LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Tough questions for Savoy 

The meeting on Oct. 26 on the proposed bylaw addressing wind towers drew a respectable audience, but hardly the interest one would expect considering the importance of the subject. I sat at the back of the fire station sympathizing with the Planning Board trying to gather helpful direction from the comments offered by residents and others, all apparent experts on the pros and cons of wind turbines. It is amazing how easily we can acquire and process all this technical information with the click of a “mouse,” but we still fall prey to a very human ailment. We see things as we want to. We read or hear only what works for us.

The answer I was looking for, and I would imagine the Planning Board was as well, was “is this a good deal for Savoy?” Are the benefits of this project equal to, or better than, the supposed unfairness to the residents and others who will be directly affected by the towers?

Savoy is a tiny community. Five 420-foot machines towering over us, each taller than the Statue of Liberty, is a big price to consider. And what about second-home owners? They are a vital commodity all through the Berkshires. Will they still want to come here? Their presence supports the restaurants, the museums, the theaters. They buy up our old houses in need of repair and restore them, increasing the value of our property. They use local carpenters, electricians, masons and other services. They don’t overburden our schools. They pay taxes, many for years and years. They retire here. Will we have to trade them for the turbines?

When the idea of the possibility of additional turbines on state land was introduced, there was a unified groan heard within the hall. Why is one project OK and the other unacceptable? Is this really about the environment or about money?

Minute Man Wind, the wind power investors on the Savoy project, have offered what appears to be an attractive monetary incentive to the town as well as compensation to the individual land owners involved in the project. That’s hard not to consider when budget problems are a constant worry for a small town like Savoy, but is it all worthwhile? Has Santa Claus really come to town with the right present or is it just a piece of coal? Lots to think about. Hard to figure what’s best.

Jane Phinney

Savoy, Oct. 27, 2006

berkshireeagle.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon