Ruining our beauty
The Recorder, 3 November 2011
I read with great interest the Oct. 25, My Turn article titled “We deserve answers.” I do not know who Deborah Andrew is, but I could not agree more with her article.
I have lived in Shelburne all of my life. I have hiked Mount Massaemet and the High Ledges through out my life. When my wife and I moved from the Falls to Shelburne Center, we did so for the aesthetic beauty of the surrounding landscape. The road I live on parallels Little Mohawk Road, and we are just down from the Patton district. To widen these serene country roads would forever destroy the aesthetic beauty of the area. It would be a crime to rape the top of this beautiful scenic vista to install eight 465-foot-tall wind turbines that will not only not supply the Shelburne Falls area with power, but will create a massive footprint to the area that, in my opinion, will not be offset by any benefits from the proposed wind turbines.
The proponents for this project say that the seven wind turbines will produce 2.5 MWs of electricity. That is at an optimum wind speed. It is not a sustained 2.5 MWs. The area in question is very close to the National Audubon Society’s sanctuary. Not a real good deal for the birds! I do not think Ellsworth or Mary Barnard would have approved.
Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, Australia all have withdrawn from this type of renewable energy. Why? If this makes me a NIMBY, so be it. I look to the greater good for our community.
As Deborah Andrew did, I also suggest people attend public hearing held at Memorial Hall on Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
PHILLIP TEDESCO III
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/03/ruining-our-beauty/