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1 1 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 2 SITE EVALUATION COMMITTEE 3 February 19, 2013 - 10:09 a.m. N.H. Public Utilities Commission 4 20 South Fruit Street Suite 110 Concord, New Hampshire 5 6 In re: SEC DOCKET NO. 2012-04 TIMBERTOP WIND I, LLC: 7 Petition for Jurisdiction over a Renewable Energy 8 Facility Proposed by Timbertop Wind I, LLC, to 9 be Located in Temple and New Ipswich, New Hampshire. 10 (Public meeting) 11 PRESENT: SITE EVALUATION COMMITTEE: 12 Cmsr. Thomas S. Burack N.H. Dept. of Environmental (Presiding as Chairman of SEC) Services 13 Chrmn. Amy L. Ignatius N.H. Public Utilities Comm. 14 (Vice Chairman of SEC) 15 Acting Cmsr. Philip Bryce DRED & Div. of Parks & Rec. Dir. Harry Stewart DES - Water Division 16 Acting Director Craig Wright DES - Air Resources Division Cmsr. Robert R. Scott N.H. Public Utilities Comm. 17 Cmsr. Michael D. Harrington N.H. Public Utilities Comm. Director Elizabeth Muzzey DHR - Div. of Cultural Res. 18 Director Glenn Normandeau N.H. Fish & Game Dept. Interim Dir. Brad Simpkins DRED - Div. of Forests/Lands 19 Dir. Meredith Hatfield Office of Energy & Planning Brook Dupee, Designee Dept. of Health & Human Serv. 20 Randall Knepper, Dir./Safety N.H. Public Utilities Comm. (Designated as PUC Engineer ) 21 Counsel for the Committee: Michael J. Iacopino, Esq. 22 23 COURT REPORTERS: Steven E. Patnaude, LCR No. 52 (A.M. Only) Susan J. Robidas, LCR No. 44 (P.M. Only) 24 2 1 2 APPEARANCES: 3 Counsel for the Applicant: Thomas B. Getz, Esq. (Devine Millimet & Branch) 4 Counsel for the Public: Peter Roth, Esq. 5 Senior Asst. Atty General Department of Justice 6 Counsel for the Towns of New Ipswich & Temple, N.H.: Justin C. Richardson, Esq. 7 (Upton & Hatfield) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 3 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE NO. 3 PRESENTATION BY: 4 Mr. Getz 17, 49, 53 Mr. Richardson 27, 52 5 Mr. Roth 40, 53 6 QUESTIONS BY: 7 Dir. Stewart 74, 84 Dir. Normandeau 87 8 Cmsr. Scott 88 Cmsr. Harrington 92 9 Mr. Iacopino 100 10 STATEMENTS REGARDING RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS BY: 11 Mr. Richardson 111 12 Mr. Roth 111 Mr. Getz 112 13 OTHER STATEMENTS REGARDING THE NEXT 14 PHASE, SCOPE, ETC. OF THE PROCEEDINGS BY: 15 Vice Chairman Ignatius 114 Mr. Iacopino 115 16 Cmsr. Harrington 115 Dir. Hatfield 116 17 Dir. Muzzey 117 Mr. Getz 117, 121 18 Mr. Roth 118 Mr. Richardson 120, 125 19 20 21 22 23 24 {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G 2 CHAIRMAN BURACK: Good morning, ladies 3 and gentlemen. My name is Tom Burack. I serve as 4 Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services, 5 and I also serve as Chair of the New Hampshire Site 6 Evaluation Committee. I will be the Presiding Officer in 7 the matter scheduled before the Committee today. We are 8 here today for a public meeting of the New Hampshire Site 9 Evaluation Committee. The Site Evaluation Committee is 10 established by RSA 162-H. The membership of this 11 Committee includes the commissioners or directors of a 12 number of State agencies, as well as specified key 13 personnel from various State agencies. 14 At this point, I would like to ask the 15 members of the Committee who are present at this meeting 16 to introduce themselves. And, following the 17 introductions, I will ask Amy Ignatius, Chairman of the 18 New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, to conduct a 19 brief process by which the PUC Commissioners will 20 designate a PUC engineer to participate in this 21 proceeding. 22 But, first, let us turn to the 23 introductions, starting to my far right. 24 DIR. STEWART: Harry Stewart, Water {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 5 1 Division Director, Department of Environmental Services. 2 DIR. WRIGHT: Craig Wright, Acting 3 Director for the Air Resources Division, Department of 4 Environmental Services. 5 DIR. MUZZEY: Elizabeth Muzzey, Director 6 of the Division of Historical Resources in the Department 7 of Cultural Resources. 8 DIR. NORMANDEAU: Glenn Normandeau, 9 Director of Fish & Game. 10 CMSR. BRYCE: Phil Bryce, Director of 11 Parks and acting Commissioner of the Department of 12 Resource and Economic Development. 13 CMSR. SCOTT: Bob Scott, Commissioner 14 with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. 15 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Amy Ignatius, 16 Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission. 17 CMSR. HARRINGTON: Mike Harrington, 18 Commissioner with the Public Utilities Commission. 19 DIR. SIMPKINS: Brad Simpkins, 20 Department of Resources and Economic Development. 21 MR. KNEPPER: Randy Knepper, Safety 22 Director for the New Hampshire Public Utilities 23 Commission. 24 MR. DUPEE: Brook Dupee. I represent {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 6 1 the Department of Health and Human Services. 2 DIR. HATFIELD: Meredith Hatfield, 3 Director of the Office of Energy and Planning. 4 CHAIRMAN BURACK: Thank you all very 5 much. To my immediate right is Michael Iacopino, who 6 serves as legal counsel to the Committee for purposes of 7 this proceeding. And, now, I'm going to turn things to 8 Chairman Ignatius. 9 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Thank you very 10 much. There is a requirement under the statute that, when 11 the full Site Evaluation Committee is sitting on a 12 proceeding, that there be a Staff engineer designated by 13 the Commissioners of the Public Utilities Commission to 14 participate in that proceeding. And, so, this is a matter 15 just for the three PUC Commissioners here. I would move 16 that we designate Randall Knepper, who is the Director of 17 our Safety Division and is an engineer, to serve as the 18 engineer on this docket. 19 CMSR. HARRINGTON: I'll second the 20 motion. 21 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: All right. All 22 in favor? 23 (PUC Commissioners indicating "aye".) 24 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Any opposed? {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 7 1 (No verbal response) 2 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: All right. 3 Thank you very much. 4 CHAIRMAN BURACK: Thank you. Thank you, 5 Chairman Ignatius. I note that we have the necessary 6 quorum of the Committee to conduct our business here 7 today. 8 The agenda for today's public meeting 9 includes two matters. In Docket Number 2012-04, we will 10 consider the Petition of Timbertop Wind I, LLC, to 11 exercise the Committee's jurisdiction over the 12 construction and operation of a wind energy facility 13 consisting of five Siemens SWT turbines, each having a 14 nameplate capacity of 3 megawatts, for a total nameplate 15 capacity of 15 megawatts. 16 In Docket Number 2010-01, we will 17 consider issues raised by the Town of Rumney and James 18 Buttolph, an intervenor, raising concerns associated with 19 the construction of the Facility under a Certificate for 20 Site and Facility with Conditions granted to Groton Wind, 21 LLC, on May 6, 2011. 22 We will begin with Docket 2012-04, the 23 Timbertop Wind matter. And, I would note that in an 24 e-mail distributed this past Friday by Attorney Iacopino {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 8 1 at my request, we notified the parties that we do not 2 expect to reach the second matter until 11:00 a.m. or 3 later. I will open the Timbertop matter with a brief 4 summary here in just a moment. Before doing so, I just 5 want to ask and remind folks if they would please either 6 turn off or mute their cellphones, put them on vibrate, 7 whatever you need to do, so that we don't have 8 interruptions of the proceeding. Thank you. 9 Turning now to introduce the Timbertop 10 Wind matter. On December 21, 2011, Timbertop Wind I, LLC, 11 filed a Petition for Jurisdiction requesting the Committee 12 to assert its jurisdiction over the siting, construction, 13 and operation of a wind energy facility it plans to 14 construct and operate on Kidder Mountain, in the Towns of 15 Temple and New Ipswich, Hillsborough County, New 16 Hampshire. The facility, as currently configured, will 17 consist of five Siemens SWT wind turbines, with two of 18 them being constructed and operated in New Ipswich and 19 three of them being constructed and operated in Temple. 20 Each term will have a nameplate capacity of 3 megawatts, 21 for a total nameplate capacity at the facility of 22 15 megawatts. 23 The Petitioner proposes to interconnect 24 the Facility to the Public Service Company of New {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting] {02-19-13} 9 1 Hampshire distribution circuit number 3235. Ultimately, 2 the Petition asserts that the Facility will have a 3 nameplate capacity of more than 5 megawatts, but less than 4 30 megawatts, and request that the Committee exercise 5 jurisdiction over the siting, construction, and operation 6 of this Facility pursuant to RSA 162-H:2, Section XII. 7 Pursuant to RSA 162-H:2, Section XIII, a 8 wind energy facility is considered to be a "Renewable 9 Energy Facility". A Renewable Energy Facility that has a 10 rated nameplate capacity of at least 30 megawatts is 11 automatically subject to the provisions of RSA 162-H and 12 the jurisdiction of the Committee. RSA 162-H:2, Section 13 XII, also provides that a Renewable Energy Facility with a 14 nameplate capacity of less than 30 megawatts, but greater 15 than 5 megawatts, may be subject to the Committee's 16 jurisdiction either through a petition process or on the 17 Committee's own motion.
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