LYMAN, N.H. (AP) – A group of North Country residents is fighting what could be the first step by a Massachusetts company to establish a wind farm on Gardner Mountain.

The group is opposing a request by UPC Wind Partners for a zoning variance that would allow it to erect 150-foot-tall device to measure the wind along the mountain’s ridge line.

Members of the group, called Lyman Citizens for the Protection of Gardner Mountain, say they believe the variance is just the first step in a plan to build a series of wind towers.

Town zoning regulations prohibit structures higher than 35 feet.

“The earlier you take care of a problem, the less expensive and less time-consuming it is,” Jonathan Linowes, a leader of the group, told the Littleton Courier.

UPC Wind Partners of Newton, Mass., operates about 750 turbines, mostly in Europe. The company has contacted officials in various North Country communities as it eyes expansion in the United States

Tim Caffyn, a project manager for the company, said the device the company hopes to put up would not have a significant impact on the area, requiring the clearing of no more than two acres of land along the ridge.

“If the wind’s right in Lyman, that’s good,” he said. “That means there’s potential for a wind plant. But that doesn’t mean we’ll build one there.”

But while Jonathan Linowes and his wife, Lisa, applaud the idea of renewable energy, they said it’s important to weigh the changes to the mountainside against the amount of power produced.

“I’d say most of us are environmentalists,” Lisa Linowes said of the residents opposing the company’s efforts. “But you shouldn’t have to destroy the environment to save the environment.”

Caffyn said that if the site is deemed appropriate for generating wind power, and an agreement can be reached with the town, between 12 and 20 wind turbines would be installed on the ridge.

AP-ES-07-19-04 0259EDT