ALBANY — The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) today announced it would hold public statement hearings in the Town of Lowville, to receive comments on Number Three Wind LLC’s proposal to construct a wind energy project in the Towns of Lowville and Harrisburg, Lewis County.  

The project would consist of up to 43 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 105.8 megawatts, access roads, an electrical collection system, meteorological towers, an operation and maintenance building, and electrical interconnection facilities. The electrical interconnection facilities would include a project substation, a 115-kilovolt switchyard, and an overhead 115-kilovolt interconnection line approximately 4 miles in length that connects the substation to the switchyard and then to National Grid’s Lowville-Bremen transmission line.

On September 28, 2018, the Chair of the Siting Board advised Number Three Wind that the application, as supplemented by filings of May 17, 2018, and August 9, 2018, complied with Public Service Law §164 and set a date for commencement of a public hearing on the project.

Opportunities for public information and comment will be held, as follows:

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Lowville Town Hall
5533 Bostwick Street
Lowville, New York 13367

2 P.M. and 6 P.M. – Information Forums
3 P.M. and 7 P.M. – Public Statement Hearings

At the information forums, the examiners, Administrative Law Judges Maureen F. Leary and Michelle L. Phillips of the Department of Public Service and Molly McBride of the Department of Environmental Conservation, will provide an overview of the certification process before the Siting Board. Next, Number Three Wind will provide a brief description of the proposed project and will have maps of the proposed project area available for viewing. Then, members of the public will have an opportunity to pose questions about the process and the proposed project. Each information forum will last no more than 55 minutes, as this will allow for a short break between the forum and the public statement hearing that follows it.

At the public statement hearings, those wishing to comment on Number Three Wind’s proposal will have an opportunity to make a statement on the record. It is not necessary to make an appointment in advance to speak at the hearing. Persons wishing to comment will be asked to complete a card requesting time to speak when they arrive at the hearing and will be called in the order in which the cards are received. Speakers are not required to provide written copies of their comments. Each public statement hearing will be held open for a minimum of one hour and will be kept open until everyone wishing to speak has been heard or other reasonable arrangements have been made. A verbatim transcript of the hearings will be made for inclusion in the record. Reasonable time limits may be set for each speaker as necessary to afford all attendees an opportunity to be heard. Lengthy comments should be summarized for oral presentation and submitted electronically.

Persons with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations should contact the Department of Public Service’s Human Resources Management Office at (518) 474-2520 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call the Department at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.

Other Ways to Comment

For those who cannot attend or prefer not to speak at a public statement hearing, there are several other ways to comment about this case to the Siting Board. Comments should refer to “Case 16-F-0328 – Number Three Wind.” Comments will be accepted throughout the pendency of this proceeding, but they are requested by December 21, 2018.

Via the Internet: Comments may be entered directly into the case file from the Department of Public Service website, www.dps.ny.gov, by clicking on “Search” at the top of the page and then entering “16-F-0328” into the “Search by Case Number” field. In the open case, access the screen to enter comments by clicking on the “Post Comments” box at the top right of the page.

Email or Mail: Comments may be submitted via email to Hon. Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, at secretary@dps.ny.gov, or by mail or delivery to Secretary Burgess at the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350.

Toll-Free Opinion Line: Comments may be submitted by calling the Department of Public Service's Opinion Line at 1- 800-335-2120. This number is set up to take comments about pending cases from in-State callers, 24-hours a day. Telephonic comments are not transcribed verbatim, but a summary is provided to the presiding examiners who will report to the Siting Board.

All written comments will become part of the record considered by the Siting Board and may be accessed on the Department of Public Service website by searching the case number, as described above, and clicking on the “Public Comments” tab.

Documents filed in this case, including the application and supplements thereto, may be accessed by going to the Department of Public Service website, www.dps.ny.gov, and then either (1) clicking on “Search” at the top of the page and then entering “16-F-0328” into the “Search by Case Number” field, or (2) clicking on “Number Three Wind” under the heading “Generation Siting.” The application and application supplements are also available for review at the Lowville Town Hall (5533 Bostwick Street, Lowville, NY 13367); the Lowville Free Library (5387 Dayan Street, Lowville, NY 13367); the Harrisburg Municipal Offices (7886 Cobb Road, Copenhagen, NY 13626); and the Invenergy Local Office (7568 South State Street, Lowville, NY 13367).