By Jennifer Wilson - Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Mountain Utilities has applied for a use permit to install a Clean-Burning Micro-Turbine and Heat Recovery Electrical Generation Facility. The facility, which would also include a 3200-square foot building to house the turbines, would be located on Loop Road, about ¾ of a mile south of the Highway 88 & Kirkwood Meadows Drive junction in Amador County. The turbine unit boasts continuous onsite electrical power, with low emissions that “exceed stringent environmental standards.” The utilities use permit application was reviewed at Wednesday’s Amador County Technical Advisory Committee, or TAC meeting. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy was in attendance to voice its concerns surrounding the project. Attorney Thomas Infusino asked if they “were looking at this as just one piece of the whole plan,” versus incorporating the current energy solution into a more long-term plan. Nate Whaley, Vice President of Kirkwood Mountain Resort, answered that implementing this project in the near future was “a no-brainer,” adding that it was clean energy that “we can do now, even this winter” versus waiting several years to get other, greener energy options on-line, such as solar or wind power. The project has already been reviewed by the Kirkwood Tri-County Technical Advisory Committee, which recommended approval of the application. The issue will come back to the Technical Advisory Committee in two weeks.