n061  1351  23 Apr 84
BC-WINDMILLS
By HAROLD FABER
c.1984 N.Y. Times News Service
    ELLENVILLE, N.Y. - This village, which calls itself ''the
hang-gliding capital of the East,'' is trying to take advantage of
the strong air currents that sweep the nearby Shawangunk Mountains to
become ''the windmill capital of the United States'' through a new
electricity-generating project.
    But the project has ignited an environmental conflict.
    The village has signed a contract with a private company that plans
to erect 71 windmills at first and perhaps many more later on top of
a ridge to generate the power. If the project is completed, it will
be the first windmill energy farm in New York and one of the largest
in the United States.
    The windmill at issue is 98 feet high and look like an inverted
eggbeater. It has a large vertical oval that spins in the wind,
turning an electric generator at its base.
    Even before construction has started, however, the project has
created a dispute in the area between those who see it as a prime
example of new, small alternative sources of energy that could reduce
American dependence on foreign oil and those who see it as a visual
pollutant of the scenic Shawangunk ridge.
    For Mayor Edward Jacobs of Ellenville, which is about 90 miles
northwest of New York City, the wind farm would produce
pollution-free energy and provide an economic boon.
    ''It's nonpolluting energy; you'd think they'd be for it,'' he said.
''For the life of me, I can't see why they are opposing it.''
    It's not that simple for local environmental groups, which in theory
support alternative energy sources, such as windmills, solar panels
and small hydroelectric plants, in preference to large oil, coal and
nuclear plants.
    ''We do not oppose wind power as a technology, but we do not support
large-scale development of wind power on the Shawangunks at this
time,'' said Sarah L. Johnson, president of the nonprofit Friends of
the Shawangunks, which claims about 600 members.
    Miss Johnson said the wind farm would destroy dwarf pitch pines
growing on the ridge, as well as detract from the visual beauty of
the area.
    ''The situation has gotten very hot, with emotions high on both
sides,'' said John Mavretich, an assistant to Assemblyman Maurice D.
Hinchey, in whose district the project falls. Hinchey, a Democrat
from Saugerties, said he was trying to act as a mediator ''to diffuse
the emotions.''
    At present the project developer, Genro Energy Systems of Delmar,
N.Y., is preparing a revised draft environmental impact statement.
Genro is a subsidiary of the Flo-Wind Corp. of Kent, Wash., a
privately held corporation. It has one wind farm in operation at
Altamont Pass in Livermore, Calif., and others under development,
according to Dr. Rudolf A. Wiley, vice president of Genro.
    In the first phase of the Ellenville project, Genro is proposing to
build 71 windmills at a total cost of $30 million to $35 million on a
2,000-acre watershed tract owned by the village. The site is an
uninhabited plateau where the wind is usually between 15 and 20 miles
an hour.
    Each windmill can produce a maximum of 300 kilowatts of electricity
when the wind is strong, but will produce less in light winds,
according to Genro. From the 71 machines, which will not be operating
at maximum capacity all the time, the company expects to generate a
total of about 50 million kilowatt-hours of power a year.
    The electricity could be sold to the Central Hudson Gas and Electric
Co. for about 8 cents a kilowatt-hour, or total annual gross income
of about $4 million, Wiley said.
    Under its contract with the village, Genro would pay Ellenville
between 2 and 5 percent of the gross revenues. Jacobs said the
village would get $80,000 the first year and $200,000 in later years.
If Genro received permission later to build 400 more windmills, he
said, the village's share could rise to $1 million or more a year.
    But there are many administrative hurdles ahead before any windmills
can be constructed. Among them are the adoption of a final
environmental impact statement by the five-man Village Board, a
decision by the board on whether to build the project, zoning changes
and the issuance of permits.
    The major unanswered question is whether the additional information
in the final environmental impact statement will satisfy the local
environmental groups or whether they will go to court to prevent
construction.
    
nyt-04-23-84 1642est
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