Wind Power News: Vermont
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These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Giant wind turbines begin to turn in New York
CLINTON, N.Y. — Blades have begun to turn on 121 wind turbines here and in neighboring Ellenburg, a 35-minute drive northwest of Plattsburgh. Saturday, they turned with a soft whush, whush, whush.
“Whush, whush, whush, all day long, all night long — I moved here because it was so peaceful and quiet,” groused Allen Barcombe as he pointed to the nearest tower, jutting up 400 feet into the sky behind his house.
A mile away, Bill Linendoll, …
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Protect the national forests
I read last week’s article “Forest Service buys Handle Road parcel” with trepidation. It is important to realize that the United States Forest Service no longer protects forest lands, even national forests, from development. Their 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement for Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest identifies 37 sites, for a total of 19,700 acres, as “potentially both viable and suitable” for wind power development.
As quoted in their report on Page 3-298, “Alternative E [has] …
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Huntington turbine faces visual challenge
The wind tower above Huntington Center could be an eyesore or a beacon of hope in the eyes of its beholders.
If they give it a second glance.
Seen from town, the 120-foot tower, without its turbine and blades, measures roughly the size of a small paper clip held at arm’s length.
Detractors say that’s enough to scuttle the skyline’s charms. Proponents beg to differ.
The Vermont Public Service Board, a neutral arbiter of aesthetics, has ruled twice against …
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Towns make shortsighted decisions
This letter is in regard to recent articles about Searsburg windmills and West Dover refusing to purchase the Sargent property.
Each decision struck me as being shortsighted. The industrial -sized windmills will alter the landscape of a unique corner of southern Vermont, but not in a way that will enhance the appeal of the area. They will affect the value of the towns around Searsburg (whose residents believe they will get a financial windfall of some …
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Residents question selectboard
READSBORO- Teddy Hopkins vacated his position as chairman of the selectboard earlier this month but that hasn’t stopped town residents from keeping his name the tip of their tongues.
At Tuesday night’s selectboard meeting, Hopkins was again the major topic of conversation after the board announced that he and Arthur “Junior” Passardi were to remain on the windmill negotiating team. According to Chairman Raymond Eilers, the board’s decision was fueled by the progress the current team …
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Douglas signs energy bill
Gov. Jim Douglas on Wednesday signed into law a bill aimed at promoting renewable energy like solar and wind power, as well as new efficiency measures devoted to reducing Vermonters’ use of oil and other heating fuels.
‘Help Vermonters save money’
The bill, dubbed the “energy efficiency and affordability act,” will “help Vermonters better manage their heating resources, protect our environment and save money,” Douglas told scores of lawmakers, administration officials, energy advocates and others who filled …
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Tilting at wind turbines: wind farms in national forest raises red flags
Is it impossible to dream of national forests as reachable stars — as places of unbearable beauty and solace to the human soul and places of sanctuary to the beasts and the birds we share the planet with?
“Man of La Mancha” aside, I have concerns regarding large-scale wind farms anywhere and the idea of locating projects with 15 or more turbines (the Deerfield Wind Project in Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont, is proposing 17) in …
Industrial Wind Turbines Planned in Tourist Mecca
In National Precedent, Industrial Wind Turbines Planned in Tourist Mecca, Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont
Searsburg, VT — In what could be a national precedent, the Vermont Public Service Board is reviewing a plan to build 17 industrial wind turbines on more than 80 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest. Known as Deerfield Wind, the turbine project would be located along a prominent ridgeline in the towns of Searsburg and Readsboro, Vermont.
Deerfield Wind would …
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Gridlock on electric 'highways' could stymie renewable generation
Northern New England is turning to the sun, wind and waste wood for clean, renewable power, but there’s a serious problem: the threat of gridlock on electricity “highways.”
A prime example is New Hampshire’s northern Coos County, where there are proposals to build renewable energy plants with roughly 460 megawatts of capacity — two-thirds of the proposed renewable projects in the state — to run over a transmission line that can only handle 100 megawatts.
The bottleneck …
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Anti-windfarm group sends appeal to Governor Douglas
Ridge Protectors say energy efficiency bill is unacceptable
Ridge Protectors, a group fiercely opposed to industrial wind power on Vermont’s ridge lines, has launched a letter-writing appeal to Gov. Jim Douglas, who they hope will veto S.209, the so-called Energy Efficiency and Affordability Act.
The bill, which is aimed at promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, has passed both the House and Senate, and is on the governor’s desk.
The letter-writing campaign is a last-ditch attempt to change …
