Since beginning to develop this project more than two years ago, Gamesa has worked closely with residents in and around Tyrone Borough. We value your input, appreciate your support and look forward to continuing our work with you to develop the Sandy Ridge Wind Farm.

In April, your community took an important step by embracing the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy. In a referendum arranged by borough officials, residents voted by a wide margin in favor of the Sandy Ridge Wind Farm, 55 percent to 45 percent. Even the borough’s youngest residents have made their voice heard. In June, 132 10th-grade civics students at Tyrone Area High School studied the proposal. Their research included listening to presenters from both sides of the issue. In the end, 92 students, or 70 percent of the class, voted in favor of the project.

Independent environmental evaluations also back the project. In December, Tyrone Borough Council received the results from a study it commissioned through State College-based Casselberry & Associates. The firm, which conducted a watershed evaluation on the 3,839-acre property where the Sandy Ridge Wind Farm would be built, found the project to pose very little risk. In fact, on a scale of one to 10, where 10 poses the greatest risk and one the least, the wind farm scored a one.

The Casselberry report supports earlier findings by Tyrone’s own forester, who concluded he expected no negative environmental effects from a wind farm on watershed property, where there already are roads, buried phone cables and radio antennas. Because this is not untouched wilderness, he also reported that revenue generated from Gamesa’s lease agreement could be used to improve the forest area by addressing existing problems on the watershed property: extensive gypsy moth damage, invasive plant species, high quantity of deer that could require deer fencing, poor regeneration, and poor soils.

All of Gamesa’s wind farms are properly sited, using the best data from numerous studies. We understand the effects of development and take care to work in the most environmentally sound manner.