Many DEIS reviewers still unsatisfied

ROUND TWO: Main comments for proposed St. Lawrence Wind Farm regard impacts on wildlife, geology


By NANCY MADSEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009

CAPE VINCENT — Round two of the reviews of the environmental assessment of the proposed St. Lawrence Wind Farm took up where round one ended.

Like the first draft, the supplemental draft environmental impact statement has a high number of comments — more than 60 by state officials and members of the public.

Birds, wildlife and geology were the main subjects of comments on Acciona Energy North America's study of the impacts of its proposed project in the town of Cape Vincent.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation called on the developer to provide more information on bird species, especially several state-listed threatened or endangered species, including the short-eared owl.


Data on short-eared owl, state-listed endangered species, and northern harrier, state-listed threatened species, "were provided to the Project developer (Acciona), by DEC, but were not incorporated into the SDEIS and the potential impacts to these species have not been addressed," DEC staff wrote.

DEC staff saw the owls during the 2006-07 winter, at the same time that Acciona's consultants did not.

"To overcome this inconsistency in reporting between DEC and the project consultant, additional survey effort directed towards the short-eared owl is recommended during both pre-construction and post-construction, to be sure this species' distribution and abundance is accurately documented," the department wrote in its comments.

Onondaga Audubon chapter of the National Audubon Society asked for more information on birds, including grassland birds.

The letter from Thomas Riley, chairman of the chapter's Conservation Committee, cited the second Atlas of Breeding Birds of New York State in saying the area had a significant population of endangered and threatened species. The atlas had five years of work from thousands of employees, said the letter.

"The SDEIS does not report the same concentrations," Mr. Riley wrote. "We believe this is because the fieldwork for the SDEIS was not adequate in duration and expertise."

The chapter asked for two more years of bird studies.

DEC also commented on Acciona's plan for Blanding's turtle, a state-listed threatened species.

The statement said it would avoid hurting the turtles by not placing turbines in wetlands and having limited access road traffic, but DEC said the measures were not sufficient, "particularly from loss of nesting habitat by turbines and mortality caused by vehicles on roads constructed in nesting areas."

Instead, mitigation measures may include not constructing turbines during nesting season in early summer.

On geological impacts, DEC reminded the developer that it had asked for geotechnical investigations of the project area to identify karst features, which would be susceptible to allowing tainted groundwater to run into underground aquifers. Karst "is a special type of landscape that is formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks, including limestone and dolomite," according to the Karst Water Institute.

In the supplemental statement, Acciona outlined proposed karst and geological investigations.

"While this largely conforms to DEC recommendations, it is important that results of these investigations be made available to assess the adequacy of proposed mitigation measures," DEC wrote.

Acciona said in the statement that the proposed mitigation measures would be included in a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, submitted for DEC permit. But DEC said the draft plan should have been with the supplemental statement. The department may require submission of the plan before implementing it.

"Specifically lacking in this discussion is any mention of controlled concrete washout areas at turbine foundation sites," DEC wrote. "This is important to prevent concrete slurry from contaminating groundwater through karst features or surface waters and wetlands."

James C. Corbin, programming director for WWNY-TV 7, said, "It has been our experience that VHF frequencies are more affected by turbines than UHF frequencies, and contrary to the conclusion Comsearch makes, digital signals can be affected by intervening structures."

Comsearch is Acciona's source of a report on television signals.

In the digital conversion, WWNY switched its broadcast signal from 35, a UHF frequency, to 7, a VHF frequency.

He said cable would not be a viable mitigation measure for many rural viewers and satellite does not carry local broadcast stations, such as WWNY, that provide local emergency notifications.

Andrew C. Davies, utility supervisor in environmental division of the Department of Public Service, asked for more information on road widening and potential effects on existing underground utility structures. He also outlined the department's requirements, including detailed engineering, security, maintenance and decommissioning information.

Jeff Zappieri, supervisor of the consistency unit in the Office of Coastal, Local Government and Community Sustainability in the state Department of State, suggested a bond to cover all costs of decommissioning and adequate money for road repair be set aside.

Clifford P. Schneider, a town resident who has published peer-reviewed articles on sound, found problems with the noise analysis and encouraged an unbiased review of the study.

He said the report lacked a table of all non-participating residents within a mile and their assumed ambient sound and projected noise impact from the wind farm, which is a "common practice" for wind project environmental statements.

He asked for noise monitoring locations on non-participating property owners instead of all on leaseholders' property "since this analysis is ultimately intended to assess impacts on non-participating residents."

Mr. Schneider's report found that sufficient wind speeds at turbine height to make them operate happened at 30 percent of the time when winds were calm at the surface and noise was measured at an average 25.6 decibels, far below the 42 decibels Acciona's consultant used.

He wrote, "The developer needs to conduct another project layout and impact analysis that assumes a 26 dBA background sound along with the NYSDEC noise impact allowance, e.g., 5 dBA for project-only increase."

A dozen or so comments called for a moratorium on any wind development in the town for a year while about another dozen said the supplemental statement was sufficient.

According to a July 2 letter from the town's attorney on the wind power project, Todd M. Mathes, of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna LLP, Albany, the town Planning Board "would like its consultants to work with the project applicant to move toward preparation of a Final Environmental Impact Statement which summarizes the comments received and provides responses."

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