Town Of Lyme Comments to the PSC Re: BP's Preliminary Scoping Statement

7/28/2019 Town Of Lyme Comments to the PSC Re: BP's Preliminary Scoping Statement

1/11

Town ClerkKIM WALLACE

DONALD BOURQUINCouncilman

DANIEL J. VILLAJEFFERSON COUNTY

P.O. Box 66CHAUMONT, NEW YORK 13622PH: (315) 649-2788 FAX: (315) 649-2049 TID: (202) 720-6382E-Mail: [email protected]

Apr i l 18, 2013

Sent v ia emai l : [email protected] . gov& Regular MailHonorable Gary A. Brown, Chairman

Supt. ofHighwaysPAT WESTONCouncilwoman

ANNE HARRISCouncilman

DAVID HENDERSON

Secretary , NYS Board of Elec t r ic Generation Si t ing and theEnvironmentSta te of New York, Department of Public Service3 Empire Sta te PlazaAlbany, New York 12223-1350RE: 12-F-041-0 Cape Vincent Wind PowerDear Chairman Brown:On beha l f o f the Town of Lyme, please accept the followingcomments and recommendations re la t ive to the Applicat ion of CapeVincent Wind Power, LLC, fo r a Cer t i f i ca te of EnvironmentalCompat ib i l i ty and Publ ic Need to cons t ruct an approximately 200-285 Megawatt Wind Elec t r ic (Case 12-F-0410) generat ing Fac i l i tyin the Town of Cape Vincent, New York.A review of Cape Vincent Wind Power Prel iminary ScopingStatement (PSS) has ra i sed severa l issues re la t ive to how theGenerator In terconnect Lines wi l l a f fec t the heal th , safe ty ,welfare , environment, and development in the Town of Lyme. Themajor i ty o f the i ssues noted are re la ted to outdatedinformat ion, incomplete analys is and research, fa i lure toresearch a l t e rna t i ve opt ions t ha t are more environmenta l lyf r i end ly ; and fa i lu re to address the community's heal th andsafe ty concerns .The comments are as follows:


2/11

1. Section 1.3 .1 re fe rs to the Rural Natural of JeffersonCounty. I t fa i l s to mention t ha t the county i s thef a s t e s t growing county in the s t a t e . Further studyneeds to be completed on how the GeneratorInterconnect l ine wil l a f fec t the town's development,tax base and over a l l long term economic heal th . TheTown of Lyme i s located s t ra teg ica l ly on Lake Ontarioand includes a well recognized recrea t ional f ishingarea known as the "Golden Crescent" . Included withinthe Town i s Chaumont Bay and Three Mile Bay, wellnoted and promoted in New York Sta te as a primef i sh ing area. The Town, therefore , enj oys arec rea t iona l reputa t ion qua l i ty which i s enhanced bythe many miles of water frontage in the Town. Theeconomy of the Town i s thus, recrea t ion based. In thesummer the economy i s driven by seasonal res idents whocome to the shores to vacat ion homes and in the winterby hundreds of ice fishermen who take advantage of thef i sh ing resources avai lab le in the nearby waters.Since outdoor ac t iv i t i e s and reac t ion are a l a rge par tof what drives the economy and populat ion of the Town,anything which would a f fec t tha t i s of concern to theTown of Lyme.

2. In sec t ion 1.3.11 the PSS makes reference to thenumber of vacant home in Lyme as 61%, but fa i l s tomention t ha t most of these homes are seasonal and tha tsome of those l ie along the proposed GeneratorInterconnect Line route . I t also fa i l s to recognizet ha t . these homes are occupied seasonal ly. Theseseasonal homes are subs tan t ia l homes and they addsubs tan t i a l tax base to the Town. Anything tha t woulddecrease the value of these seasonal homes and thea t t rac t iveness of them to people, af fec t s the economyof the Town. The presence of the maj or indus t r i a loverhead power l ine di f fe rs in charac ter than ther e s i den t i a l power l ines already exis t ing an d isbel ieved wil l have a negative impact on the Town inth is regard. The town i s concerned about the impactthe l ines wil l have on property values, and the shortand long term heal th ef fec t s t ha t the res idents wil lincur . Since Exhibi t A i s extremely outdated, thecvwp fa i led to note a l l the newer res idents tha t wil lbe impacted by the Generator Interconnect Lines. Thuswe bel ieve a thorough study i s required to determinethe heal th , safe ty and home value impact along theth ree proposed routes .


3/11

3. Sect ion 2.4 .1 - NYS Coasta l Pol ic ies .a. Policy No. 2 s t a t e s "Sta te agencies wil l avoidundertaking, funding, or approving non-waterdependent uses when such uses would preempt thereasonably foreseeable development of water

dependent uses .The s i t i ng of the Generator Interconnect Lineover and along the Chaumont River wil l deterdevelopment because of the Elec t r ic MagneticField (EMF) and view shed i s sues along the Rightof-Way, over the r i ve r and bordering proper t ies .In addi t ion fur ther invest iga t ion i s requiredsince the Chaumont River Corridor WaterfrontRevi ta l iza t ion Project i s in Phase I and CVWPfa i led to recognize the power l ine a f fec t on t ha tdevelopment program. The Town i s in theprocess of developing a l oca l Chaumont RiverCorridor Waterfront Revi ta l iza t ion pro jec t withNew York Sta te . The impact of the proposeddevelopment by CVWP on the development and theuse of the water f ron t needs to be thoroughlyevaluated.

b. Policy 19- Protect , maintain, and increase thel eve l and types of access to publ ic water re la tedrecrea t ion resources and f ac i l i t i e s .The s i t ing of the Interconnection l ines over theChaumont r iver could well block access to thewater f ront , The plac ing of the l ines s topsdevelopment by removing sec t ions , on both sidesof the r ive r , from development. The In terconnectRight-of-Way e f fec t ive ly removes area from waterf ront access and development. Alternat ive routesor methods of crossing the r iver need to bes tudied . I f overhead l ines are allowed to bebu i l t , it wil l de t rac t from people wanting to usethe water resources.

water enhancedand fac i l i t a ted ,non-water-related

c. Pol icy 21- Water dependent andrec rea t ion wi l l be encouragedand wil l be given pr ior i ty overuses along the coast .The Generator Interconnect Lines do not enhancerecrea t ion ac t i v i t i e s and wi l l not encourage orf ac i l i t a t e use of the water f ront along theChaumont River because the Interconnect LineRight-of-way wi l l block access to the r ive r , and


4/11

development. The Chaumont RiverWaterf ron t Revi t a l i z a t ion Proj e c t plangiven p r i o r i t y to th e uses o f waterover power l i ne Rights o f Way.

Corr idorshould beresources

d. Pol icy 22- Development when loca ted adj acent toth e shore w i l l provide fo r wate r - re l a t edr ec rea t ion whenever such use i s compat ib le withreasonab ly an t ic ipa ted demand fo r sucha c t i v i t i e s , and i s compat ible wi th th e primarypurpose of the development.The Genera tor In te rconnec t Lines do not providefo r water r e l a t ed r e c r e a t i o n . While th e ChaumontRiver Corr idor Water f ron t Revi t a l i z a t ion Proj e c tPlan w i l l address water r e l a t e d a c t i v i t i e s alongth e r i v e r , it r eq u i r e s a complete review beforenon r ec r ea t i o n a l development proceeds .

e. Pol icy 23- Pro tec t , enhance and re s to res t ru c t u re s , d i s t r i c t s , areas o r s i t e s t h a t are o fs ign i f i cance in th e h is to ry , a rch i tec tu re ,archeology o r cu l tu re o f the Sta t e , i t scommunit ies , o r th e Nation .The Sta t e o f New York has recognized th e regionand por t ion of the Town o f Lyme as being as i g n i f i c a n t resource to th e Sta te . Indeed, apor t ion of the Town o f Lyme has been des ignatedto be on the Seaway Tra i l . The designat ion o fth e Seaway T r a i l was uses to promote tour ism anda t t r a c t v i s i t o r s to the a rea . Addi t i ona l ly , th er ec r ea t i o n a l oppor tun i t i e s fo r f i sh ing , as wel las othe r water re l a t ed a c t i v i t i e s in th e town,abound because o f th e l a rge amount o f waterf ron tage . The vas t town shore l ine has beendes igna ted as a p a r t o f th e Golden Crescent andth e f i sh ing and r ec r ea t i o n a l oppor tun i t i e s arewel l adve r t i sed and promoted. I t br ings manypeople to the a rea to en j oy these r ec rea t iona lo p p o r t u n i t i e s . Addi t iona l ly , the Town i sinvo l ved in a s tudy with th e Sta t e o f New Yorkknown as th e Chaumont River Corr idor WaterfrontRevi t a l i z a t i o n Proj ec t . The Chaumont Riv erCorr idor Water f ron t Revi ta l i za t ion Pro j ec t Planaims to f u l f i l l t h i s p a r t i c u l a r pol icyrequ i rement . The CVWP response to t h i s pol icyrequirement ind ica tes t h a t they have not checkedfo r a reas o r s i t e s t h a t a re o f s ign i f i cance in


5/11

the his tory, a rchi tec ture , archaeology or cul tureof the s t a t e , i t s communities, or the nat ion; asreference in the pol icy . Therefore, th i s policyrequirement needs fur ther research re la t ive tothe requirements of the pol icy .f . Policy 24- Prevent impairment of scenic resourcesof sta tewide s igni f icance .

CVWP has not adequately addressed how it intendsto meet th i s pol icy requirement since theChaumont River corr idor i s a sta tewide scenicresource located on the Seaway Trai l . ChaumontBay i s par t of what i s known as the GoldenCrescent . CVWP needs to conduct a thorough cos tanalys is of di f fe ren t options tha t wi l l meet th i srequirement. In addi t ion it needs to work withthe community to address i t s concerns.

g. Policy 25- Protec t , res tore or enhance natura land man-made resources which are not iden t i f i edas being of s ta tewide s igni f icance , but whichcont r ibute to the overa l l scenic qual i ty of thecoas ta l area .CVWP's response has fa i led to address t h i srequirement. Their response ind ica tes tha t theywil l make l i t t l e or no e f fo r t to meet therequirements of th i s pol icy . Extensive researchneeds to be completed and a plan put for th on howt h i s requirement wil l be met. The CVWP hasfa i l ed to address impacts on the Sta te designatedSeaway Tra i l or the recrea t ional oppor tuni t ieswhich abound in the Golden Crescent as sodesignated.

h. Policy 26- Conserve and pro tec t agr icu l tura llands In the Sta t e ' s coas ta l area . No plan hasbeen devised or presented tha t addresses theAgr icul ture & Markets guidel ines for Agricul tura lMi t iga t ion for Wind power Proj ec ts . A study ofthe impacted areas needs to be completed and amit iga t ion plan devised. Jef ferson County as awhole and the Town of Lyme have been knownh i s to r i ca l ly as dairy areas . There i s only oneremaining dairy farm in the Town of Lyme. Theproposed l ine e i t he r crosses or i s adj acent tosuch dairy farm and it i s believed wil l a f fec tother types of farming ac t i v i t i e s in the Town.These have not been adequately addressed.


6/11

i. Pol icy 27- Decisions on the s i t i ng andcons t ruct ion of major energy f a c i l i t i e s in thecoas ta l area wi l l be based on publ ic energyneeds, compat ib i l i ty of such f a c i l i t i e s with theenvironment , and the f ac i l i t y ' s need for ashore f ron t loca t ion .A s tudy needs to beroute the Generator conducted of opt ions t ha tIn te rconnec t Lines aroundcoas ta l waterways or in a l te rna t ive non- in t rus ivemanner.

j . Pol icy 44- Preserve and pro tec t t i d a l andfreshwater wetlands and preserve the benef i t sderived from these a reas .CVWP acknowledges t ha t t i d a l or f reshwaterwetlands may be af fec ted but has offe red nofu r the r s tud ies or mit igat ion plan . This i sanother of the many Coas ta l Waterway s tud ies t ha tneed to be completed.

4. Sect ion 2 .4 .2 Land uses , inc luding but not l imi ted to ,r e s ide n t i a l , schools , c iv ic f a c i l i t i e s , agr icu l tura l ,commercial, coas ta l areas, scenic resources ,rec rea t iona l and publ ic lands wi t h in one mile of theProject f ac i l i t i e s wi l l be i de n t i f i e d .The response in t h i s quest ion has fa i l ed to analyzeimpacts on persons with spec ia l medical needs,inc luding those with def i b r i l l a t o r s , pacemakers orDther e lec t ron ic devices t ha t could be af fected byEMF. Also, there i s no analys is suggest ion of how thedevelopment might a f fec t persons who are sensi t ive toa change in t he i r environment such as those withautism and epi lepsy . This i s pa r t i c u l a r ly t rue inareas adj acen t to the Town of Lyme which, in somecases , towers are c lose r than 1,250 fee t to the Townl i ne and res idents in the Town of Lyme may be af fectedby th ings such as shadow/fl icker. Research needs tobe completed on ident i fy ing and address ing how thoseimpacts w i l l be minimized.

5. Sect ion 2.5 "National Grid completed fac i l i t i e ss tud ies fo r the previous 21 0 and 130 MW proj ects in2008 ("2008 FS") and i s cur ren t ly re-evaluat ing theTransmiss ion Owner Attachment Fac i l i t i e s ("TOAF") and


7/11

System Upgrade Fac i l i t i e spro jec t . "

(SUFs) fo r the combined

CVWP should pay for any system upgrades or CVWP andNational Grid need a mitigat ion plan to prevent thecost of these upgrade from being passed on to NYScustomers. Same comment appl ies to Sect ion 2.5 .3 .6. Sect ion 2.9.1 "Abi l i ty to in j ect power in to the New

York State gr id without over ly cos t ly gr id upgrades."The cost of the gr id upgrades have not been ident i f ied(see sec t ion 2 .5) . No cost analysis of the upgradesreferenced in Sect ion 2.5 .3 has been completed. Theses tudies need to be complete and t he i r impact on NYSra te payers accessed.

7. Sect ion 2.9 .2 "Pro jec t wil l resu l t in some streamcross ings and some unavoidable wetland areas tha t arecrossed by roads and/or co l lec t ions l ines . I t i simpract ica l to eliminate a l l impacts to wetlands andfu r ther ef fo r t s to avoid wetlands beyond the currentproposed Projec t would l ike ly resu l t in longer accessroads and t renching for e lec t r i ca l in terconnects ,thereby increasing land dis turbance impacts ."Studies should be conducted to review al ternat ives toimpacting sens i t ive areas. Studies should beconducted fo r a l te rna t ives to impacting sens i t iveareas in the purposed Generator Interconnect l inesroutes .

8. Sect ion 2.9 .2 "The i ns t a l l a t ion of overhead l ines , asproposed, wil l reduce impacts to so i l and waterresources but wil l increase visual impact duringoperat ion . To minimize adverse visual impact, mostoverhead l ines wil l be car r i ed on single metal polesor equivalent s t ruc tu re . "I t i s bel ieved tha t the poles being proposed wil l bemuch higher than exis t ing power l ines . Since thesepoles being proposed wil l be located in very importantscenic vis tas within the Town, including the SeawayTra i l and the Golden Crescent, it i s important tominimize or el iminate visual impacts. I t i s fo r thesereasons the Town of Lyme Law requires t ha t the l inesbe underground. I f l ines are going to be proposed to


8/11

be overhead, even in par t , they should not be allowedto be overhead, even in par t , they should not beallowed to be overhead in those areas c loses t to thewaterfront areas where the scenic vis tas are mostimportant . A visua l impact study should be conductedbased upon actual towers proposed to be used andac tua l tower loca t ions .

9. Sect ion 2.9.2 "CVWP studied the fea s ib i l i ty of using aburied l ine . For a projec t of th i s s ize , th i s wouldrequi re the in terconnect ion cable to not simply beburied, but to be encased in concrete. The resu l twould remove the transmission l ine from view, butwould require high cons t ruct ion costs tha t wouldcont r ibute to making the projec t uneconomic. Inaddi t ion, underground placement would generallyrequi re grea ter dis turbance to wetland features whichare located along the var ious routes iden t i f ied ."CVWP has indicated t ha t some unavoidable wetland areaswould be impacted with overhead l ines . However theyhave not iden t i f i ed s tudies tha t have been, or wil lneed to be, conducted to assess which option (buriedor overhead) has the l eas t impact on sens i t ive areas .In addi t ion a cost analys is , maintenance cos t ,environmental , and heal th assessment of the twoopt ions , needs to be conducted. Any study should paypar t i cu la r a t t en t ion to the most sens i t ive areas suchas populat ion centers and recrea t ion areas which areadjacent or close to the water .

10. Sect ion 2.15.5 Other Mater ia l Issues Raised bythe Public and Affected Agencies. CVWP response topubl ic question. "Pacemaker users or others withmagnetic implants should not exceed 5 Gauss a t anyt ime. In 2004 a team measured magnetic f i e lds a t thebase of a wind turbine a t the Windrush wind farm.They measured 0.0004 Gauss. (Windrush, 2004)."This i s an extremely old s tudy.research conducted to val ida te tha ti s s t i l l the most up- to-date andshould also include the ef fec t s

There should bethe Windrush studyval id study. I tof a l l the newer

e lec t ronic devices tha t have come in to use in recentyears and are used to as s i s t handicapped person aswell as those with specia l medical needs.


9/11

11. Sect ion 2.20 Cultura l Resources Exhibi t 20descr ibes the ef for t s to date to ident i fy and assessany impacts to His tor ic and Cul tura l Resources. Thes tudies have iden t i f i ed areas of s igni f icance in theTown of Lyme. They also ra i se the issue of view shedimpacts on these his tor ic spaces by ultra-modernkine t ic wind generat ion equipment. The s tudies needto be expanded to include turbine and t ransmissionl ine changes contemplated by the curren t appl icant andthe current projec t layout . The l eve l of in tensi ty oft h i s work should be appropriate to evaluate impacts ofboth overhead and buries t ransmission f ac i l i t i e s .

12. Sect ion 2.22 Ter res t r i a l Ecology and WetlandsExhibi t 22This ent i re sec t ion suggests postmonitoring in many instances. StudiesWind Farms should be completed pr io r toto put in place proper mitigat ion plans .

13. Sect ion 2.24 Visual - Exhibi t 24

constructionof exis t ingCer t i f i ca t ion

The Visual Resource Assessment (VRA) s tudies are notcomplete. A ll s tudies and suggested s tudies should becompleted and exis t ing s tudies updated pr ior toCer t i f i ca t ion .

14. Sect ion 2.35.1 - Potent ia l ly Signif icant AdverseImpacts "Signif icant exposure to high s t rength EMFhas not been consis tent ly shown to have negativeheal th consequences. Due to a lack of credib leevidence proving any impact from s ign i f i can t exposureto high s t rength EMF, as discussed in the NYSPSCPolicy referenced above, generator interconnectionl ines are not considered to be hazardous to publicheal th . "The Town of Lyme remains concerned and requests tha tany response on th i s issue be based on the mostupdated information worldwide.

15. Sect ion 3: Transmission Line


10/11

The VRA s tud ies are not complete . A ll s tud ie s andsugges ted s tud ies should be completed and ex i s t ings tud ies updated p r i o r to C e r t i f i c a t i o n . A ll s tudiesshould be based on ac tua l proposed mate r i a l s for thep ro j e c t .

16.a)

Genera l Comments:The proposed Genera tor In te rconnec t l i nepa ra l l e l s the DANC water l ine in seve ra l areas .This i s th e source of water fo r severa lcommunit ies from Cape Vincent to Glen Park. As tudy should be under taken to examine thep o t e n t i a l impact of acc iden ta l damage dur ingcons t ruc t ion and any pos t cons t ruc t ionmaintenance i s sues .

b) Exhib i t A base map i s ou t dated . Based, however,on Exhib i t A, it would appear t h a t t he re arec e r t a i n towers t ha t are within 1,250 f ee t of Towno f Lyme boundar ies . Based on the Town o f Lymelaws, these towers may be too c lose and ananalyses needs to be done on t h i s on how thosetowers w i l l a f f e c t proper t i e s in th e Town ofLyme. These spec i f i c towers being c i t ed aretowers numbered and we w i l l g e t th e numbers.

c) All unf in i shed , suggested , and planned s tudiesneed to be completed p r i o r to C e r t i f i c a t i o n .d) The Town of Lyme wishes to have i t s own exper t

eva lua te these s tud ies .

The Town o f Lyme apprec ia tes the opportuni ty to comment on th ePrel iminary Scoping Sta tement and t r u s t s t h a t th e Si t ingCommittee w i l l t ake these comments under cons idera t ion as itmoves forward. The Town of Lyme s tands ready, wil l ing and ab leto d i sc u s s these i ssues with th e Si t ing Committee should th eS i t i n g Committee want othe r in fo rmat ion in which to have fu r the rdiscuss ion on these mat te rs .

Very t r u l y y o ~ r s ,

Scot t Auber t ine , Superv isor


11/11

CC. Richard ChandlerBP Wind Energy North America Inc .700 Louis iana St r e e t , 33rd FloorHouston, Texas 77002

Date post:	03-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	pandorasboxofrocks
View:	218 times
Download:	0 times

Town Of Lyme Comments to the PSC Re: BP's Preliminary Scoping Statement

Documents