More questions than answers
The Orleans Record, orleanscountyrecord.com 29 November 2011
Before any wind turbines are built, there are still more questions than answers to the Lowell Wind Project. There are questions about the very premise for building industrial wind on ridgelines and why it is so important to do it now. There is no clear evidence that industrial wind will curb our dependence on fossil fuels or reduce carbon emissions.
There are questions as to why a utility would be allowed to keep blasting through a mountain when there is reason to believe they are doing it on somebody else’s property. There are questions as to why the court, the Public Service Board and the Agency of Natural Resources have failed so miserably in protecting this ridgeline and the property rights of a landowner. Before people blindly accept the status quo and get on the industrial wind bandwagon, maybe they should ask themselves why these questions, still lying under the surface of this whole industrial wind debate, have not been answered.
There are questions about the arrest of the two college students last week. Somehow the rules governing actual arrest changed from one day to the next. Green Mountain Power keeps trying to shift the blame for any delays onto the protesters. It wasn’t protesters who filled in part of the wetlands and disturbed a beaver dam that was supposed to be reserved for mitigation purposes. It wasn’t protesters who cut the ten mature trees on that same property. Is wasn’t protesters who started building an access road without worrying about stormwater run-off and would have continued if it hadn’t been for heavy rains and stormwater run-off. It wasn’t protesters who issued a temporary restraining order against themselves without any provisions for enforcement.
In the meantime GMP continues to blast the hell out of Lowell Mountain on disputed property in an attempt to extract enough rock to make their crane path. It is a mystery to me why these issues have not brought this whole project to a screeching halt. Maybe meeting a deadline to receive federal tax credits should not be the only criteria used to decide whether a utility owned by a multi-billion dollar company moves ahead or not.
Richard Rumery
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/29/more-questions-than-answers/