March 25, 2011
Opinions, Vermont

Don’t destroy ridgelines for wind power

Ray Giroux, Burlington Free Press, www.burlingtonfreepress.com 24 March 2011

On Feb. 24, I attended a rally on the front lawn on the StateĀ­house for people who are against the Lowell Mountain wind project. I thought the rally was well attended. About 50 or 60 people, and a good number spoke giving insightful opinions on why they feel wind power is not right for Vermont.

We all were hoping Gov. Shumlin would attend the rally so he could explain to us why he is preempting the Public Service Board hearings by announcing his support for the project. Apparently, all the evidence and testimony showing why this project is a bad idea means absolutely nothing to him.

We heard later that the governor was in Lowell while our rally was going on. He spoke to a gathering of people from Lowell and told them how we need to get this wind farm built because it will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Now that’s a very powerful statement to make these days because God knows everyone in this country wants to be independent of Middle Eastern oil. The only problem with this statement is that it is misleading and completely false. America does not use foreign oil to produce its electricity.

According to an article from AmericanEnergyIndependence.com it states, “U.S. Electric Utility Companies responded to the threat of the 1973 Arab oil embargo by replacing petroleum fuel oil with U.S. coal, nuclear energy, and natural gas to power their generators. The U.S. no longer depends on petroleum to generate electricity for the power grid. The U.S. is not dependent on foreign sources of energy for electricity generation.”

Could it be that the governor is just misinformed? Does he really believe that destroying a pristine ridgeline in the Lowell mountains so they can build 21 450-foot tall wind turbines will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil?

Personally, I think the governor is a very intelligent man and I’m having trouble believing he doesn’t know what source of energy is used to make electricity in this country.

To destroy our beautiful ridgelines that took hundreds of million years to form just to produce a minimal amount of electricity that we can easily get from other sources, is the most insane thing I ever heard.

Ray Giroux lives in Albany.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/25/dont-destroy-ridgelines-for-wind-power/