September 11, 2006
Letters, Vermont

Wind power has no place in Vermont

burlingtonfreepress.com

Your editorial “Debate over wind should fuel consensus” (Free Press, Aug. 19) regarding industrial wind generators raised some interesting and debatable points. While I don’t agree with several of the positions you put forth, I do agree that more reasoned debate on this issue is welcome and needed.

However, I do have to point out one false premise that you unfortunately included in your call for more debate. That is the premise that the Searsburg electrical generating station is acceptable as “Vermont scale.”

My family and I are the nearest abutters to this noisy eyesore. We were not allowed to provide input during the “public” debate prior to regulatory approval and construction. The existing generating station is not acceptable as far as we are concerned. They are noisy – contrary to claims of people who live elsewhere – frequently broken and are an ugly blot on a previously pristine wilderness in Southern Vermont. This is not an example of an acceptable eco-friendly electrical generating station. All they did was put money into the pockets of the electric company so they can crow that they are “green.” They work 22 percent of the time, when demand is low and don’t cause any plant to shut down production! How is that helping the environment?

The 400-foot-tall mega-towers proposed as an incremental addition are further proof that these stations do not belong in Vermont. Would you want to live next to a 400-foot-tall noisy strobe light every day when the sun sets, when you used to have quiet wilderness?
Tom Shea
Searsburg


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/09/11/wind-power-has-no-place-in-vermont/