Sept. 8, 2010

Open house meeting in VT Saturday for wood biomass proposal [From the web]

POWNAL, VT, Sept. 8, 2010 (Bennington Banner) - The Select Board has agreed to an open-house style meeting with Beaver Wood Energy, LLC, to be held at the former Green Mountain Race Track later in September to discuss the firm's proposed 29-megawatt biomass facility.

The meeting will be at 11 a.m. on Sept. 25, a Saturday, at the track property off Route 7. Beaver Wood had sent a letter to the town asking about a preferred date for the open house, which would involve walking the site and answering questions about the project.

The company has approached the board in the past and made public its intentions. According to Thomas Emero, managing director of the company, the $500 million facility would produce electricity from a biomass burner and manufacture wood pellets for use as heating fuel. The wood would come from logging operations and be of low quality.

The company has said that emissions from the plant would be low, but some residents have expressed concerns to town officials about everything from smoke to truck traffic.

RISI is not responsible for the reliability or availability of content on external websites.