I am the current chairman of the Londonderry Select Board and would like to comment on the proposal of Glebe Mountain Wind Energy LLC. It is important to first note that while I currently hold this position on the Select Board, I am not commenting on behalf of the board.

I hoped that before the Select Board asked the town to vote on commercial wind towers on Glebe Mountain, we would, at least, be able to present the town with a synopsis of the issues, including areas of agreement, disagreements and proposals from the developer.

Unfortunately, we never got to that point before a majority of the board decided that they wanted to put the question before the registered voters of Londonderry.

Now that Glebe Mountain Wind Energy LLC has formally entered a specific development proposal and hired a public relations firm to lobby for your support I note:

# After a tremendous amount of time spent in a collaborative and meetings regarding wind towers, our town's Planning Commission is unanimous in its support of the town plan. The commission is unconvinced that there are benefits of industrial wind power development on this mountain that supplant the principled planning contained in our current and past town plans and zoning ordinances, all of which were based on an historical interest in the preservation of the Glebe Mountain ridgeline.

# A couple of weeks before the Select Board was to vote on the town plan and after months of waiting, Catamount finally presented the board with a draft contract. The contract offered the town a guaranteed portion of tax money in return for the town's unconditional support of the project throughout the permitting process, including town representatives testifying on the developer's behalf. It further asked the town to warrant and represent "that: (a) The Town has no knowledge of any zoning, land use or permitting violation or default or any adverse environmental condition respecting the Londonderry Parcel." This and more despite, to date, we had not seen any, I repeat, any, environmental studies. With Catamount's "offer" in hand, the Select Board accepted the strong and unanimous recommendation of the Planning Commission, unanimously adopting the current town plan.

# The Planning Commission and Select Board are unable to obtain any information on environmental studies, and other impact studies from the developer, despite direct requests.

# We have no results or copies of wind assessments based on the current meteorological tower installed on Glebe Mountain.

# The developer has not produced any studies of the long-term impact of this project on the economy of Londonderry. Without a thorough analysis we are left to pure speculation as to the effects this project will have on this community. This seems to inherently unfair.

# The only tangible report to come from the collaborative was a report by Jean Visering, a landscape engineer who establish visualizations of the original 27-tower proposal. Those were based on a tower of 213 feet with 135-foot blades with a total height at the apex of 348 feet.
The current proposal is for 19 towers with a height of 263 feet and blades of 150 feet with a total height of 420 feet. I note that Jean states in her report that in her opinion the towers are of a scale that will define the town and could therefore be considered inappropriately located.

# We are not able to secure an understanding of how the developer will guarantee their promise that the project will be decommissioned should it fall into disuse or should the company sell out its interests or go bankrupt.

# We have not had one state official responsible for energy planning speak with us about the proposed project or to the issue of wind development in general.

# In the report of our last hearing, written by Susan Smallheer and published in the Rutland Herald, she states that Mr. Charlebois said only 10 to 12 sites in Vermont are suitable for wind energy and that only six or seven would probably ever be developed, producing 200 megawatts or 18 percent of Vermont's peak load. It is important to note that all of the research presented to date has led to a generally excepted production rate for the towers at about 25 to 30 percent of capacity. If that benchmark is obtained, the real value of the projects is at best 60 megawatts, less that 6 percent of Vermont's peak loads. The Glebe project represent less than one quarter of the 6 percent. I am not attempting to say that a renewable energy source capable of producing 6 percent of our energy is not meaningful. I am only asking that we evaluate the project on real experience and expectations. It is very unsettling that the developer continues to quote a 100 percent production capability that is so misleading. I consider it outright dishonesty.

# We have not been able to determine the local tax benefit of the project. There is no direct school tax advantage. The additional taxes raised simply become part of our payments to the state. The local town tax revenues that Glebe Mountain Wind Energy LLC has indicated Windham and Londonderry would receive are a total of $90,000 a year. This would be split nearly in half with Windham. That is $45,000-$50,000 dollars in tax money that stays in this community for our portion of a proposed $80 million project. I caution that we still do not know how the project will be assessed. We still have no idea how the economics of this project work for the developer. We will need to hire our own experts to help us understand this aspect of the project in order to develop a valuation. We do know the developer has four levels of appeal regarding any assessments we attempt to impose.

I trust our voters to give this issue considerable and deliberate thought. Whatever the results there will still be a lot of work to be done to ensure the best possible outcome, as the Public Service Board considers an application from the developer. Our legal counsel informs us that we do have a voice of influence in these hearings. I wish that we had more facts and information to share and the time to get it to you to help with your decision.

Please be respectful of each other when exchanging opinions and don't let this issue tear apart a great community.