Windmill groundbreaking ceremony draws crowd of support

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
Staff Writer

June 24, 2007 03:53 pm

— CHURUBUSCO — Years ago, Michael Filion never imagined the high whipping winds that often sweep across northern Clinton County would one day become a valuable source of energy.
“Who knew one day the wind would have such a positive impact on us,” the Clinton Town Supervisor said Saturday during a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for the Noble Clinton and Ellenburg Windparks.
As a strong cool breeze blew across the open Churubusco field, Filion told the large crowd of wind-turbine supporters that the current wind-farm projects have allowed the rural community to become one of the first northern New York towns to host the natural-energy farms.
“This is just the start of something big in the North Country,” later added Ellenburg Town Supervisor James McNeil, who praised the local wind projects as a good source of clean, natural energy.
As rural wind farms begin to develop across the two northern towns, Noble Environmental Power project officials expect the Clinton and Ellenburg windparks to generate enough clean energy to power about 60,000 homes while reducing local dependency on pollutant fossil fuels.
After the initial $360 million investment in the two newest projects, Noble officials expect the renewable energy will in return bring an estimated $231 million in revenue to the rural economy over the next 20 years.
“It’s a windy place and it makes it such a good place for a wind project,” said Charles Hinckley, the chief executive officer for Noble Environmental Power, who delved into the “huge and enormous” efforts it has taken over the past six years to get the projects off the ground.
“It all really starts with our relationship with the landlords and the town.”
Hinckley then praised and thanked the local landowners, like Tony Bouchard, who is expecting five wind turbines on his Clinton property, for making the projects possible.
Thomas Gray, the deputy executive director of the American Wind Energy Association, also thanked the landowners “for making some of our dreams a reality.”
The two projects remain controversial among some area residents who prefer their local landscape unblemished and fear the tall thin turbines will create noise nuisances and have a negative impact on birds and other wildlife.
Similar projects in the Town of Beekmantown were also controversial and received months of criticism, but the 13 turbines were later approved with limited restrictions.
As the Clinton and Ellenburg projects continued moving forward in mid 2006, Malone town officials also approved a restrictive policy on the controversial turbines in case companies begin to shift their energy-saving efforts into the western county.
And as the crisp winds sent blue and green windsocks and pinwheels spiraling and twisting during Saturday’s ceremony, Gray and the others countered some of the opposing viewpoints by noting the benefits of wind farms, like helping local economic development and increasing the security of clean, natural energy.
As Filion put it, the projects are “a giant step forward in the fight to save the planet.”

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:
avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com

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