Wind turbine plan upsets local officials; Structures would be 500 yards off Salisbury Beach

Hampton officials are concerned and upset, having just learned of a plan that calls for the construction of up to 10 wind turbines less than a quarter mile off Salisbury Beach, threatening the view of Hampton and Seabrook beaches and causing possible nautical hazards to recreational boaters and commercial fishermen.

"It should be a pretty sight from Boars Head," said Town Manager Fred Welch, who told selectmen last week the area 500 yards off the beach had been identified as a potential site for the wind turbines in a Massachusetts draft Ocean Management Plan.

And while the town might have concerns over the proposal, he said the state of New Hampshire has no legal authority to object.

Whether the potential Salisbury site will remain in the draft plan has yet to be determined.

Salisbury officials were outraged their input was not sought in the draft plan and only learned of it about a week ago.

"This isn't about windmills," Town Manager Neil Harrington told the Daily News of Newburyport. "The issue is: You have a state agency writing a major plan that could tentatively affect this town and not telling us anything about it."

However, the newspaper reported that Salisbury's representative to the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission had attended a meeting with the assistant secretary for the state Oceans and Coastal Zone Management agency and got the impression the state might be reconsidering the Salisbury part of its plan.

The Salisbury representative was quoted as saying the state had received some "additional data" that there's "considerable recreational boating and that there's lobstering there."

The motivation for the plan was the Massachusetts Legislature's passage of the Oceans Act of 2008, providing new energy opportunities for the state, such as off-shore drilling, wind and tidal turbines.

In the plan, the state identified three so-called "provisional" locations for the turbines off the Massachusetts coast, but the one off Salisbury Beach was the only one close to the shoreline.

Hampton Town Manager Welch said the Salisbury Beach location was selected because there is a lot of bedrock to anchor the towers.

Selectman Richard Nichols said the issue appears to be more of a Salisbury problem than a Hampton Beach one.

Welch, however, said one of his concerns is the size of the towers.

"You will be able to see them and they will stick out like a sore thumb," Welch said. "The height is estimated to be the same size of a recent wind turbine that is in Newburyport off Route 1. That one is 290 feet high and we expect these ones to be much higher."

The town manager also expects the "steady thump" on the ocean floor could disturb lobsters and other sea life in the area.

Selectman Jerry Znoj asked what Hampton could do.

Welch said the town can do nothing.

"New Hampshire has no grounds to comment or the authority to object," Welch said. "It's completely on Massachusetts jurisdictional state land and they are not asking anyone's permission."