North Harmony residents urge towns and county to use moratoria, health guidance to block Bedrock Buttercup wind project

Karen Engstrom, speaking for Concerned Citizens of Industrial Wind in North Harmony, told the Chautauqua County Legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee on March 19 that local residents opposed the Bedrock Renewables project called Bedrock Buttercup and urged towns and the county to use zoning tools and county guidance to limit siting of industrial-scale turbines.

“The name of it is called Bedrock Buttercup Wind, and it will be on Baker Road, Open Meadows, and nearby other roads,” Engstrom said, describing a public hearing in North Harmony she said had about 50 people in opposition. She said attendees reported health concerns, local job shortfalls and wildlife impacts during that hearing.

The matter matters to local officials because, Engstrom said, towns can adopt temporary moratoria on wind applications and MET towers (meteorological towers used to test wind resources) to pause permitting while communities decide how to respond. She also cited several local instruments intended to limit impacts: a previously-passed county “no PILOT” resolution that she said instructed the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) not to award payment-in-lieu-of-tax subsidies to projects judged harmful; a letter of concern from the Chautauqua County Board of Health recommending setbacks; and a model drinking-water source protection law that towns could adopt to protect wells and watersheds.

Engstrom told the committee that the county board of health, together with six other Western New York boards of health, had recommended that industrial wind facilities not be sited closer than 1.5 miles from a property line. “They determined that these potential human health effects mandated that they would recommend… that no industrial wind factory be placed any closer than 1.5 miles from a property line,” she said.

She also described non‑local and federal avenues of challenge: an attorney’s petition, she said, had been filed with federal agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking greater federal scrutiny of projects; and she cited an Article 78 challenge by 16 supervisors in another county that a court found successfully attacked a tax exemption used for renewables.

Why it matters: Engstrom framed the issue as one that affects property values, water wells, wildlife and local farmland and jobs. She said members of the community reported that out‑of‑town workers perform construction and maintenance for existing turbines and that “the parts are discarded piece by piece within 5 years” and cannot be recycled. She also said neighbors fear long‑term changes to the rural character of the county.

The committee did not take formal action on the Bedrock Buttercup project during the meeting; Engstrom’s remarks were part of the public comment (privilege of the floor) segment of the agenda. She asked committee members to share legislative tools and local model laws with townships that request assistance.

Ending note: Engstrom closed by urging town trustees to consider moratoria and drinking-water source protection measures and by urging the committee to circulate the state/county documents she supplied to the meeting packet. No member of the committee committed to a specific follow‑up at the public meeting.