered along Route 20, recently designated a Scenic Byway, in the 44 miles between Cherry Valley and Munnsville in Madison County. Statewide, 50 projects -- 2,400 turbines in all -- are being pushed in 24 counties. "You're taking a recently designated scenic corridor" -- Route 20 -- "and turning it into an industrial corridor through that buildup," Daniel Mackay, the state Preservation League's director of public policy, said in a recent interview. "...As each project makes its impact on the visual resources, you almost have a greater argument for the next project, since the view shed has already been damaged." Mackay was interviewed as the two projects near Otsego Lake are reaching critical points. The final public hearing is at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 27, at Owen D. Young Central School in Van Hornesville on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Jordanville project, which would stretch 7.5 miles through the towns of Stark and Warren. (For a full report on that hearing, visit www.thefreemansjournal.com Friday, July 28.) At 6 p.m. Monday, July 31, at the town barn north of the village on Route 166, the Cherry Valley town board has invited the public to express its views on Reunion Power's 24-turbine proposal on East Hill above Route 20, near The Teepee. "The Glimmerglass region, because of its accumulation of state and national listings, parks, historic landmarks like Hyde Hall -- those state and federal programmatic designations have greater recognition and legal status in the site review process," Mackay said, "compared to a ridgeline in Genesee County that everyone loves but does not have state and federal status." For now, there appears to be very little legislative relief in the offing from Albany for groups, like Advocates for Cherry Valley, Advocates for Stark and Advocates for Springfield, that are seeking to block the windmills, arguing they will be poor neighbors, mar the landscape and push down real-estate values. The Democrats are waiting until after the November gubernatorial elections, anticipating Attorney General Elliott Spitzer will win and expecting him to guide the issue. For now, Spitzer has expressed steadfast support for windmills, saying they will provide clean energy the nation needs. For his part, Spitzer's Republican challenger, John Faso, told Newsweek recently that, while he recognizes the need for energy, "it certainly depends on the location an the viability of the project." So far this year, no legislation has come out of the General Assembly, and little action is expected into 2007, if then. Six pieces of legislation -- five in the Senate, one in the Assembly -- were under consideration, but the Senate took no action either on its own bills, or the one, proposed by State Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House Energy Committee, to revive "Article X," which passed the House. Article X is the section of the state Public Service Law that expired in 2001 and gave the state a role in deciding on the site of all electrical-generation plants. Since that section expired, energy developers -- like Community Energy, parent company of Jordanville Wind, or Reunion Power -- decide where plants go, subject to the State Environmental Quality Review Act -- which seeks to mitigate impacts, not block projects -- and local town boards. For his part, Tonko began as a strong supporter of windmills but, seeing how proposals tore apart communities in his home district, has a more textured view of turbines. "At the start you had projects that were community-spirited and smaller in scale," he said. "Now, you have many Wall Street companies getting into the business. The deep pockets should not put host communities at risk." While Tonko's legislation sought to revive Article X, it purposely excluded wind, because the article was originally intended for specific plants on specific sites. Wind projects have "a footprint that could be expansive; a crossover that could span several communities." Tonko also raised an issue that is moving to the fore: If windmills can provide only intermittent power, and fossil-fuel plants have to continue running full-tilt to be ready when the wind stops, is wind really saving any energy at all? This requires more extensive planning and coordination between municipalities, he said. For his part, the Preservation League's Mackay would like to see legislation that includes: * A statewide siting process that protects areas like historic districts. * A standardized site-review process. * Site-development standards that ensure quality and minimize impacts. * Finally, it should address what happens when the windmills wear out. "It's unclear whether commercial scale wind energy is a permanent part of New York State's energy production," said Mackay, "or whether it's a bridge to other technologies that will have fewer impacts. If this is a permanent technology on the New York State landscape, we need to be far more careful about where we site them." | Jan. 04, 2008 | Local Honor Roll | Pages From The Paper | july 6th 2007 | Hall of Fame Friday | Hall of Fame Saturday | Hall of Fame Sunday | Hall of Fame Monday | July282006 Archive | Aug042006 Archive | Aug112006 Archive | Aug182006 Archive | Sept012006 Archive | Sept082006 Archive | Sept152006 Archive | Sept222006 Archive | Sept292006 Archive | Oct062006 Archive | Oct132006 Archive | Oct202006 Archive | Oct272006 Archive | Nov032006 Archive | Nov172006 Archive | Nov242006 Archive | Dec012006 Archive | Dec082006 Archive | Dec152006 Archive | Dec222006 Archive | Dec292006 Archive | Jan052007 Archive | Jan192007 Archive | Jan262007 Archive | February092007 Archive | February162007 Archive | February232007 Archive | March162007 Archive | March232007 Archive | March302007 Archive | March302007 Archive | April132007 News Archive | Chris Gentile | Obituary | April272007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May252007 Archive | June 22, 2007 | July 13 2007 | Sept05 2007 | Sept 7th 2007 | Aug 31st 2007 | Local Law Parking | October 26, 2007 | Nov. 2 2007 | Nov. 16, 2007 | Glimmerglass Oct 5,2007 | Nov 16., 2007 | November 30 2007 | Nov. 30, 2007 | Dec. 07, 2007 | Dec. 14, 2007 | Dec. 21, 2007 | Dec. 28, 2007 | Jan. 11, 2008 | Jan. 18, 2008 | Jan. 25, 2008 | Feb 1, 2008 | Feb. 8, 2008 | Feb. 22, 2008 | GlimmerGlass Feb. 15, 2008 | Sports Feb. 15, 2008 | Feb.28, 2008 | March 7, 2008 | March 14, 2008 | GlimmerGlass March 14, 2008 | March 21, 2008 | March 28, 2008 | April 4, 2008 | April 11, 2008 | April 18, 2008 | April 25, 2008 | May 9, 2008 | May 2, 2008 | May 23, 2008 | | Our Services | Contact Us | Great Links | Return Home | Classified Ads | News Archive | Cooperstown Homes | Calendar -Best Bets | Letters to the Editor | |
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