There is a lot of talk about how terrible or great this new neighbor might be … what they might add or what damage they might do to the area, and a whole lot of second guessing.
If you have been trying to pin down the truth, like most of us, here are some of the things we know.
This is a huge company moving into a tiny town, the likes of which this town has never seen before.
This is the largest project of its kind in Vermont since Vermont Yankee. The towers they want to erect on top of Hardscrabble Mountain are as big as a football field standing on end. The number and size of the towers, of course, have both changed.
There is no solid information on what amount of money, if they have to at all, this company will pay to our town.
The state doesn’t know exactly how they are going to be taxed.
If this company sells to another out-of-state company, we do not know if these promises are binding to the next company.
No one knows what effect these five proposed projects (perhaps over 100 turbines) will have on our northeastern economy. Already I have talked with people who will not buy real estate until they know the towers aren’t coming. (That might be a good thing.)
No one knows exactly what percent, if any, of this electricity is going to stay here or go on the grid.
It is not known if this will make any change in our electric bills or if it will help the environment.
This much we know we don’t know.
Whichever way the wind blows …
Greg Bryant, Sheffield
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2005/11/30/690/