Erosion
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Impact on Landscape
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Wind energy and road development
Wind energy developers commonly downplay the impact of road construction through proposed project areas. For most ridgeline project proposals which Windaction.org has reviewed, applicants quietly state that roads will only require 11-meters (36-feet) width during construction, and quickly add that these areas will be allowed to re-vegetate back to 16-foot mountain trails. Yet, a reading of the actual road plans tells a very different story, as do actual results at completed developments.
First, be cognizant that 36-foot wide roads are as wide as a 3-lane interstate highway in the U.S. Given steep slopes and the potential for damaging runoff, comprehensive measures are needed to prevent erosion - all of which adds to the width of the cleared area. The road's subsurface and related compaction of road surface will likely prohibit re-growth beyond shallow grasses; it is questionable whether the impacted area will ever return to a forested state for decades.
The application for the Deerfield Wind project in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, a 42.5 megawatt (17 turbine) facility, will add approximately five linear miles of expansive road with a minimum 38-foot surface width. Windaction.org determined through discovery that the actual ridgeline roads would vary between forty and 160-feet.
Aerial photos of the Bear Creek, PA facility, an operating 12-turbine, 24 megawatt site clearly show a road structure that is nearly 100-feet wide. As do photos from Mars Hill that show clearings up to 100-feet wide. Road development at Pennsylvania's Allegheny Ridge wind site suffered 100-150 foot corridors cut through the forest. These are typical examples.
Windaction.org encourages reviewers to be mindful of the extent of road development impacts particularly in areas that are undisturbed. The true impacts should be scrutinized and developers held accountable prior to approving any project permits.
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Impact on Landscape
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Ireland
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Posted by: Lisa on September 05, 2009 9:31:49 PM
A wind turbine company is being sued by a farming community in Kerry one year after a bog slide - which has still not been cleared - blocked access to their land.
Residents of Lyrecrompane in the Stack mountains have insisted that the wind farm - currently being developed by Tralee-based Tra Investments - is to blame for last August's bog slide.
Note : http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/sep/06/kerry-locals-in-spat-with-wind-farm-firm-over-bog-/
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Pollution
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Australia / New Zealand
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Posted by: Lisa on March 25, 2009 6:08:59 AM
Photographs taken at Meridian's West Wind project above the Makara coastline show how sediment has been overflowing from the construction site.
The photos were taken by marine environmentalist Jim Mikoz, who wrote an article in the NZ Fishing Coast to Coast magazine with the headline: The dirt behind wind turbines.. your fishing is at serious risk. In response to the article, Meridian wrote a letter to the editor stating that there would be no mud runoff into the sea from its construction site.
Note : http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=3445
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Impact on Landscape
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Impact on Space
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Australia / New Zealand
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Posted by: Lisa on February 16, 2009 11:50:23 PM
Scientific consultant Brian Patrick, of Alexandra, gave evidence on the proposal as a witness for appellant Ewan Carr.
His evidence included planned mitigation measures and whether they were appropriate.
During cross-examination, Mr Patrick said Meridian's plan to store spoil, including soil taken from the site during construction, in various disposal sites on the proposed 92sq km property would unnecessarily threaten indigenous flora and fauna of the Lammermoor Range.
Note : http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/central-otago/43615/meridian039s-wind-farm-site-analysis-039woeful039
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Posted by: Lisa on February 13, 2009 10:42:09 AM
Plum Creek owns the property west of Greenville, and its logging contractor was clearing land for TransCanada, the developer of a wind farm. The Land Use Regulation Commission issued a notice of warning to TransCanada based on the erosion.
A Maine environmental group called for the state to fine Plum Creek and a logging contractor for cutting trees too aggressively.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine released photos of the erosion, which it said was effectively a 900-foot-long mudslide, along with internal communications that it says show Plum Creek's logging contractor was warned to stop working in the area until after the ground froze.
Note : http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5944480.html
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Impact on Landscape
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Massachusetts
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Posted by: Lisa on February 13, 2009 10:39:16 AM
A group of town residents and state environmentalists has lost a legal challenge against the Hoosac Wind Project, a 30-megawatt turbine venture planned for Bakke Mountain in Florida and Crum Hill in Monroe.
Their case - which hinged on permitting - attempted to reverse the state Department of Environmental Protection's June 2007 decision to grant a wetlands permit for the estimated $45 million project.
Eleanor Tillinghast, president of Green Berkshires, a plaintiff in the case, said an appeal is being considered.
Note : http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_11695834
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Impact on Landscape
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Maine
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Posted by: Lisa on February 11, 2009 12:30:20 PM
Note : http://www.nrcm.org/news_detail.asp?news=2834
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Impact on Landscape
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Pollution
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Maine
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Posted by: Lisa on February 10, 2009 11:50:27 PM
This time the focus is Kibby Mountain in western Maine where Transcanada is in the process of developing a wind power project, and where related logging operations by Plum Creek and a sub-contractor have been linked to serious land use violations. Pictures taken at the site by an independent engineering firm and provided to the Land Use Regulation Commission in late October show a logging road so damaged by rain, logging activity and erosion that it created a mudslide described as nearly 900 feet long.
Note : http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNews/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/1858/ItemId/9290/Default.aspx
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Impact on Landscape
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Australia / New Zealand
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Posted by: Lisa on February 09, 2009 6:01:51 PM
Planned erosion and sediment spill mitigation for the proposed $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm was questioned during an Environment Court appeal hearing for the development yesterday.
Technical director Graham Levy, of Christchurch, gave evidence as a witness called by the Otago Regional Council. ...When cross-examined by Upland Landscape Protection Society counsel Ewan Carr, Mr Levy admitted he did not have experience of earthworks and potential mitigation of such works at a site of the Project Hayes development's elevation.
Note : http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/central-otago/42619/wind-farm-mitigation-measures-questioned
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Impact on Landscape
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Ireland
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Posted by: Lisa on February 07, 2009 10:12:46 PM
Developers who consistently abuse the planning system could be banned from building in Ireland, under legislation being drafted by the minister for the environment. ...The ban on planning retention for developments requiring an EIA was prompted by a judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last July. ...The judgment related to a wind farm at Derrybrien, Co Galway, where the construction of a service road caused a landslide on a blanket bog.
Note : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5683702.ece
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Impact on Landscape
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Pollution
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Pennsylvania
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Posted by: Lisa on January 14, 2009 9:18:00 AM
With two pipes beneath a road clogged in Noxen, Supervisor Carl Shook is concerned about runoff from a proposed wind farm in Wyoming County.
"There is going to be a lot of water running off the mountain," Shook said.
Shook was one of about 30 people last Wednesday who attended a public hearing ...The state Department of Environmental Protection held the hearing to receive public comment as it reviews an application from BP for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
Note : http://newage-examiner.com/sections/news/archive/2009/01/14/dep-holds-hearing-on-wind-park-plans.aspx
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Impact on Landscape
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Ireland
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Posted by: Lisa on December 22, 2008 12:55:02 AM
The EU Environment Commission is to investigate a windfarm development in the Stacks mountains which was at the centre of concerns after a bog slide during heaving rainfall in August. ...Local residents in the Stacks mountains wrote to environment commissioner Stavros Dimas in October to say they were deeply concerned with the manner in which the windfarm at Ballincollig Hill, near Tralee, was being constructed on sensitive bog and to ask that work - which resumed recently - be stopped. The residents said "large tracts of beautiful boglands and rivers" had being damaged in the slide and the nest of a hen harrier, hares and other wildlife disturbed.
Note : http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1222/1229728440872.html
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Impact on Landscape
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New York
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Posted by: Lisa on December 07, 2008 8:04:24 AM
Steuben County Public Works Commissioner Vincent Spagnoletti said the company, formerly known as UPC, will pay the county to restore several county roads to the same shape they were in before construction began. The two projects in the Dutch Hill and Lent Hill regions total 51 turbines.
Seven miles of county Route 35, listed in fair condition before construction began, will need extensive repairs, including four miles of rebuilding, Spagnoletti said.
Note : http://www.the-leader.com/homepage/x1049846521/Wind-farm-developer-to-fix-roads
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Impact on Landscape
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Ireland
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Posted by: Lisa on September 26, 2008 10:28:33 AM
A bogslide which threatened one of the country's premier fishing lakes appeared to have come to a halt yesterday.
For the third consecutive night, geotechnical experts and wind farm and forestry staff remained at the scene of a potential environmental disaster. ...The slide began on Tuesday afternoon during the construction of a road to the Garvagh Glebe North wind farm, a joint project between Coillte and Hibernian Wind Power, a subsidiary of the ESB.
Note : http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lake-spared-as-bogslide-grinds-to-a-halt-1482622.html
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Impact on Landscape
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Impact on People
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Ireland
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Posted by: Lisa on August 31, 2008 9:57:59 AM
Locals in north Kerry are up in arms at the alleged role of a wind energy firm in the landslide that destroyed a river's salmon and trout stocks.
Before the facts of what caused last week's landslide in a north Kerry river network were known, a nearby wind energy firm taking the brunt of the local anger.
Prior to the landslide, Tralee-based company Tra Investments had begun site works for an eight-turbine wind farm in the Ballincollig Hill-Maghanknockane area.
Within 24 hours of the slide, the company announced that it would commission an independent review into the incident, which it promised to make public.
Note : http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=35518-qqqx=1.asp
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