Board faulted for lack of leadership on wood-chip plant

The Select Board was sharply criticized Monday for a lack of leadership on the proposed wood-fired power plant in North Springfield.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20130116/NEWS02/701169923

Board faulted for lack of leadership on wood-chip plant By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | January 16,2013 Rutland Herald SPRINGFIELD — The Select Board was sharply criticized Monday for a lack of leadership on the proposed wood-fired power plant in North Springfield, and as a result was accused of “sacrificing” the village of North Springfield in the process. Fredda J. Kischko of North Springfield, a member of the North Springfield Action Group, or NoSAG, which is opposed to the 35-megawatt facility, told the board she had seen no evidence that the board either supported or opposed the project. “If it’s wonderful, why aren’t they saying it’s wonderful?” Kischko said in a follow-up interview. Kischko presented the board with a packet of information, and a review of what little information she could glean from town records, that outlined her concerns about the project and the town’s action — or inaction — about it. NoSAG believes the wood-fired plant will add unreasonable pollution to the air, overload small residential streets with woodchip trucks, and destroy the aesthetics of a small community. They have hired an attorney to fight the project before the Vermont Public Service Board. While the town has intervenor status before the Public Service Board, she said, she combed through town records and could find no evidence that the town had raised any questions before the PSB about issues. The PSB has sole regulatory authority over the proposed wood-fired plant. Kischko was accompanied to Monday’s regular Select Board meeting by about a dozen North Springfield residents. “I truly cannot understand how you have chosen to sacrifice the health and welfare of an entire village for this plant. How do you sleep at night?” The board emained silent during Kischko’s 15-minute presentation. “We expect leaders who lead and who are not led,” she said at one point. Board Chairman Kristi Morris warned people in the audience that Monday’s meeting was not a “public forum” on the proposed woodchip plant and that they couldn’t engage in a dialogue. Morris and the other board members were silent after Kischko’s rebuke. Winstanley Enterprises and Weston Solutions Inc. of West Chester, Pa., have proposed a joint project, which they’ve dubbed the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project. State hearings on the plant start next month. Winstanley already owns a large building in the North Springfield Industrial Park. Kischko said the town had not held at public meetings about the facility, and instead were relying completely on two hearings held last year by two state agencies. “I think that is so wrong,” she said, noting the town leaders should be gauging public concern and helping to get answers for townspeople. Kischko said that her husband Robert Kischko, who is the chairman of NoSAG, along with two other members of NoSAG and Sen. Richard McCormack, D-Windsor, had met with Gov. Peter Shumlin in December about the project, and stressed that the proposed location next to so many residential neighborhoods. Shumlin’s letter, dated Dec. 20, and addressed to Robert Kischko, said he viewed biomass more as a source of heat than a source of electricity. “I have often said that biomass is my least favorite form of renewable energy,” Shumlin wrote. “Ultimately, I believe that Vermont must weigh the benefits of biomass against the concerns of communities in which these projects are proposed,” the governor wrote. One thing that isn’t generally known, Kischko said, is exactly how big the wood-fired plant will be. But she told the board that because of its relative proximity to Hartness State Airport, its smokestack will be about half the height it would be under normal circumstances, she said. As a result, more of the pollution from the plant will stay in the North Springfield village, and not be disbursed, she said. The McNeil wood-fired power plant in Burlington has a 257-foot tall stack, she said. The application for the North Springfield project says its stack should be 290 feet tall, but instead will be only 140 feet tall because of the airport, she said. The town has piggy-backed legal representation with the attorney for the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning and Development Commission.