Upcoming Events

News from the Friends of the Blue Hills

Hope you’ll take a minute to look over the upcoming events below.  We hope to see you at the Eliot Tower clean-up this Saturday.  And make sure to mark your calendar for our Annual Meeting, Saturday, October 20! 

We’re also happy to report that the state is no longer considering curtailing public participation in wetland appeals.  Thanks to all of you who contacted the Governor on this issue!  For details, see article at the end of this email.

Eliot Tower - Clean-up, learning and fun!
Saturday September 29, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Meet the Trailside Museum parking lot to walk up the top of Blue Hill for a morning of restoration, education and celebration of Eliot Tower, one of the Civilian Conservation Corps’ finest achievements in the Blue Hills.  Friends of the Blue Hills will be leading a morning clean up effort of the Tower and the surrounding area beginning at 9:00, followed by a discussion of the work of the CCC over a bag lunch at Noon.  Sharing in the discussion will be an original member of the CCC.  Call 781-828-1805 for more information.

Sunday, October 14, 2007 (Register before October 1)
Colonial Road Runners 4th Annual Houghton’s Pond Trail Race             
Start: Houghton’s Pond, 9:00 am
Volunteer to help at the race – or put on your running shoes and enjoy a rolling course over dirt roads and forest paths in the scenic Houghton’s Pond section.  The course avoids steep hiking trails, but this is a trail race, with plenty of small rocks and tree roots along the way!  Registration fee: $20.  T-Shirts for all Runners. Register online before October 1: www.signmeup.com/57575.  Due to permit restrictions registration is limited.  Pre-registration required.  No race-day registration.  A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of the Blue Hills.

FBH Annual Meeting
Saturday, October 20, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church
1508 Washington Street, Canton
Join us for a sumptuous meal, tantalizing desserts, music, friends and the latest news about the Reservoir.  Enjoy an evening socializing with others who care about the Blue Hills.  RSVP: 781-828-1805.

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State Retreats from Planned Limit on Wetlands Appeals
By Gintautas Dumcius
State House News Service

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON. Aug. 30.  In the face of heated opposition from environmental groups, Patrick administration officials on Thursday backed off a controversial plan to curtail the ability of 10-resident groups to appeal certain wetlands decisions.

In a two-page letter to two environmental groups, the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Charles River Watershed Association, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said he would not include the provision in the final regulations in light of the outcry.

The proposed provision would have stripped the right of any ten citizens residing in the community where a wetland was located to initiate an appeal of a state Department of Environmental Protection decision.

Environmental advocates said the provision would limit civic engagement and was at odds with Gov. Deval Patrick's campaign call for increased citizen involvement in government.

"We take the concerns raised by the environmental community seriously. Furthermore, Governor Patrick places a high priority on citizen participation in governmental decisions," Bowles wrote. "Therefore, I have chosen not to accept this provision of the draft regulation regarding ten citizen appeals."

Bowles noted that the change would have brought the regulations into "closer conformity" with the Wetlands Protection Act and the Administrative Procedures Act, where the Legislature granted ten citizens the right to appeal local Conservation Commission decisions, but not initiate appeals superseding DEP wetland decisions.

Jack Clarke, director of public policy and government relations for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said the group was pleased that Bowles had listened to the comments and concerns and satisfied with the final regulations.

"They've done a good job in retaining the civic engagement aspect of the wetlands appeals process," he said.

The current appeals process had created a backlog of cases and rarely resulted in changes to a DEP decision, Patrick administration officials have said. The goal of the regulations was to also speed up the permitting process.

Patrick administration officials had also noted that project abutters, project applicants and "aggrieved persons," a term under which watershed groups can fall under, would have kept the ability to appeal a DEP decision.

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Member Comments on Wind Turbine Proposal

News from the Friends of the Blue Hills

For your information, below are the comments we received at info@friendsofthebluehills.org from some of our 900 members on the post "Wind Turbines Proposed for Blue Hills" distributed on the 15th of this month.

There are additional comments on our blog at:

http://friendsofthebluehills.blogspot.com/2007/09/wind-turbines-proposed-for-blue-hills.html

Anyone can add a comment to the blog, although they are reviewed before posting.  We thank everyone who spoke up. We encourage FBH members to make their opinions known.

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Good lord, it just never ends....

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Here we go. What a farce and a disaster. Put them on the top of Beacon Hill or the top of the Prudential building not in the places that have been set aside near the city for people to enjoy nature without the artifacts of human technology in their face. Just because wind power is a no-carbon emitting energy source doesn't mean that's it's right to put them smack dab on top of one of our most important eastern Massachusetts natural areas. I can't understand why the DCR is actually considering this totally weird and inappropriate use of the Blue Hills Res, we clearly have some seriously misguided policy wonks on the public payroll. It's not the job of the DCR to try to figure out to make money from the resources of the res. or to impose any kind of development proposals onto land set aside for conservation. Maybe we should just start storing nuclear waste in the res? Why not? It appears to be open season for dumb schemes. How about the landfill by Rt 24? Let's put wind turbines where it makes sense. On top of a man-made mountain of trash make sense to me. Enough is enough, keep the res what it was meant to be. I hope the FBH uses a "take no prisoners" approach, come out strong and loud from the start, the resistance can't be subtle on this one.

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I believe Friends of Blue Hills will have much support fighting wind towers in the Blue Hills!  Sound the alarm bells when needed and I will help you.

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The industrialization of the Hills.  Here we go again.

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I don't understand why more attention is not being directed to locating one or more wind turbines on Chickatawbut Hill instead of Great Blue Hill. Even though it is a high summit, with good winds, Chickatawbut does not have the high visibility from many locations or the iconic status of Great Blue Hill. And it has long been used for non-recreational purposes, namely the former Nike site that is now some sort of youth facility. Surely there is a location there that can be fenced off from the trails without substantially degrading the natural experience of most hikers. We must find ways of promoting non-fossil fuel methods of energy production, which in themselves degrade the natural environment in many ways.

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Thanks for being such good guardians… but I think we must look for ways to find renewable energy… and other options beyond oil and nuclear power…

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I saw your comments on the wind generator.  That is a tricky issue for environmental groups.  I know the folks up in Vt. are torn…on the one hand they are all about no greenhouse gases, no foreign oil and foreign adventures to support foreign oil yet the idea of giving up Green Mountain mountain-tops hits them right at home. It is like Tom said, you can’t deny that it’s not exactly what they had in mind when the set up the reservation.  At the same time we certainly can’t argue that the Blue Hills are pristine in that sense with a TV tower, an observatory, a ski area (thanks to the CCC!) and a training school over on Chickatawbut.  It seems like the best strategy may be to contain those elements over by the ski area where it is already not natural and maybe get a slightly shorter windmill.  One thing I will say is that the modern windmills are not ugly, at least to my sensibility.  I was over in Normandy a few years ago and they sprout like daisies all along the coastal plain.  It’s actually kind of beautiful.  But, of course, the image you end up with is one of windmills, not fields and hills.

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I agree with Tom Palmer.  Parkland within the Boston area is scarce.  The Blue Hills provide an oasis of visual relief from an otherwise densely developed area.  The Blue Hills, which graces the region with beautiful ridge lines and a scenic horizon, should not be developed so as to provide a relatively minor amount of electricity.

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One other thought...
 
If we have to have them, wouldn't it be wonderful to pair with the turbine an education campaign so folks know what is going on and the tradeoffs.  I was in Holland a month ago and they, too, are sprouting like mushrooms.  In conversation, though, there is a lot of concern about aesthetics.  Maybe the turbines could be a destination, not just an eyesore.  I agree, it is a dangerous precedent to have them on reservation land.

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Recent news stories indicate interest in placing wind turbines in the Blue Hills. There are other wind alternatives that are not as tall and that may offer just as much energy yields.

Links -- Some of these are in development stage .....

http://remnet.com/WindEnergy/page3-1.html
http://www.mag-wind.com/mw1100.php
http://www.quietrevolution.co.uk/qr5.htm
http://www.mariahpower.com/

More:  Pushing the envelope a little ....

Solar  - seasonal heat storage (http://www.ecoplumber.net/EPenergyEseasonalthermalstore.htm), photovoltaics (many websites), solar towers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower), combined photovoltaic and solar heat panels, sun trackers, and others.

Systems to combine and store energy from wind and  solar are an interesting future development - with DC and AC outputs, and ultra-efficient AC inverters.

Very little research has yet been done on micro-wind and micro-solar-towers - small generators (1-4 feet) that could in theory be distributed around a garden.

Adaptations of parabolic reflectors and greenhouses can be applied to generate electricity - new areas of research.

Strategically - Milton could place itself as a world leader in the use of small wind/solar-heat/pv generators. Set a policy to restrict tower wind generators - actively encouraging experimentation with generation systems that do not have to tower above buildings. Wouldn't that be a worthwhile objective even if it took a little longer to have a complete system?

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This is a very special undeveloped area south of Boston, it even has a quaking bog with rare plant life.  It offers unusual outdoor opportunities for many people in the midst of an overly developed area.

They are talking about the next step; believe me there should be no next step.  This special area should be allowed to remain as it is.

Maybe Tom Palmer is attempting to be reasonable when he says, "although good reasons exist to develop wind power, there is no denying that large engineered structures like the proposed turbines clash with the purpose for which the Reservation was acquired 110 years ago: to preserve natural scenery for public use and enjoyment."

The fact is there are no good reasons one discovers after some research.  The area's highest purpose would be to remain as it was intended when acquired 110 years ago.  Perhaps members should realize if any turbine gets approved more will follow.  It does not matter if there is enough wind to make sense because federal subsidies make sense to developers who will ruin you area to benefit their profit motive.

Perhaps the friends of the Blue Hills should do some independent research.  Here are good places to begin:
http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/
http://www.stopillwind.org/

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That sounds like great news. I stongly support a wind farm on the reservation. That is the only development I would ever tolerate at the reservation. The reason I support it is we got to change over from fossil fuel to clean power soon as possible. If I say no to this because of the view I am afraid it would be more difficult to build other turbines  because everyone else will say no. If everyone says you can build a windfarm anywhere else but where we live, then we go nowhere. I live within 10 min of the Blue Hills and I pass it everyday going to work. I would also hike, run and swim there. So I still strongly support a windfarm on the reservation.

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Wind Turbines Proposed for Blue Hills

News from the Friends of the Blue Hills

The Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, which manages the Reservation on behalf of its public owners, is exploring options for financing and operating wind turbines in the Blue Hills.

A preliminary analysis by the Renewable Energy Research Lab at UMASS/Amherst shows that the only sites in the Reservation likely to have enough wind to ensure a positive return on development are its two highest points, the summits of Blue and Chickatawbut Hills.

At a meeting convened by DCR and the town of Milton at Trailside last Tuesday, Sally Wright of UMASS said that the next step is to erect one or two thin cable-stayed masts approximately 150 feet high at the proposed sites.  These masts would collect data on wind speeds aloft and provide for solid estimates of the amount of the electricity one or two turbines could produce. That in turn would allow DCR to decide whether to prepare a full-scale proposal.

Wright said that the turbines would consist of freestanding stanchions approximately 150 feet high bearing three-bladed rotors, bringing their total height to something between 350 and 400 feet, comparable to the new turbine in Hull.  The existing WGBH tower on Blue Hill is 150 feet high.

One turbine on Blue Hill could supply all the power needs of the Blue Hill Observatory and Trailside Museum in average conditions.  The surplus would be fed into the local grid.

Don McCasland of the Observatory said that during certain storms the arms of the rotor would likely spin rain into the weather station's instrument enclosure and compromise the data collected there.  Any turbine placed on Blue Hill would probably go on the north or Milton side of the summit in order to minimize impacts on the Observatory. Although it would not be fenced off, access would be restricted during icing conditions, and this closure might or might not affect the ski area.

Norman Smith of Trailside Museum stated that birds, bats, and insects migrate through the Blue Hills and that he was concerned about impacts on wildlife and whether a turbine owned and operated by DCR would be properly maintained.  Milton selectman Kathy Fagan mentioned that some turbines are shut down during peak migration periods.

Tom Palmer of Friends of the Blue Hills remarked that although good reasons exist to develop wind power, there is no denying that large engineered structures like the proposed turbines clash with the purpose for which the Reservation was acquired 110 years ago: to preserve natural scenery for public use and enjoyment.

Wright said that she would complete her review of existing information in a month or so and would make a positive recommendation to DCR if the sites appeared to justify a feasibility study involving placement of masts for testing.

Friends of the Blue Hills is very much aware that the proposed turbines have the potential to transform the appearance of the Blue Hills, which are an icon in our landscape.  We believe that the public owners and users of the Reservation should be the ultimate arbiters of any proposed development.  We have many questions about the proposal and will do our best to provide our members with complete information. 

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