Springfield joins regional commission in wood-chip plant review

Springfield will join the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission in evaluating the proposed Winstanley wood-fired power plant proposed for North Springfield.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120127/NEWS02/701279913

Published January 27, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Springfield joins regional commission in wood-chip plant review

By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — The town of Springfield is going to team up with Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission to evaluate plans of Winstanley Enterprises’ proposed large woodchip-fired power plant in North Springfield.

Thomas Kennedy, the executive director of the Southern Windsor County group, told the Springfield Select Board his group hired an attorney to help them through the Section 248 process before the Vermont Public Service Board.

Winstanley Enterprises has teamed up with Weston Solutions Inc. of Concord, N.H., and has submitted a four-inch-thick application to the Public Service Board for a certificate of public good for the plant, which would be built in the North Springfield Industrial Park. It would produce both electricity and steam.

Kennedy said the first hearing on the application will be held Tuesday in Montpelier and he urged the board to ask for intervenor or party status in the process.

Town Manager Robert Forguites said the $150 million project was likely the single biggest project to be built in Springfield ever — bigger even than the new state prison which opened near Interstate 91 about 10 years ago, and he said it was important that the town have input in reviewing the project.

Kennedy’s group represents towns in southern Windsor County including Springfield, Chester, Weathersfield, the three towns most likely affected by the wood-chip plant.

Concerns range from traffic, noise and water, Kennedy said.

The regional commission has hired the Springfield law firm of Brady & Callahan to represent it in front of the Public Service Board, and he said if the town decides to have Steve Ankuda, the town’s attorney, represent it in the future, that’s fine.

The project is already being opposed by a group of North Springfield residents, including Robert Kischko and Walter Dodd. Both men said the air pollution from the wood-chip plant, as well as noise and increased truck traffic were of concern.

Kischko, who is an engineer, said the smokestack from the plant would be 140-feet tall and would be close to direct eye level with his home on Baker Road.

He said the plant would require 13,000 trips a year, roughly 40 trips a day.

Kischko presented the Select Board with a letter from himself and his wife questioning the wisdom of such a large wood-chip plant.

“Ask yourself if the quality of life in Vermont should include the right to have clean air, water and low noise,” the letter said. “Is this facility truly sustainable?”

Kischko said he had already filed for intervenor status in the Section 248 process. He said his research showed that a wood-chip plant would adversely affect property values, on average 7 to 9 percent, if they are within a mile or two of the plant.

“We are in a bowl and can hear all the sounds at Hancor,” said Kischko, who said he supported biomass on a small scale, and had worked on such projects in his professional life with Dubois & King engineers.

Kennedy emphasized the regional commission had not taken a stand yet.

“We are in the information gathering stage,” he said. He told the board that he believed the town of Chester had filed for intervenor status.

“They are very concerned about traffic,” said Kennedy, who said afterward that he believed a project like the wood-chip plant would have traffic coming through neighboring towns, not just Springfield.

Winstanley and Weston plan on holding an informational session at the end of February in Springfield about the project, he said.

He said the Winstanley project was ahead of other wood-chip plants under consideration, particularly one under consideration in Fair Haven.

Forguites said that the project could add $150 million to the town’s grand list. He said Winstanley’s estimate that the project would create 600 jobs during construction was optimistic, since he thought it included jobs in manufacturing producing components for the plant.

Once built, he said, the project would provide 25 to 30 jobs at the plant, with more jobs coming from the wood products industry.