The Potter County Water Quality Work Group discussed at its meeting Monday environmental issues and monitoring of a major wind energy generation project in Hector and Harrison townships of Potter County, Penn.
Each of the project’s 24 turbine sites requires approximately 10 acres of timber-clearing and road construction in sensitive environmental areas. Chairman Jason Childs said at the meeting that high-quality tributaries and wetlands could be affected.
The Potter County Conservation District, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have been monitoring the site work.
Canadian energy company Trans-Alta expects to complete tower construction by the end of 2019.
The project is centered in the Dodge Hollow/White Knoll area. Developers recently struck a land surface use deal with the property owner, a forestland investment subsidiary of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. Electricity will be sent into the grid through a First Energy line. The project’s turbines will be nearly 660 feet high, making them among the tallest in the world.