Published: May 08, 2009 02:15 pm      

Data on Gamesa blow ill wind on Shaffer Mountain

Dan Noble suggests that the Shaffer Mountain wind project represents a model of environmental concern (“Wind farms are subjected to strict development guidelines,” The Tribune-Democrat, April 22).

Gamesa’s industrial wind turbine installation proposal must meet the minimum guidelines that apply to any large-scale construction project, no more and no less. Meeting those legal requirements is portrayed as if Gamesa were a paragon of environmental consciousness. That is analogous to a man claiming to be a model husband because he hasn’t yet beaten his wife badly enough to be arrested.

In fact, the application was rejected twice and is now being allowed a third submission to try to address the Department of Environmental Protection’s persistent objections.

An eight-page Deficiency Letter from DEP on March 17 cites unacceptable plans for restoration of disrupted streams, an undisclosed timber disturbance, improper labeling and scaling of the construction site drawing, inadequate documentation of approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, etc.

Gamesa hasn’t satisfactorily met its legal obligation to consult with the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory. This is especially egregious because of the presence of state and federally endangered Indiana bats at the site.

Unaddressed discrepancies exist between Gamesa’s paid, single-season survey of migratory golden eagles and data gathered independently over several years at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch.

Gamesa has chosen to minimize or ignore threats to bats, eagles and other migratory birds throughout the permitting process, collecting meager amounts of data only after the insistence of permitting agencies.

Despite Noble’s implication of collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Game Commission, Gamesa has not committed to meeting criteria suggested by USFW and has signed only nonbinding agreements with the game commission.

Failure to meet state or federal criteria carries no penalty.

Gamesa might have the “highest regard for natural resources,” as Noble stated, but its officials have done nothing beyond the absolute letter of the law to protect them. As evidenced by their failed applications, they have yet to do even that.

Stating that landowners have agreed to “host” the turbines implies that the people living on Shaffer Mountain approve of the project. However, the major “host” is the Berwind Corp., a corporate absentee landowner, not a local inhabitant.

The people living there have consistently shown great hostility toward this project, as evidenced by the number of protest signs lining area roads.

Nearly all the citizens who live nearby hunt and enjoy Shaffer Mountain, and oppose the inevitable environmental destruction.

Damage caused by turbine and road construction, movement of construction equipment and maintenance vehicles, cleared and fenced off areas, soil compaction and erosion, invasion of exotic plant and animal life, and disruption of exceptional-value streams are just some of the obvious threats to the area’s natural beauty.

Our Allegheny Plateau has been economically exploited and despoiled repeatedly in the past. Logging and mining have left scars that are just now fading after decades of slow healing and laborious restoration.

The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, section 27, guarantees the right to “pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.”

It further states “(a)s trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all people.”

This is a clear and explicit statement of our rights as citizens, the protection of which is the responsibility of state government.

We are acutely aware that state agencies have neglected their constitutional responsibility to our region in the past, while allowing economic and political interests to run roughshod over us.

We now reassert our right to protection of our natural heritage. Gamesa’s actions have repeatedly shown that its leaders are insincere and their claims of concern are a transparent tissue of half-truths and misrepresentations.

It’s time for DEP to quit coaching them on how to patch-up flawed permit applications, deny the permits for the Shaffer Mountain project, and begin preserving our natural heritage as the constitution requires.



Dennis M. NcNair of Westmont has a doctorate in biology, has taught ecology at Pitt- Johnstown and has done ecological research in our region for 29 years. He is also a founding member and current president of the Allegheny Plateau Chapter of the National Audubon Society.