Wind developer pulls up stakes, state issues new regs

The Searsburg wind turbine towers are 130 feet tall and feature 65- foot long blades

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian
photo courtesy of the Endless Energy Corporation

Posted June 9, 2006

WATERBURY — A new layer of state bureaucracy is prompting one windfarm developer to postpone indefinitely plans to build up to 27 turbines on Glebe Mountain in southern Vermont.

Rob Charlesbois, managing director of Catamount Energy, told the Vermont Guardian in a June 6 e-mail that the company will shelve its main Vermont project, which was expected to save utility ratepayers as much as $700,000 a year, as it focuses on projects in other states.

Catamount’s decision comes as the Douglas administration has issued a third layer of scrutiny of wind projects in two years.

Charlesbois has been critical of the Douglas administration’s opposition to commercial wind projects.

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