Lenox windmill project draws fire

By Claire CoxPrint Story | Email Story
Elena Powell makes an emphatic point during a recent meeting at Town Hall, while her husband, Edwin, listens. (Photo By Claire Cox)
LENOX — Whether the town will have a windmill atop one of its peaks has become the object of both a careful feasibility study and vehement opposition. At the center of a discussion among residents of Lenox and neighboring Richmond is the proposal to erect a 140-foot, 1.5-megawatt wind turbine on a site 1,800 feet high near Reservoir Road to generate enough electricity to power an estimated 250 homes. Members of the Lenox Wind Tower Committee, made up of three Lenox residents and three from neighboring Richmond, unanimously supported trying to go ahead with the project after a 90-minute meeting at the Town Hall on Sept. 9. They selected one of two potential sites on a mountain overlooking the town of Richmond, which Lenox officials hope will collaborate in the project. Opposition to having any turbine in Lenox was expressed by a Richmond couple, who did not want it looming over their backyard, and by Rene Laubach, director of the Pleasant Valley Sanctuary in Lenox, who expressed concern about possible disruption of bird migration. Elena and Edwin Powell, who have lived in Richmond for 36 years, were adamant in their opposition to the project and to wind towers in general. Following the meeting, they said they did not want to have to see the proposed tower through their bedroom window and felt it would be too noisy and have an adverse effect on tourism. The couple went home to start organizing a campaign to halt the project and planned to send letters to Richmond residents to “educate them” about wind towers and their drawbacks. “There is nothing wrong with wind power — but not on the small hills of the Berkshires,” Edwin Powell said. “It’s fine in places where there are steady winds and it’s isolated from populations, but not when it’s going to be right here on the forefront, on our valuable ridges here in the Berkshires, which are the gilded goose on which Berkshire County now exists.” At the end of the meeting, the committee decided to continue working, with the support of the Lenox Selectmen, to take the next step toward erecting a tower. That step calls for seeking an answer to a crucial question: Will the slope be too steep for transporting three 2-ton rotor blades to the mountaintop? The answer could determine whether the project can go forward. A favorable answer would result in erection of a temporary “MET,” a tower designed to test wind speed and frequency for a year. Erecting the actual tower would call for clearing an area the size of a football field to make room for guy wires to hold the tower in place. Trees would be trimmed to provide a path for the wind. If a wind turbine followed, it would need a much smaller space. The discussion was led by Town Manager Gregory Federspiel and Kristin Burke of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in Westboro. Burke reviewed a 10-page study on “Siting considerations for a MET wind resource monitoring tower and for a Wind Turbine.” The study was prepared by Sally D. Wright of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The study was conducted with the authorization of the Selectmen, who voted to support the project as an economically and ecologically sound way to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Members of the Windpower Committee, who responded favorably to the study, are Jamie Cuhillane, chairman of the Lenox Environmental Committee, committee members Rick Gregg and Andrew Bloom, and Woody Printz, Roy C. Jones and Stephen Corydon of Richmond. Also at the meeting was Nancy Nylen, associate director of the Center for Ecological Technology in Pittsfield, which has supported the windtower proposal. During the Town Hall meeting, Laubach presented a MassAudubon position statement strongly supporting “public policies and private projects that advance energy conservation and efficiency” and the development of wind farms as a renewable energy source to replace burning fossil fuels. Speaking for himself, however, Laubach questioned the wisdom of having wind-tower blades endangering birds. He said he was concerned about adverse effects of the proposed tower on the wildlife protected in the Pleasant Valley Sanctuary, which is affiliated with MassAudubon. Edwin Powell described the sanctuary as “the apple of the Audubon Society’s eye in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Nylen commended the town for taking a leadership role in examining ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways that benefit the environment and economy of the community and region. “I am impressed by the thoughtful approach that the town is taking in carefully studying the feasibility of generating electricity from wind power,” she said after the meeting. She recommended that the town hold a public forum at which citizens can ask questions and obtain information to make sound decisions about wind energy. Eleanor Tillinghast, co-founder of Green Berkshires Inc. in Great Barrington, which is dedicated to preserving farms, mountains and open spaces in the Northeast, said in an interview that the organization is opposed to all windmills. “We believe there are better ways that are more cost-effective and efficient to ameliorate global warming, to reduce pollution and to cut back on demand for fossil fuels,” she said.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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