Group opposes planned biomass plant

A group of North Springfield residents have formed a group to fight the proposed Winstanley wood-fired power plant.

Members of the group expressed several concerns that they believe affect the welfare of not only North Springfield itself, but also of a wider area, including all of Springfield, Weathersfield, Baltimore, Ludlow and Chester, possibly others. These include “many long term environmental and health issues” said Bob Kischko, a founder of the group, at a recent meeting. Julie Jones said that the neighbors on and near Main Street in North Springfield are upset about a drastic increase in truck traffic, since five to 12 truckloads (18-wheelers) will be required per hour, to bring in the needed wood chip fuel for the 25 – to 35 – Megawatt facility.

The availability and sources for the needed +500 gallons of water per minute for cooling are not clear, according to discussion at the last Springfield Planning Board meeting. These are only a sampling of the potential problems. The proposed 116 – foot high building and 140 – foot stack are out of scale with their surroundings, group members agreed at a meeting Feb. 12.

The North Springfield Action Group urges all our neighbors in the vicinity of Southern Windsor County to enlighten yourselves and plan to attend the Public Hearing before a Hearing officer of the Vermont Public Service Board on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 PM at the Springfield High School. We urge residents to get informed.

You will find documentation of the plant proposal itself at the Springfield Town Office, or you may download it from the Web site of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission. The Web site www.nosagvt.org has a link to this as well as a growing array of information documenting the group’s concerns and objections. You may contact the North Springfield Action Group by email to: mailto:info@nosagvt.org

The NoSAG web site:  http://www.nosagvt.org/ .

Project proponents' web site: http://www.northspringfieldbiomass.com/ .

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120221/NEWS02/702219907

Published February 21, 2012 in the Rutland Herald

Group opposes biomass plant in Springfield
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

NORTH SPRINGFIELD — A group of North Springfield residents have formed a group to fight the proposed wood-fired power plant in North Springfield.

Calling themselves NoSAG, for North Springfield Action Group, members believe that the public is in the dark about the 25-35 megawatt facility, which is proposed by Winstanley Enterprises LLC and Weston Solutions, for land next to Winstanley’s Fellows Corp. building.

Maggie Kelly, a member of the group, said the group’s concerns focused on emissions, traffic and use of natural resources, including wood and water.

She said that many people feel wood smoke is relatively benign, while she said the MacNeil generating station in Burlington, the state’s largest woodchip power plant, emits 79 different chemicals.

Kelly said she had been going door to door to people in North Springfield in the past three weeks, and people don’t know about the wood-chip plant.

She said the group has about 20 to 25 people, and that number is growing. She said the group would meet later this week to decide whether it would seek intervenor status before the PSB.

She said some individual members of the group have already filed for intervenor status, which gives people a more direct role — and appeal rights — in the project.

Residents who are affected by the plant only have until March 7 to file for intervenor status with the Public Service Board.

“People are shocked that they won’t be able to vote on it,” she said.

She said it was very important that people turn out for a Public Service Board hearing on Feb. 28 at Springfield High School, to express their concerns about the plant. Earlier in the day, the PSB will hold a site visit at the North Springfield site. The site visit starts at 1 p.m., and the hearing starts at 7 p.m.

Additionally, Winstanley and Weston are holding informational meetings from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Springfield High School. People are invited at 6:30 p.m. to view maps and gather other information.

“The goal of our group is to inform and educate people,” said Kelly, who lives on County Road in North Springfield.

Winstanley and Weston applied for a certificate of public good to build the wood-fired power plant. The size of the plant would be between 25 to 35 megawatts, they said and would be called the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project.

Robert Kischko, a North Springfield resident and consulting engineer, and a member of NoSAG, has said the geography of North Springfield is bad for a woodchip plant, since the area is a natural bowl.

Kischko said the sheer size of the proposed Winstanley-Weston plant is out of scale for the area at 116-feet tall, with a 140-tall smokestack.

Kelly said she was concerned about emissions as well as truck traffic, since the estimated 13,000 tractor trailer loads of wood chips annually will use County Road to get to the industrial park.

“They will have to go through a densely populated residential neighborhood,” said Kelly.

Kelly said it was clear that County Road would have to be widened to accommodate the truck traffic, which is about 35 trips a day, 7 days a week.

Kelly said that many residents bought their homes well aware of the industrial park and the traffic, but she said a wood-chip powered plant is a lot different than an industrial facility. The land is zoned industrial.

“It’s just too big,” said Kelly.

Springfield schools have individual wood-fired heating systems, which she said was a good size for such technology.

In addition to air and traffic, the plant is expected to use 500 gallons of water a minute, water that will come from the state’s water system, she said. The project hopes to recapture some water off the roofs at the Winstanley building, which houses Jeld-Wen, Kiosko and other manufacturing firms.

The group has started a website www.nosagvt.org.

Additional information is available at the Springfield Town Hall and on the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission’s website.