Representatives for the company looking to build 33 wind turbines on ridgelines in the unincorporated areas of Dixville and Millsfield fielded some tough questions from the more than 120 people who attended a public hearing in Groveton last night.

Some focused on the details: How would birds and bats be affected? What kind of safety regulations would be in place during construction? Will the turbines affect flight patterns?

Others had a broader concern: Will the company, Granite Reliable Power, postpone the project in order to allow the construction of wood-burning power plants, which would provide more jobs for the region?

The 99-megawatt wind farm would feed into the transmission line known as the Coos County loop and would effectively absorb its remaining capacity. Upgrades would have to be made before new electricity generators, including biomass plants, could come online.

In the first part of the meeting, Thomas Getz, chairman of the state Public Utilities Commission, took questions from the audience on note cards. One said, given that wood power would bring more jobs to a region hit hard by mill closures in recent years, "why are we even discussing this?"

Getz said adding capacity for an additional 300 megawatts would cost about $200 million. His office, along with public utility officials in Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island, have argued that the cost of expanding the regional electricity grid in order to bring new renewable energy projects online should be shared proportionally throughout the grid.

That means New Hampshire electricity customers would pay for about 9 percent of the cost, while Massachusetts's customers would pay 50 percent. Officials in that state and in Connecticut have argued against sharing costs.

Getz said two wood-burning projects have been proposed for the county but are not as high in the queue to connect to the grid as Granite Reliable and its parent company, Connecticut-based Nobel Environmental Power. After several questioners asked why the other projects couldn't go forward first, Mark Lyons, senior counsel for Nobel, said the application is not a matter of wind vs. wood.

"Both are great renewable resources," he said.

Nobel Environmental has an application for a second wind project - a 146-megawatt farm to be built northeast of the 99-megawatt site - so the company has an interest in expanding transmission as well, Lyons said.

The company has agreed to give $495,000 to the county as a payment in lieu of taxes. Lyons called the wind farm a "high-value" economic development opportunity with little drain on local services.

"We will not require the building of a new schoolhouse, for instance, to house children of new employees," he said.

Executive Councilor Ray Burton spoke in favor of the project. He said it "fits well" in the North Country.

"Coos County needs this kind of economic stimulus," he said. "It isn't going to create 1,000 jobs, it isn't going to create another mill, but it is a step in the right direction."

Peter Roth, public counsel and senior assistant attorney general, asked Lyons whether or not the project is for sale, given that Nobel Environmental is majority-owned by JPMorgan Partners and given the nation's financial turmoil.

Lyons said it is "not currently for sale." He said it won't be financed until construction begins and that there is hope the markets will improve by then.

In presenting the application, development manager Pip Decker highlighted efforts the company has made to try to minimize environmental effects. He said Nobel was originally looking at building 67 turbines, each with a 1.5-megawatt capacity, but determined that the wind speeds could sustain 3-megawatt machines and cut the number of turbines in half. The wind farm would generate enough electricity to power 33,000 homes.

He said about 13 acres of wetlands would be affected, mostly by road improvements. That number had been larger, Decker said, but Nobel pushed the manufacturers to reduce the road size needed during construction.

"We spent considerable time trying to get our wetland impacts as small as possible," Decker said.

He said the company recognized that the project is taking place in a high-elevation habitat that is home to rare species, such as the Bicknell's thrush. The project directly affects 58 acres of high-elevation spruce and fir forest. Nobel plans to put into conservation a separate 460 acres. Of those, 250 will be high-elevation spruce and fir forest.

Josh Brown, a representative with the company, said the mitigation package includes a 500-foot buffer around the turbines. He said old-growth forest would be affected by construction.

When the meeting was opened to public comment, Laura Richardson of the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association said the project would be an overall boon to the area.

"Wind projects are fuel-free," she said. "They are emissions-free. They are safe. There is no evacuation zone needed. We didn't have to talk about any of those issues tonight."

The state site evaluation committee has until April 6 to issue a decision on the application.

Nine parties have applied to intervene in the case, meaning they would become parties to the proceedings and could file briefs, collect discovery and question the applicant. They include wind and anti-wind energy groups, the Appalachian Mountain Club and five individuals.

One of those interveners, Kathlyn Keene of Jefferson spoke last night, saying it was appropriate that the meeting was held in Groveton, where the Wausau Paper mill, which employed more than 300 people, closed last year.

"Do you know the people that have had to pack their bags and leave that were born and brought up here?" she said. "And we have people coming in saying . . . what a service they are going to do us?"