Public Meeting & Deliberations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 1 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 2 SITE EVALUATION COMMITTEE 3 June 3, 2013 - 10:33 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 & Deliberations) 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 14 (Vice Chairman of SEC) Commission 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 Glenn Normandeau N.H. Fish & Game Dept. 18 Dir. Meredith Hatfield Office of Energy & Planning Kathryn Bailey, Dir./Telecom N.H. Public Utilities Comm. 19 (Designated as PUC Engineer ) 20 21 Counsel for the Committee: Michael J. Iacopino, Esq. 22 23 COURT REPORTER: Steven E. Patnaude, LCR No. 52 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 & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 3 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE NO. 3 Motion by Vice Chairman Ignatius 7 to designate Kathryn Bailey as the 4 PUC Engineer for this proceeding Second by Cmsr. Harrington 7 5 VOTE TAKEN ON THE MOTION 7 6 7 PUBLIC STATEMENTS BY: 8 Mr. O'Brien 14 Mr. Call 15 9 Mr. Dekker 18 Mr. Kieley 19 10 Mr. Repak 20 Mr. Stolz 21 11 Mr. Pradler 22 12 STATEMENTS BY: 13 Mr. Getz 23, 49 Mr. Roth 33 14 Mr. Richardson 37 15 16 QUESTIONS TO COUNSEL BY: 17 Cmsr. Scott 52, 133, 163 Cmsr. Harrington 59, 126 18 Dir. Hatfield 74 Dir. Bryce 84, 164 19 Dir. Wright 88 Vice Chrmn. Ignatius 90, 116, 160 20 Ms. Bailey 113, 117, 119 Mr. Iacopino 119, 138 21 Dir. Stewart 166 22 23 24 {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 4 1 I N D E X (continued) 2 PAGE NO. 3 DELIBERATIONS - STATEMENTS BY: 4 Chairman Burack 171, 172, 174, 176, 177, 186, 191, 193, 194, 195, 199, 200, 202, 205 5 Dir. Stewart 172 Dir. Hatfield 173, 175, 197, 204 6 Dir. Normandeau 173, 185, 205 Dir. Bryce 175, 194 7 Vice Chairman Ignatius 176, 177, 179, 192 Cmsr. Harrington 177, 183, 195, 198, 201, 204 8 Cmsr. Scott 182, 190, 191 Ms. Bailey 186 9 10 MOTION BY DIR. NORMANDEAU to deny 206 the Petition to Take Jurisdiction 11 Second by Cmsr. Scott 206 12 DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION BY: 13 Dir. Normandeau 207 Dir. Stewart 207 14 Ms. Bailey 208 Cmsr. Scott 209 15 Vice Chairman Ignatius 209 Cmsr. Harrington 209 16 Dir. Hatfield 210 Dir. Wright 210 17 Dir. Bryce 210 Chairman Burack 210 18 19 VOTE TAKE N ON THE MOTION 211 20 21 22 23 24 {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 5 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 the 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 pursuant to 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 And, at this point, I would like to ask 15 the members of the Committee who are present at this 16 meeting to introduce themselves, starting to my far left. 17 DIR. NORMANDEAU: Glenn Normandeau, 18 Director of New Hampshire Fish & Game. 19 CHAIRMAN BURACK: My far right, I'm 20 sorry. 21 DIR. NORMANDEAU: Your other left. 22 CHAIRMAN BURACK: Yes. My other left. 23 Thank you. 24 DIR. STEWART: Harry Stewart, Director {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 6 1 of the Water Division, Department of Environmental 2 Services. 3 MS. BAILEY: Kate Bailey, designated 4 engineer for the Public Utilities Commission. 5 CMSR. SCOTT: Bob Scott, Public 6 Utilities Commission. 7 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Amy Ignatius, 8 Chairman of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. 9 CMSR. HARRINGTON: Mike Harrington, PUC. 10 DIR. HATFIELD: Meredith Hatfield, 11 Director of the Office of Energy & Planning. 12 DIR. WRIGHT: Craig Wright, acting 13 Director for the Air Resources Division, Department of 14 Environmental Services. 15 CHAIRMAN BURACK: I will note that we do 16 have the necessary quorum to conduct our business. It is 17 also possible that one additional member may be joining us 18 in a short while. 19 But, at this point, I'd like to turn 20 things -- well, I'd first like to introduce Michael 21 Iacopino, who serves as legal counsel to the Committee in 22 this proceeding. 23 MR. IACOPINO: Good morning. 24 CHAIRMAN BURACK: And, now, I'd like to {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 7 1 turn things to Chairman Ignatius of the Public Utilities 2 Commission to formally designate the engineer from the PUC 3 for this proceeding. 4 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Thank you, 5 Chairman Burack. There is one piece of business just for 6 the PUC members alone. By statute, we are required, when 7 the full Site Evaluation Committee meets, to have a 8 engineer designated from the PUC to serve with us. And, 9 so, I would move that we designate Kathryn Bailey, who is 10 the Director of our Telecom Division and an engineer, to 11 participate in this proceeding. 12 CMSR. HARRINGTON: I'll second the 13 motion. 14 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: All right. 15 And, so, a vote just among the three PUC Commissioners. 16 All in favor, please signify by saying "aye"? 17 (Multiple PUC Commissioners indicating 18 "aye".) 19 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: Opposed? 20 (No verbal response) 21 VICE CHAIRMAN IGNATIUS: All right. 22 Then, we have a designee, Kathryn Bailey. Thank you very 23 much. 24 CHAIRMAN BURACK: Thank you, {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 8 1 Commissioner Ignatius. The agenda for today's public 2 meeting includes one matter. In Docket Number 2012-04, we 3 will consider the Petition for Jurisdiction filed by 4 Timbertop Wind I, LLC. And, I'll provide some background 5 here. 6 On December 21, 2012, Timbertop I Wind 7 -- Timbertop Wind I, LLC, filed a Petition for 8 Jurisdiction requesting the Committee to assert its 9 jurisdiction over the siting, construction, and operation 10 of a wind energy facility it plans to construct and 11 operate on Kidder Mountain, in the towns of Temple and New 12 Ipswich, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. The 13 facility, as currently configured, will consist of five 14 Siemens SWT wind turbines, with two of them being 15 constructed and operated in New Ipswich and three of them 16 being constructed and operated in Temple. Each turbine 17 will have a nameplate capacity of 3 megawatts, for a total 18 nameplate capacity of the facility of 15 megawatts. The 19 Petitioner proposes to interconnect the facility to the 20 Public Service Company of New Hampshire Distribution 21 Circuit Number 3235. Ultimately, the Petition asserts 22 that the facility will have a nameplate capacity of more 23 than 5 megawatts, but less than 30 megawatts, and requests 24 that the Committee exercise jurisdiction over the siting, {SEC 2012-04} [Public Meeting & Deliberations] {06-03-13} 9 1 construction, and operation of this facility pursuant to 2 RSA 162-H, Section 2, XII. 3 Pursuant to RSA 162-H:2, XIII, a wind 4 energy facility is considered to be a "renewable energy 5 facility". A renewable energy facility that has a rated 6 nameplate capacity of at least 30 megawatts is 7 automatically subject to the provisions of RSA 162-H and 8 the jurisdiction of the Committee. RSA 162-H, Section 2, 9 XII, also provides that a renewable energy facility with a 10 nameplate capacity of less than 30 megawatts, but greater 11 than 5 megawatts, may be subject to the Committee's 12 jurisdiction either through a petition process or on the 13 Committee's own motion. In this docket, the Petitioner 14 filed a Petition requesting the Committee vote to exercise 15 jurisdiction over the facility. 16 On February 19, 2013, a public hearing 17 was held regarding the Petition. At the hearing, the 18 motion by the Towns to intervene was granted. The Towns' 19 motion to dismiss the Petition was orally denied. The 20 parties were directed to meet with counsel to develop a 21 proposed procedural schedule. On April 19, 2013, a motion 22 to dismiss the Petition filed by the Towns was denied in 23 writing.