Published: August 12, 2008 11:47 am      

ALBION: Landowner insists wind energy fine

Former advisor blasts town’s apparent opposition to towers

ALBION — A longtime landowner and farmer reproached the town board Monday for its apparent opposition to commercial wind tower construction.

The wind farms proposed by the Spanish-owned company E.ON could benefit the Town of Albion financially, said Hugh Dudley of County House Road.

Dudley, who was a member of the Albion Wind Advisory Committee before the town board disbanded it last year, beseeched the board to consider the potential positive economic impact of wind development, as well as the support of Albion High School students who conducted an intensive wind energy research project this past April.

“This town likes to keep their young people. I might suggest that you listen to your young people,” Dudley said. “(This) is an opportunity to help offset ... costs.”

Dudley said wind energy has “been around a long, long time” in Europe, where there is a much higher population density than in Albion. If it works there, it can work in Orleans County, too, he said.

The fact that the board is moving forward with legislation that will attempt to ban commercial wind tower construction in the town is disturbing and a “charade,” Dudley said.

Personally, he has spoken to few local residents who oppose wind energy, he added.

His son, Kirk Dudley, a Barre resident and planning board member there, has signed a preliminary contract with Iberdrola for wind turbine construction.

Albion Supervisor Judy Koehler spoke against wind energy at the Barre town meeting last week, something both Dudleys believe was unethical. A public hearing was held on Barre’s proposed wind energy facilities law.

“You’ve already made your minds up,” Hugh Dudley said. “Are you going to listen to anything anyone has to say at a public hearing?”

Albion Town Council member Doug Bloom reminded Dudley that the town created a multi-step approach to researching wind energy at the start of the year, saying the steps were both well publicized and well attended by residents. The board and community actively researched the issue, solicited the help of Albion students and held a number of public forums.

As it turned out, Bloom said, the forums were attended by an overwhelming majority of individuals opposing installation of wind turbines. Many of the same people returned to speak at regular town board meetings, he said.

Orleans County Legislator and environmentalist Gary Kent respectfully rebuked Dudley’s comments, as did a a handful of local and county residents.

The price of hosting wind turbines will be diminished property values, Kent said. He cited his recent visit to Naples, N.Y., where a real estate agent told him that homes are selling for tens of thousands of dollars below their assessed value since the wind farms started going up.

If turbines go up in Orleans County, he bets the same will happen here, too.

There are 113 people per square mile in Albion, compared to 17 people per mile in Roscoe, Texas, home to one of the biggest wind farms in the country, Kent said. Developers only want to build near high densities of people because it is where the usage is, he added.

If the issue is establishing a clean, renewable energy source, the town should turn to solar energy, said Albion resident Darlene Benton, owner of Paradise Healing Arts.

Experts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed improved “solar concentrators,” or chips, and Benton calls them a non-invasive means of harnessing the sun’s energy.

“It is the future,” she said. “It works and there is no noise.”

Benton visited the home of a Tai Chi student who lives in Naples a few months back and witnessed firsthand the acoustical vibrations and shadow flicker of the wind farms nearby. It was “upsetting” to see the family’s “idyllic” home ruined, she said.

The alternative is becoming proactive, Benton said. She suggested the town get in touch with a solar company and pursue a pilot project for the newest solar technology.

The town board will continue wind energy discussions at a third workshop at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 in the town hall.

A public hearing on Albion’s proposed wind energy local law will take place Sept. 4; adoption is set tentatively for Oct. 13.

Contact reporter Nicole Coleman at 798-1400, ext. 8227.