Today the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted 5 - 0 to approve construction of a 225-kilowatt wind energy system on the McEvoy Olive Ranch in West Marin. The favorable decision comes nearly a year after the county's planning commissioners voted 6 - 1 to deny the project its permit.
The board made the right decision in approving this project. Just as it may have been a good choice to reject it last year. During the intervening months between hearings, the community and local government debated the merits of wind energy and this project in particular -- and it was a dialogue that heavily informed the McEvoy's ultimate approach to, and design of, the project.
Many wind projects get shelved as a result of strong community opposition -- usually based on objections to noise levels, impacts to viewshed, and concerns about destroying sensitive habitat and species. The McEvoy wind project suffered from all of these issues and more. My favorite argument proffered at last year's hearing was that people driving down the road would be so startled upon seeing the turbine that they might drive clear off the road! And of course, consider that nearly 85% of Marin is protected as park or agricultural lands. Breaking a ridgeline is tantamount to murder in Marin -- unacceptable even if its for something as noble as fighting climate change.
But to be fair, the project as proposed back then was far from perfect. It was slated to be 750 kilowatts standing a total of 250 feet tall. The potential impact to birds hadn't been thoroughly studied, and it was only 1,300 feet away from the nearest neighbor. There were also doubts that it followed the tenets of appropriate use: a good portion of the electricity was to going to be used to power an industrial heat process, which is a very inefficient use of electrical power. (I believe Amory Lovins likened this type of energy overkill to using a skillsaw for cutting butter).
After listening to the concerns of neighbors, the environmental community and the planning commissioners, Sustainergy Systems (the project's designers) went back to the drawing board and came back with a much more palettable project. They greatly reduced the wind turbine's size down by 525 kW and 100 feet (making it 225 kW and 150 feet in total) and moved it more than half mile from the nearest neighbor to a location where it would barely be seen much less heard. They contracted Point Reyes Bird Observatory, a respected research organization, to study the potential impact to birds, which was found to be insignificant. And they are apparently now considering solar thermal for heating.
Accordingly, the community's response to the project changed. At the first hearing, only about 3 people showed up to voice support, while 3 times as many came out to oppose it. This time around it was evident that the developers had made the right concessions and had done their due diligence. Groups like Sierra Club and Marin Organic, as well as a number of local farmers and citizens concerned about climate and energy dependence turned out to urge for a positive vote. Luckily, the Marin County Board of Supervisors, who have made "sustainability" part of their policy framework, were able to listen and lead. Though the neighbors were never convinced, everyone remained impressively civil throughout -- I was surprised to see the applicants and neighbors speaking amicably in the halls afterwards. Really, who knew the whole public process could be so functional?
