Bob and Peg Hamels of North Collins first heard about a proposed wind farm in southern Erie County about two months ago, when Peg was approached about signing a lease with a company owned by the French government.
“Have you talked to the Town Board yet?” she asked the company representative. “You need to talk to the Town Board first before we even talk to you, because we don’t know anything about it.”
A week later, a neighbor gave them a lawn sign opposing the project, and now they are part of a growing opposition, posting a large banner in front of their 39-acre property on Sisson Highway (Route 75) overlooking the Boston Hills.
The Hamels and others in North Collins, Collins, Concord and Eden have mobilized to get the word out before any more property owners sign leases with the company, EDF Renewables.
Many residents see the wind farm as an existential threat to their way of life.
“We all moved to the country to be in the country,” North Collins Supervisor John Tobia said. “This is rural farm country and the citizens like it this way.”
EDF wants to erect 30 to 40 wind turbines that are 655 feet high, which include a 390-foot tower with blades that stretch 265 feet from the hub.
The massive turbines would be the tallest structures in Western New York, higher than Seneca One Tower, which is 529 feet tall. The turbines at Steel Winds on the former Bethlehem Steel site are about 400 feet tall.
Project benefits
Collins Wind would generate 200 MW of power, enough to power 85,000 homes, according to the company. The electricity generated will be injected into transmission lines along the Thruway in Brant.
“The vast majority of the energy is projected to be consumed locally in Erie, Chautauqua and Niagara counties, including in Buffalo, while some will be transmitted further away,” Kevin Campbell, EDF director of development, said in an email.
Payments to property owners who sign leases start with $3,500 a year after…
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