Nonprofits: localities should have say on turbines

D. Lee Willbanks, executive director of Save the River, said the problem with the state’s Article X siting process is that it doesn’t require developers to conduct these long-term, regional impact studies.

By JAEGUN LEE
TIMES STAFF WRITER

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013

CLAYTON — Municipalities should be able to decide for themselves, or at least have more say in, the outcome of wind project sitings, according to the leaders of area nonprofits.

The head of Save the River, meanwhile, said the group still advocates a moratorium on industrial wind development, which it proposed in 2010, until environmental impacts are assessed.

Thousand Islands Land Trust’s executive director, Jake R. Tibbles, said that while the land trust “supports the concept of renewable energy and strongly advocates energy efficiency and conservation activities,” it does not support the siting of large commercial wind turbines.[Watertown Times]