Lawmakers OK Wind Power Rules

HARTFORD (AP) — The Connecticut House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday requiring the first regulations governing state review of wind power projects.

Lawmakers voted 132-6 to back the bill calling on the Connecticut Siting Council to adopt regulations on setbacks, a wind power project’s impact on natural resources, and other factors.

Representative Vickie Nardello, the House chairwoman of the Energy and Technology Committee, said she hopes regulations would be drafted within a year. She has said legislation gives the state time to draft standards on factors such as noise, blade shear, property setbacks, and impact on natural resources.

Nardello, a Democrat, said there are no specifications in law or regulations addressing the siting of wind turbines.

But Barbara Currier Bell, a member of the Connecticut Siting Council, told the energy committee at a hearing in February that the agency’s regulations for wind turbines and other projects are “extensive and detailed.”

Connecticut set goals in 2000 to increase renewable energy in its portfolio of power sources.  Connecticut has no operating wind power turbines. Advocates for wind power say there’s potential in Connecticut despite the lack of high elevations, vast flatlands or “wind corridors” from open oceans that whip up powerful gusts.

Earlier this month, the Siting Council rejected the first proposal in the state, a turbine in Prospect that drew opposition from some residents. The council cited the project’s visual impact.

Residents who organized against the project said the proposed wind turbines were too close to homes and said legislation is needed.