During a special town meeting Wednesday night, voters agreed 126-98 to spend an additional $50,000 over the next two years to fight a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton. It was standing room only in the multi-purpose room at the Sutton Town School as more than 200 people showed up to vote. About 15 people spoke either for or against spending the money authorization. “Sutton would be foolish not to have legal representation before the Public Service Board in these proceedings,” resident Sharon Nicol said.

Residents voted 126 to 98 by paper ballot to spend up to $50,000 to pay a lawyer to keep fighting the Sheffield Wind Farm after a contentious special town meeting Wednesday night......... Sutton voters opposed the project at town meeting, but selectmen held a vote Wednesday responding to a petition to halt spending without voter approval. Most of the 224 Sutton residents gathered at the Sutton School told selectmen to “appropriate funds to continue to fund a lawyer to oppose the UPC Sheffield Sutton Wind project,” but several disagreed.

Changes to a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton have led the Public Service Board to delay technical hearings on the case. Hearings had been set to begin in early December, but have now been rescheduled for late January and early February, according to a PSB memorandum.

The prospect of truck traffic carrying wind turbine parts through the village of Barton has prompted officials here to request details on plans for building the proposed Sheffield Wind Farm. “We had been hearing rumors they (UPC Wind Management) were coming up Route 16 (and) turning on to Duck Pond Road,” to deliver construction materials, said Brian Hanson, Barton Village supervisor, who oversees electricity, water, sewer and roads for village residents. “I found out from other parties, then we requested a meeting with them.”

BARTON — News that the Sheffield wind project will use access roads here to transport industrial turbines and towers to ridge line sites has prompted selectmen to seek an expanded role in the hearings before the Public Service Board (PSB). Following a Monday night meeting that saw citizens call for a more active role, the Barton Town Selectmen voted to petition the board for party status in the case. “I’m not saying one way or the other right now where we stand on the issue,” Chairman Rupert Chamberlin said in an interview Tuesday. He was reluctant to get the town involved in the ongoing debate over wind.

Changes to a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton will put Barton in the center of activity and that has some residents concerned. Residents urged selectmen during a meeting of the board Monday night to file for party status with the Vermont Public Service Board so the town can have a say in the process, Rupert Chamberlin, chairman of the board, said Wednesday. “Near as I can tell, there is a lot of concern,” Chamberlin said. “But the select board hasn’t taken a stand yet.”

To questions of environmental impacts, Gibbons said that there are very few, if any, renewable energy options that can meet the quick start, power capacity needs that the units are addressing. The generators will run only during peak usage — an estimated three percent of the year — and have the ability to start cold and be online within 10 minutes. This unique ability can help restore power during a blackout. Renewable energy such as wind, water or methane digestion, on the other hand, do not produce on the basis of need, Gibbons said.

We're a small town," Brouha said. "We don't have much money, but no matter how many spaghetti suppers we have to hold, we'll do whatever it takes to save our mountains." The Ridge Protectors asked the board to hold off acting on the petition until they could present the board with one of their own.

SHEFFIELD – Town officials here say they applaud UPC Wind's recent decision to reduce the number of turbines for the proposed Sheffield Wind Farm, even though it means less money for the town, Selectman Chairman Max Aldrich said Thursday. "It seems good they are trying and making an honest attempt to address the issues and we are pleased by that," Aldrich said. The town would get less revenue than under the original proposal because the number of turbines that would be built in Sheffield has been reduced from 20 to 14. The agreement with the town calls for UPC to meet a number of conditions and provides the town with taxes and other payments.

Facing strong opposition from neighbors and concerns from state officials, the developers of a large-scale wind project in the Northeast Kingdom have trimmed 10 of the wind turbines proposed for the site. The project, slated for the towns of Sutton and Sheffield, has met opposition from Gov. James Douglas and from neighbors, including the nearby private King George School. The down-sized project will leave the remaining wind turbines further from the school and neighboring houses, said Matthew Kearns, project manager for UPC Vermont Wind. “All of these changes are reductive. They have less impact,” he said.

Developers of a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton scaled back their plans from 26 towers to 16 Monday, but local opponents said the project remains too large-scale for its rural Northeast Kingdom setting...... “It’s like rearranging the furniture on the Titanic,” scoffed Greg Bryant of Sheffield, a spokesman for Ridge Protectors, an opposition group that claims 250 to 300 members. “You can’t hide an elephant behind a bush and you can’t hide a 420-foot tower on top of a mountain.”

[UPC] Vermont Wind will be filing revised testimony concerning a proposed project in Sheffield and Sutton with the Public Service Board today. Matt Kearns, project manager for UPC, would not be specific, but said it does have to do with the company’s plans to build a commercial wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton. “There are some changes,” Kearns said Sunday. “But that’s all I can say. We have to let the Public Service Board know first.”

The plan, which calls for 14 turbines in Sheffield and two in Sutton, eliminates the prospect of turbines on Hardscrabble Mountain, as well as the need for access to the site through the King George School property, according to the developers. It also makes the $75 million project invisible from St. Johnsbury, Danville, Kirby and Walden, even though the size of the turbines - 399 feet in the original proposal - has been boosted to 420 feet, they said.

NEWPORT – Energy developers preparing to petition the Public Service Board for permission to build a 106-watt natural gas-fueled power plant in the Northeast Kingdom already have some agreements with Vermont utilities.

``The problem we're having with all these wind farms is . . . they're proposing to put them in all the worst places," said Thomas W. French , assistant director of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. ``If they could do what the Russell Biomass plant did, which is to find a preexisting, historical industrial district, we'd be applauding them." As part of the ongoing state permitting process for the plant, French's division worked with its developers to reroute proposed power lines to reduce their impact on wildlife.

If we were to put an industrial turbine on every (suitable) location it doesn't add up to enough energy to justify impairment of our ridgelines," Gov. James Douglas said. "We need to maintain our tourist economy and our quality of life."

The project is not consistent with the regional plan, would have a negative impact on the King George School and Crystal Lake State Park, according to testimony filed by Robert Ide, director for energy efficiency for the DPS.

LYNDON CENTER – A regional planning group has backed off strong support of wind energy in a revised regional plan after dozens of residents voiced strong opposition during public hearings last year.

Late last month, the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) issued a 31-page set of guidelines, which lay out how various departments and divisions will conduct both pre- and post-construction analysis of the environmental impacts of wind projects.

LONDONDERRY -- If developers decide to pursue a wind generation project on Glebe Mountain, they won't need an Act 250 permit.