July 8, 2010

Mr. Richard Edsall – Planning Board Chairman

Ms. Karen Bourcy – Planning Board Member
Mr. Andrew Binsley – Planning Board Member
Mr. George Mingle – Planning Board Member
Mr. Thomas Rienbeck – Planning Board Member
Town of Cape Vincent
1964 NYS Rte 12E
Cape Vincent, NY

Dear Rich and other Planning Board members:

During the April meeting of the Planning Board Acciona and BP's noise consultant David
Hessler gave a presentation on wind turbine noise impacts expected from Acciona's St.
Lawrence Wind Farm. This was a special request from developers outside the normal
SEQRA process that I presume was in response to previous presentations from the
Town's acoustic consultant. I am not writing to criticize the Planning Board's decision to
allow Acciona/Hessler's presentation. Rather, I am writing because Acciona/Hessler
omitted important information from their presentation, they then ignored subsequent
requests from me and Supervisor Hirschey for that information, and recently admitted
they are withholding the information because they considered the data “unreliable.”

In my June 29 letter to Acciona's Blayne Gunderman (see attached) I outlined the issue
asserting that Acciona/Hessler omitted important information and misrepresented their
own protocol for estimating background sound levels. As a result, Acciona/Hessler very
likely used an elevated background sound level to design their wind farm. As you
should be aware from Bill Elliot's presentation on May 1, an elevated background sound
level would allow Acciona to place turbines much closer to non-participants. In addition,
if Acciona continues its misrepresentaton many non-participants may be subjected to
wind turbine noise levels that exceed NYSDEC guidelines.

Acciona's Project Development Manager Tim Conboy's suggested sound power levels for
wind speeds below 6 m/s, which I requested, were available, but that reliable data were
unavailable (see attached). How can turbine sound power levels be unreliable for wind
speeds of 5 m/s, yet the data for 6 m/s is reliable enough to use in the design their entire
wind project? Good science dictates the data should have been included and discussed
as to why it may have been unreliable, but it should not have been arbitrarily dismissed
and hidden. As I noted in my letter to Gunderman, if the appropriate background level is
lower than Acciona/Hessler maintains, then up to 100 or more residents may have wind
turbine noise levels that exceed NYSDEC guidelines.
I have a few suggestions about how the Planning Board might proceed:

● Notify Acciona that their FEIS will not be accepted until they have
released the sound power levels for the AW 82/1500 at wind speeds 3-5
m/s.
● Request Bernier Carr and Cavanaugh Tocci to examine the sound power
levels to determine if low wind speed data are unreliable.
● If low wind speed data are deemed unreliable, then request Acciona
conduct additional testing until they can provide data that will permit
more reliable forecasts of wind turbine noise impacts during low to
moderate wind speeds.
● If, on the other hand, sound power levels are considered reliable, then
the town's engineering consultants should re-examine the analysis to
determine if Acciona/Hessler selected the appropriate background
sound levels, i.e., finding the maximum differential between sound
power level and background sound level.

The siting of wind turbines in Cape Vincent will be the biggest health and safety issue to
face our community, ever. It is absolutely required that noise impacts be properly
assessed prior to construction and installation, and the recent revelation that the wind
turbine sound levels at low wind speeds are unreliable should be a red flag to board
members that you cannot proceed without Acciona addressing the issue.

Finally, this letter and request is not submitted through the normal SEQRA process.
Acciona/Hessler's presentation was not part of the SEQRA process, nor was Jim
Madden's recent letter urging the Planning and Town Boards to adopt a 50 dBA noise
restriction. I expect this letter and my request will receive the same courtesy and
attention as you gave these wind developers. I look forward to discussing this at your
upcoming board meeting on July 14.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Clif Schneider
 St. Lawrence Windpower, LLC
P.O. Box 660 • 122 South Point Street
Cape Vincent, New York 13618
Tel: 315.654.2210
info@stlawrencewind.com

July 1, 2010

Clifford P. Schneider
Transmittal by E-Mail Only

Dear Mr. Schneider:

In Blayne Gunderman’s absence, I am responding to your letter dated June 28, 2010
that was transmitted in an e-mail dated June 29, 2010.

The following information, provided to the project by its sound consultant, Hessler
Associates, Inc., addresses your inquiry and expands upon Ms. Gunderman’s e-mail to
you dated May 17, 2010 that responded to your original inquiry:

Turbine sound power levels are measured in accordance with IEC 61400-11
Wind turbine generator systems – Part II: Acoustic noise measurement
techniques. This standard only requires the reporting of sound levels in the 6 to
10 m/s wind speed range, inclusive. The principal reason for this is that turbine
sound levels at lower wind speeds, 5 m/s and below, are often difficult to discern
and clearly separate from the background level. Nevertheless, they are
sometimes voluntarily reported by the test engineer if satisfactory low wind speed
measurements were obtained during the test. An inquiry has been made to the
engineering firm, WINDTEST, that tested the Acciona AW82 to see if they have
data for wind speeds below the required range; however, there is no reliable data
below 6 m/s that can be obtained from WINDTEST for the Acciona 82 m rotor
turbine.

We have gone to great measures to study the potential noise impacts of the St.
Lawrence Wind Farm Project and minimize the probability of a significant adverse
reaction to the project’s sounds. We have received numerous comments and questions
from interested parties and have addressed them, to the extent possible, in our
environmental impact statements and project plans. With this in mind and due to the
false accusations made in your letter, we will not respond to future inquiries from you if
we feel the issues raised in them have already been satisfactorily addressed.

Sincerely,

St. Lawrence Windpower, LLC

Tim Conboy
Project Development Manager
C.P.Schneider June 28, 2010
PO Box 165 cpschneid@yahoo.com
Cape Vincent, NY 13618

June 28, 2010

Ms. Blayne Gunderman

Acciona Energy NA
165 Jordan Road
Troy, NY 12180

Dear Ms. Gunderman:

In a recent conversation with Cape Vincent Town Supervisor Urban Hirschey he indicated
that Acciona has not yet responded to our requests for information on the sound power
levels for Acciona's AW 82/1500 wind turbine. It has been six weeks since my initial
request. By ignoring these appeals it is apparent that Acciona concealed information,
mislead our community and proposed a potentially noisy, annoying wind project. Acciona
needs to change its behavior and become more forthright and honest.
Earlier this year Acciona made a special request to make a public presentation on the wind
turbine noise impacts for its proposed St. Lawrence Wind Farm. In that presentation
David Hessler, Acciona's noise consultant, told us that the design criteria for Acciona's
wind project was determined first by choosing a background sound level that has the
greatest differential between the turbines sound power level. Hessler stated the greatest
differential between background sound and turbine sound power levels occurs at a wind
speed of 6 m/s, where background sound levels are 37 dBA. Hessler then added 5 dBA for
a project-only sound level of 42 dBA. This predicted project noise added to the 37 dBA
background sound equals 43 dBA, resulting in a 6 dBA increase in sound level allowed in
the NYSDEC noise guideline. The 42 dBA project-only design criteria is the foundation for
your 53-turbine layout of the St. Lawrence Wind Farm and it is used to establish setbacks
from non-participating residents that comply with the NYSDEC guideline. In my view this
is the single, most important number for your entire project proposal.
In his presentation, Hessler also made a statement that made me question the validity of
this single number. Hessler stated AW 82/1500 model turbine is unusual because it is so
consistent in its sound power level, "hardly any variation." Hessler's regression of winter-
time noise levels on wind speed show quieter background sound levels at wind speeds
below 6 m/s. That being the case, then it suggests wind speeds below 6 m/s may have the
greatest differential between background sound and turbine sound power levels.
Furthermore, it suggests Hessler may not have followed his stated protocol he described
at our public meeting and in your SDEIS. More importantly, it may indicate many more
non-participants will be subjected to wind turbine noise that exceeds NYSDEC

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C.P.Schneider June 28, 2010
PO Box 165 cpschneid@yahoo.com
Cape Vincent, NY 13618

recommended guidelines.
Let me provide an example of why I believe the greatest differential between background
sound and wind turbine noise occurs at wind speeds below 6 m/s. The following figure
came from the sound study conducted by Hayes McKenzie Partnership (HMP) for the Flat
Rock (Maple Ridge) Wind Farm. HMP showed predicted wind turbine sound levels at
different wind speeds from cut-in (3 m/s) up to the point of maximum noise (e.g., 12 m/s).
Wind turbine sound levels are directly related to turbine sound power levels; so the
relative differential between background sound levels and predicted turbine sound levels
would be equivalent to Hessler's protocol. In this example, the greatest differential
between existing ambient (red line) and predicted wind turbine noise level (blue line)
occurs at 3 m/s. In fact every wind speed below 6 m/s has a greater differential than what
occurs at 6 m/s. I believe this is the exact same pattern for Acciona's AW 82/1500.

To make my point even clearer, the following commentary from the Flat Rock DEIS states
the worst case situation for hearing wind turbine noise will be at night during low wind
conditions:
“This analysis indicates that during high wind speed conditions, the change in
ambient noise levels will be below an increase of 5 dB LAeq. However, during low
wind speed operating conditions, especially at night when ambient noise levels are
very low, wind turbine noise may increase ambient noise levels by 10 – 15 dB with
a worst-case increase for one specific receptor of 21 dB Laeq.” (p. 36 - Flat Rock

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C.P.Schneider June 28, 2010
PO Box 165 cpschneid@yahoo.com
Cape Vincent, NY 13618

Power Project : Noise Impact Assessment Report 1433-R-1)

HMP admitted that noise levels at some non-participating residences would substantially
exceed NYSDEC noise guidelines.
What would be the impact if the greatest differential occurred at wind speeds below 6 m/
s? I used the model output, e.g., noise level map, from ACCIONA's SDEIS to roughly assess
the impact of lower background sound levels associated with lower wind speeds (I
counted the non-participating residences between the predicted noise isobars). Using the
42 dBA design criteria based on a 37 dBA background sound at 6 m/s, no non-participating
residents had noise levels exceeding NYSDEC guidelines (table below). This is Acciona's
current plan. However, if the maximum differential between background sound and
turbine sound power levels occurred at 5 m/s background, then 29 non-participants would
have noise levels exceeding NYSDEC guidelines and at 4 m/s then 67 non-participants
would exceed guidelines.
ALLOWABLE PROJECT- APPROXIMATE NON-
BACKGROUND SOUND ONLY INCREASE PARTICIPANTS EXCEEDING
WIND SPEED (m/s) LEVEL (dBA) (ADD 5 dBA) NYSDEC GUIDELINE
6 37 42 0
5 34 39 29
4 31 36 67
3 29 34 Too many to count!

The worst violation of NYSDEC policy would occur at 3 m/s (similar to the Maple Ridge
example). In this case the background sound is 29 dBA and to comply with NYSDEC
guidelines the project-only design criteria would be 34 dBA. Due to the close proximity of
Acciona's proposed northern most turbines to riverfront property owners, there could be
more than a hundred non-participating residences exposed to turbine noise levels that
exceeded NYSDEC guidelines. The resolution of Acciona's map did not allow an accurate
count. At these low background sound levels, turbine noise levels would exceed
background sound levels by 14 dBA, which according to NYSDEC policy would be
considered very noticeable, bordering on objectionable. Clearly, if the maximum
differential is below 6 m/s , Acciona has to go back the drawing board and design an
entirely new project with far fewer turbines in order to comply with NYSDEC guidelines.
Acciona's reluctance to provide sound power levels throughout the entire operating range
for its model AW 82/1500, information commonly provided by other consultants and wind
developers, suggests to me that Hessler and Acciona mis-represented the background
sound level associated with the maximum differential between turbine and background

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C.P.Schneider June 28, 2010
PO Box 165 cpschneid@yahoo.com
Cape Vincent, NY 13618

sound levels. Furthermore, it also suggests Acciona has deceived us and that the
foundation for your 53-turbine project proposal appears to be a fraud.
If true, then Acciona has not only deceived the general public, who for the most part lack
the technical understanding of the issue, but Acciona has also deceived Cape Vincent 's
Town and Planning Boards and Cape Vincent's consulting engineers, Bernier Carr
Associates and Cavanaugh Tocci Associates (CTA). CTA's review of Hessler's sound study
focused on background sounds associated with a 6 m/s wind speed promoted by Hessler
and Acciona, which indicates CTA's analysis is flawed as well.
Acciona has to move ahead to either prove its claims or admit its deception, rather than
trying to suppress or ignore a legitimate request for crucial information by our town
supervisor and me. If Acciona continues to ignore the issue, continues its deception and
attempts to submit a final environmental impact statement based on a fraudulent project
design, then I can promise a vigorous challenge in the courts – you leave our community
no choice!

Sincerely yours,

Clifford P. Schneider
PO Box 165
Cape Vincent, NY 13618

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