UPC: Permits to be signed soon
By MARY PERHAM


Jason Cox | The Leader | Rick Towner, outreach coordinator for UPC, stands next to the 16-foot diameter base for a wind turbine at Site 1A at the Dutch Hill wind farm.
leaderbath@yahoo.com.

COHOCTON | Massive wind turbines could be rising in the Town of Cohocton within a few weeks.

Local UPC outreach coordinator Rick Towner said permits allowing the developer to begin the ground work for the 420-foot-high turbines will be signed soon, signaling the next phase of the construction of 50 wind turbines.

On a tour of the wind farm sites Thursday, Towner said special permits have allowed M.A. Mortenson Construction crews to prepare the areas for construction of the tower bases.

According to Towner, 57-foot-wide concrete platforms will be topped by a 16-foot-wide tower base, and secured by 15-foot bolts into the concrete. Once the concrete has cured, topsoil will be replaced, the towers will be stacked by cranes and the blades assembled and mounted, he said.

Ironically, the only natural element that could delay the two- to three-week construction schedule for each turbine is strong wind.

“The cranes are limited in lifts to 20-mph wind,” Towner said. “More than that, and they'll have to wait.”

Each turbine is valued at $2 million to $2.5 million, he said. Once completed, the project will employ six to eight workers for maintenance and operation.



The optimum wind speed for the turbines is 25 to 27 mph, according to Towner. The blades are designed to tilt in order to adjust to the most efficient rotation.

In the event of a windstorm, with wind speeds above 50 mph, the blades will flatten to reduce rotation and hydraulic brakes will shut the system down for safety, he said.

The Newton, Mass.-based UPC first planned to build 56 turbines along the Cohocton hills, Towner said.

But new town zoning setbacks took some sites off the list. There are also restrictions on putting turbines near any existing dwellings, or any area where the public gathers, such as a church or park, he said.

There are five more wind projects being considered in Steuben County, with UPC and EcoGen vying for space in Prattsburgh, and other projects in the towns of Hartsville, Howard and Caton.

Those projects have been welcomed by some as a source of renewable energy and revenues. They are strongly opposed by others who charge the turbines are inefficient, and threaten humans and the natural habitat.

Towner said the turbines in Cohocton are likely to generate as much electricity as old coal plants in the area, which shut down years ago.

“What replaced them?” he said. “Nothing, as far as I know.”

But Towner said there are more benefits for the town than the UPC wind farm.

“The restaurants are full, (one) was looking for waitresses,” he said. “The motels are full. I know there are complaints about bringing some out-of-state guys in, but you ought to also look at, they'll be spending money here, not taking their wages home to Rochester every day.”

Towner said the project is just the start of economic development in Cohocton.

“There's got to be something we can do with the old Polly-O plant, biodiesel, something with renewable energy,” he said. “Just enough industry to make us self-supportive, enough to live here and work here. “

Adverse wind conditions may not be the only delay facing the 50-turbine UPC wind farm project in Cohocton.

Lawsuits, an antitrust complaint and a recent tangle with labor representatives may also be important factors in the project's future.

€ Within the last two weeks, both the state appellate court and local court have dismissed allegations the town's local laws regulating the project are illegal. But the project's opponents, Cohocton Wind Watch, have another day in court at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 19.

The recent lawsuits charge UPC with violating their conditional Public Safety Commission permit. The action also challenges the issuance of special use permits by the Cohocton Planning Board. Opponents also claim certain turbines intrude upon the property in neighboring towns and Ontario County.

€ An antitrust complaint filed early this year by other Cohocton residents charges the wind industry as a whole violates the Sherman Antitrust Act by preventing competition and restraining trade.

€ Recent complaints by local labor unions put a halt to the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency's plan Sept. 27 to approve property tax breaks for the UPC project.

€ The unions say UPC is hiring out-of-state construction workers instead of using local labor resources. Encouraging local employment is a part of SCIDA's mandate.

UPC representatives say they need skilled supervisors for the unique project, and promised to hire 60 union and non-union workers from the Steuben County area by the end of the month.

Local UPC coordinator Rick Towner pointed to contracts with Hanson, in Bath, and McConnell Electric, of Rochester, as examples of UPC's willingness to work with firms that hire union workers in the Steuben County area.

But labor representatives said UPC also has hired firms from out of the area, including a downstate firm, Delaney Heavy Highway Construction, of Gloversville, for road work.

“We have no problem with them hiring supervisors. We have no problem with local people, whether it's union or nonunion,” said Mike Altonberg, business agent for The Ironworkers in Rochester.

The Ironworkers are now picketing UPC offices in Cohocton.

“And by local, we mean Steuben and the surrounding counties. But I don't know how many in the area are familiar with crane work. And putting up 60-ton towers takes some doing, I can tell you,” Altonberg said.

By BOB CLARK


UPC Public Outreach Coordinator Rick Towner points toward the bolt alignment rings for attaching a 420-feet tall wind turbine on Dutch Hill to a concrete anchor 57 feet in diameter. Mortenson Construction, the main contractor on the project, has been moving earth on the project for the last two weeks, but building permits for pouring the concrete anchors have not been issued yet.


STAFF WRITER COHOCTON - The bulldozers are rolling again in Cohocton, following a short hiatus late last month.Construction is under way at the Cohocton and Dutch Hill wind projects, according to UPC public outreach coordinator Rick Towner.“Right now, we're only moving topsoil, building access roads, and laying power lines.” Towner said. “(The state Department of Agriculture and Markets) says we can only have five acres of topsoil exposed at one time. As soon as we move it out of the way, we go right through and mulch it.“As I understand it, the permits are ready to be signed, and (Cohocton Code Enforcement Officer Joe Bob) is waiting to hear back from their engineering firm,” he added. “We could have permits in hand by this afternoon.”For now, Mortenson Construction is scraping topsoil around the 50 turbine sites, 32 on Lent and Pine hills, 15 on Dutch Hill, and 3 on Brown Hill, eight miles to the south near the project's connection to the main power grid, but the underlying soil cannot be disturbed.“All the sites need to be completely level,” said Towner, looking over the site of Turbine 1, which will sit on what now is a sloping field. He added the topsoil is only 1 foot thick in many places on top of the hills.Each site will have a 200-foot diameter circle with the wind turbine set in the middle, according to Towner. Each of the 420-foot tall turbines, with a component cost around $2.5 million for each unit, will sit on a concrete pad 57-feet across and varying in thickness from 15-feet deep in the center to two feet at the edges.

“The edges will be far enough underground that farmers will still be able to plow,” Towner said, adding only a 16-foot circle of concrete will stick up a foot and a half out of the ground, and, “A five-by-five foot transformer will sit at the base of each tower.”The transformer will change the voltage of the electricity from the 600 volts coming from the turbines to 34,500 volts for transmission to a substation.The 26 access roads for the site are currently under construction as well, according to Towner, and several were already completed as of Wednesday afternoon.As for when the turbines will be operational, there is no official answer.“People keep asking me how long it takes to build (a turbine),”
Towner said. “From my understanding, it takes about a week for the concrete to cure, and another week to build the tower in a best-case scenario. The generator and blades can not be raised in winds over 20 miles per hour, which is a problem since we're building in a place with as much wind as we could find.”

With the uncertainty, there is no way of knowing when all the turbines will be up and operational, but this year seems unlikely.Despite several recent setbacks for UPC, construction is still moving as far as it can.UPC broke ground on the two projects on Sept. 18. Within two days, the Steuben County Highway Department had placed weight limits on several roads that gravel and equipment were being transported to the site on, until the roads were inspected and deemed safe. The highway department later removed the restrictions.“By the next Thursday, we were rolling again,” Towner said.

The Steuben County Industrial Development Agency did not approve the Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement for UPC last week, which surprised many in the local wind power scene.“It's hard for me to believe that they would not approve (the PILOT agreement),” Towner said. “On the flip side, I don't think (UPC) would continue work if they didn't think they would get it. Without the tax breaks in the agreement, it would be hard for any company to build here.”

In related news, three members of the Iron Worker's union were set up outside the UPC office Wednesday.“It's not that I'm against wind power, it's just that they're bringing in workers from out of state to work on the project,” said iron worker's union marketing representative Paul Sirianni. “When you go up to the work site, look at the license plates on the vehicles up there.”“We're going to be here all weekend,” he added, saying protesting workers will be on hand for the Cohocton Fall Foliage Festival.

Towner said applications are still being accepted by Mortenson and other contractors on the project, and applications can be filled out at the UPC office at 28 Maple Ave. in Cohocton.

The presentation of three Article 78 lawsuits filed on Aug. 31 were changed from Tuesday to Oct. 16.“It was a mutually-agreed on move,” Towner said. “The plaintiffs were having problems serving several of the respondents.”The Article 78 lawsuits, filed by members of Cohocton Wind Watch, are aimed at overturning the special-use permits issued to UPC by the Cohocton Planning Board, saying that the permits are illegal on 13 different counts.