State Sen. Joan Hartley told an audience of about 60 people the Federal Aviation Administration has released information showing the proposed Towantic Energy Center will pose a hazard to air traffic at Oxford Airport. The power plant was designed with two 150-foot high stacks that will be roughly 6/10 of a mile from the airport.
Hartley and others stood in front of a chain link fence Monday, Dec. 29, in the parking lot of the 121 Restaurant at 7 Juliano Drive in Oxford. On the other side of the fence, several single engine airplanes belonging to the Oxford Flying Club waited for their pilots. Hartley was joined by State Sen. Joe Crisco and Middlebury First Selectman Edward St. John, along with Master Certified Flight Instructor Burt Stevens, another flight instructor and a pilot who frequently flies out of Oxford Airport.
Stevens expressed concern for student pilots who would be flying about 700 feet above the power plant. He said he would tell his students to avoid flying into the plumes from the power plant stacks. A pilot from another area might not know about the plumes, he said, and they could get their plane into an unusual attitude and be unable to recover before crashing the plane. “I’m not concerned with the physical height of the stacks,” he said. “I’m concerned with what is coming out of the stacks, with the velocity and the volume.” He said the turbulence caused by the effluent is much more significant for small planes like those he uses for instruction.
Andrew Kwashnak of Middlebury was in the audience along with his children. He said he had done some research on the water the plant will need to operate and on the pollution it will emit. He said, “Throwing carcinogens in the air is not conducive to a nice neighborhood for raising children.”
Barbara Berg, a resident of Oxford Greens, said, “We’re here with our walkers and our canes. We’re opposed to the plant for safety and health reasons.”
Pilot Tracy Anastas said having the power plant near the airport will affect how she flies into and out of the airport. When she circles to land, if there is low cloud cover and she comes down through that cover as she is flying over the stacks, she said the turbulence from the stacks could force the plane back up into the clouds and she would have to go around again.
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