Which side of the environmental fence is the Shumlin administration on?
The Chronicle, 2 March 2011
The Shumlin administration needs to decide which side of the fence they are on. Are they environmentalists or not? Can Vermonters be bought or not?
The administration has said no to ATVs using state land because of the environmental impact. Yet they support the destruction of a ridgeline for a wind farm. The administration will not even allow some test trails on state land to see if it will work. New Hampshire brings in over $100 million a year from ATV riders. No one is talking about the renewable energy source that will be destroyed to build the Lowell Mountain project.
The forest is a renewable energy resource that is also natural and beautiful. Wood can be used to create heat and electric power. Managing the Lowell Mountain forest would provide material, energy, jobs and maintain the natural beauty of this area, no blinking red lights necessary!
The administration has stated that Vermonters cannot be bought when referring to Vermont Yankee (VY). They do not seem to mind Vermonters being bought by industrial wind.
What is the difference?
VY should be shut down in 2012. The plant was a poor design from the beginning. They do not build this type of plants anymore and VY is one of the few if not the only one of this design still in operation. There is plenty of power on the market currently. VY and industrial wind proponents are trying to convince us that the lights will go out or the price will go up without them. I do not believe either of them. Neither care about Vermont or Vermonters, they only care about profit.
Vermont needs a comprehensive energy plan for starters. If nuclear power is part of that plan then VY should be torn down when its license runs out and a new modern safe plant built in its place. If industrial wind is part of that plan then it should be sited near existing infrastructures without destroying the scenic beauty of Vermont.
And blinking red lights should not be part of any plan.
John S. Rodgers
Glover
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/03/which-side-of-the-environmental-fence-is-the-shumlin-administration-on/