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Conservation commission approves transmission-line upgrades, requires biological safeguards for vernal-pool work
Summary
The Littleton Conservation Commission closed the hearing and issued an Order of Conditions for New England Power Company's transmission-line replacements after the company agreed to reduced grading and restricted access; commissioners required independent biological monitoring or seasonal sequencing for any matting or heavy work affecting vernal-pool habitat.
The Littleton Conservation Commission on June 23 voted unanimously to close the public hearing and issue an Order of Conditions for New England Power Company's transmission-line replacement project (DP file 204-1033), while attaching stricter measures to protect sensitive wetland and vernal-pool habitat.
Allison Milman of BSC Group, representing the utility, said the revised plan narrows grading and limits use of local Blood Road to light vehicle access only; heavy equipment will use temporary matting where necessary and work will be staged to minimize disturbance. The company also committed to planting mitigation where 12 trees will be removed near wetland buffers.
Commissioners pressed the company on work sequencing, lighting, noise, equipment setbacks and alternatives to siting the work within the 50-foot buffer to the vernal pool. Commissioners asked that engineering proof (truck-turn templates/autoturns) show that equipment could not be placed outside buffer areas without unsafe or infeasible site changes. National Grid confirmed backup generators run on natural gas and that LNG tanker units would be staged and removed when vaporized.
The commission required a higher level of biological oversight than in a routine utility filing. Because the work will use construction matting and intermittent heavy equipment close to a vernal pool, commissioners required either (a) sequencing of that work to avoid the vernal-pool active season, or (b) an independent third-party biological monitor engaged before matting installation and present to certify no breeding amphibians or other at-risk species occupy the work area at the time of installation. Tim (staff) and the applicant will coordinate a monitor scope and a schedule for pre-construction checks, and the commission will review and approve the monitor selection before work in the vernal-pool area begins.
The order also requires the company to provide an updated planting/mitigation plan, stormwater peer review documentation and detailed lighting and noise specifications at the next submittal. The commission said those documents must show how the company will minimize light and noise impacts on migrating and breeding wildlife near the vernal pool.
The commission closed the hearing and authorized staff to circulate draft conditions to members for review before final issuance of the Order of Conditions.
