Westfield Town Board Issues Positive Declaration; Schedules Scoping Meeting
By SARA HERRMANN
POSTED: July 17, 2008
At its meeting last Wednesday, the Westfield Town Board took the next step in the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process for the Ripley-Westfield Wind Farm Project proposed by Babcock & Brown. After reviewing Part One of the Environmental Assessment Form (EAF), which was submitted by Babcock & Brown, and completing Parts Two and Three of the EAF as required by law, the Town Board issued a Positive Declaration and scheduled a scoping hearing.
The Positive Declaration is a determination by the board, as co-lead agency with the Town Board of the Town of Ripley, that the proposed wind farm project may have a significant adverse environmental impact. Babcock & Brown will be required to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) which will examine the environmental setting of the project site, analyze the impact the project will likely have on the existing environment, propose any suitable mitigation measures and discuss alternatives to the project that have been considered.
The proposed wind farm includes the installation and operation of an approximately 125 megawatt wind energy facility consisting of up to 83 wind turbines, an electrical substation and an interconnection to an existing 230 kV transmission line within the Towns of Ripley and Westfield.
In issuing the Positive Declaration, the Town Board identified several potential environmental impacts the proposed project may have, including impacts on land from erosion and sedimentation; resident and migratory wildlife; character or quality of important historical or aesthetic resources and of the existing community; loss of agricultural land; and noise levels. The board also identified as possible impacts those related to construction traffic on roadways; possible tower or turbine blade failure and ice shedding; impacts to state and/or federal wetlands; impacts to the Ripley watershed; impacts to television and other forms of wireless communications; and loss or conversion of forest land.
The board will hold a public scoping meeting on Tuesday, July 29th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Westfield Academy and Central School auditorium. According to Supervisor Martha Bills, the Town of Ripley will also hold a public scoping meeting on July 29th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Meeder’s Restaurant in Ripley.
The purpose of scoping is to focus the DEIS on potentially significant adverse impacts and to eliminate the consideration of those impacts that are irrelevant. Babcock & Brown is expected to submit to the town a Draft Scoping Document this week. The Draft Scoping Document will identify those issues that the project sponsor has determined will require further study and analysis. At the scoping meeting, the public and representatives of involved and interested agencies will have an opportunity to comment on the Draft Scoping Document and to identify other impacts that they feel should be included in the DEIS. According to Bills, copies of the Draft Scoping Document will be available for review at the Town Hall and at The Patterson Library as well as on the Town’s website.
After the scoping meeting, the Town Boards of Ripley and Westfield, as co-lead agencies, will prepare a Final Scoping Document based on both the Draft Scoping Document and comments received at the public scoping meeting and any written comments received during the comment period, which will extend through Friday, August 8th.
The Final Scoping Document will serve as the basis for the DEIS and will identify the environmental impacts to the studied as well as the extent and quality of studies, reports and analysis required.
According to the initial application, Babcock & Brown expects to have a DEIS submitted in January 2009.
