State utility regulators have fined Green Mountain Power for violating its permit to transport wind turbines to its project site in Lowell.
The Public Service Board boosted the penalty from $7,500 to $30,000 based on what it said was the size of the company and the severity of the violations.
Under the board-approved transportation plan, GMP was supposed to warn town officials along the route that it would be hauling turbine parts on oversized trucks through their communities.
The board said that for five days last summer, the utility failed to give the towns the required notice.
GMP Spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure says the company admits the error but disagrees with the size of the penalty.
"We’re really disappointed that the Public Service Board chose this level of fine for an administrative oversight," Schnure says. "We had a permit. We used the route for five days due to an administrative error on our part before we had completed all technical notifications and actions."
Schnure says no property was harmed during the violations. And she points out that a New Hampshire company hauled wind turbine parts along the same route last summer without any requirements to warn towns.