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Winds of change headed for Hilltowns: Push for renewable energy sure to affect Albany County's higher altitudes.
(Times Union (Albany, NY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 26--Knox
There is a feeling atop these beautiful hills that construction of an industrial-size wind farm one day may be inevitable.
After all, with an energy crisis brewing worldwide and worries over global warming, clean wind energy is being touted as a savior for New York state, which wants one fourth of its electricity supply to come from renewable sources like wind by 2013.
And most important, towns like Knox and Berne atop the Helderberg Escarpment offer the highest elevations in Albany County, making them ideal for large wind turbines.
That's why companies like Royal Dutch Shell, which develop wind projects in addition to drilling for and refining oil, are already scouring the Hilltowns, trying to line up landowners willing to lease their property to them.
And it's also why local activists who want the community to benefit from wind energy are trying to develop projects of their own.
Either way, the Hilltowns will never be the same.
Some residents worry over what widespread wind development might mean for these historic and predominantly agricultural communities, known for their beautiful vistas.
This fall, Shell has been quietly trying to sign up landowners for a 50-turbine wind project it envisions for two sites here.
But town officials and locals have accused the company of misleading residents about the inevitability of the project in an attempt to get them to agree to contracts, accusations Shell has refused to address.
"It's like the gold rush with no boundaries," said Berne Town Supervisor Kevin Crosier, who wants the state Attorney General's office to investigate.
There are huge economic incentives for wind developers like Shell. There is a 2 cent per kilowatt hour production tax credit offered by the federal government, and the state also offers huge cash subsidies to wind farms under its Renewable Portfolio Standard designed to reach its renewable energy goals.
Wind development appears to be a balancing act for the Hilltowns, with Berne and Knox in the early stages of passing laws that would govern industrial-scale wind.
"We're being very open-minded," said Knox Town Supervisor Mike Hammond.
Several town board members in Berne told the Times Union they believe a wind law will get passed within two to four months that will allow commercial wind projects, with constraints on where it can be located.
In Rensselaerville, the town's comprehensive land-use plan passed last year only allows commercial wind projects if they provide "significant" financial benefits to the town.
It's in Knox where wind development appears to be at its most advanced stage.
In 2005, a local group called Helderberg Community Wind got state funding for a $225,000 project to research possible wind farm sites throughout the Hilltowns.
Nine sites were studied, and a location off Middle Road in Knox was selected for a meteorological tower to do further testing.
That area doesn't have the most wind in the Helderbergs, but the site was chosen because that was what residents were most comfortable with during public forums, said Kathleen Moore, a meteorologist who was the group's lead researcher.
"It's really public acceptance that was the guiding factor," said Moore. "We have a pretty congested land use pattern that makes a project of any size a challenge. We spent a lot of time just educating people about wind power."
The met tower, as it is called, has been up for two years now on land owned by Knox Town Assessor Russell Pokorny, who has his own small-scale wind mill that powers his home.
Back in September, Pokorny and others involved with the wind study created a new corporation called Helderberg Community Energy LLC that is seeking funding for a small wind farm, likely about three 1.5 megawatt turbines. The project could provide enough power for the entire town.
They are targeting a site on a nearby farm just east of the met tower that is out of the way and set back from the road. The project would cost an estimated $11 million, and the group has already started seeking funding and would likely operate as a non-profit.
"We believe in the local economy, and we believe in the energy crisis," Pokorny said. "We think this can work."
Another benefit besides clean energy, construction jobs and money for local landowners would be lower taxes, Pokorny said.
He estimates that the project could cut the average town school tax bill by $500 a year. The average homeowner in Knox probably pays $3,000 in town taxes annually, he said.
"People don't mind if something is going to benefit them," he said.
Some of the landowners who have been approached by Shell don't believe that the Dutch company has been as accommodating.
Rensselaerville resident Peter Boudreaux, who owns nine acres, says he was given a term sheet for an option to lease his land by Shell that be believes isn't fair.
Shell is offering a one-time fee of $30 an acre on a seven-year option to lease the land for up to 60 years. There is also a $5,000 signing bonus for people with 20 or more acres who sign by Nov. 1, Boudreaux said, as well as up to $2,000 for legal fees.
The lease itself, if executed, would pay the landowners 4 percent of revenues from the turbines on their property. At a minimum, they would be paid $6,000 a year per machine built on their land.
"I'm not against wind energy, I think it's the wave of the future," said Boudreaux. "But (the contract) is really just signing your life away, and you don't get anything in return. I would like to see us be a pioneer with this, but not with Shell."
Tim O'Leary, a spokesman for Shell WindEnergy in Houston, has repeatedly declined to comment on the contract or about the company's specific plans for the region, despite the accusations. He did say on Thursday that the company continues to have "conversations" with landowners despite the criticisms.
That is why Delmar attorney and New Scotland resident Cynthia LaFave wants to organize people who have been contacted by Shell to try and negotiate a better deal with the company. LaFave herself was also approached.
"Up here on the hill, our property means a lot to us," LaFave said. "We're not fighting Shell, and we don't want to fight Shell. It's just got to be a deal that's better for the landowners."
LaFave also believes that better deals and more competition for wind projects could come their way.
"I know that there are other companies that are interested in pursuing this," she said, without giving details.
So what will the Hilltowns look like a decade from now? And what would those who settled these towns think?
Berne Town Historian Ralph Miller says town ancestors settled in the Hilltowns to harness water power for grain and saw mills. Those who left for the western United States built wind mills for irrigation and cattle, and those who stayed continued to use hydro power.
"I believe that few would object if we could reasonably produce electricity in those same places," Miller said. "Berne is beautiful and will still be so after the wind mills are constructed."
Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.
To see more of the Albany Times Union, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesunion.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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