January 11, 2012
Letters, Vermont

Scale matters for wind projects

Burlington Free Press, www.burlingtonfreepress.com 11 January 2012

I would like to respond to Taylor Johnson’s letter of Dec. 18 (“Vermont needs wind projects”). Wind power should certainly be a part of the mix, but it’s a matter of scale. If we want to protect our environment in Vermont, we should not be industrializing our ridge lines. If we don’t want to have anything to do with large out-of-state corporations, we should all be keeping a close eye on the proposed merger between Green Mountain Power and CVPS.

Green Mountain Power is owned by Gaz Metro of Quebec, which has a web of owners including Enbridge, a tar sands developer. You can be sure that they are not concerned about our well being here, or our ability to take control of our energy future. There’s nothing clean or green about tar sands, and there’s nothing clean and green about big wind in Vermont.

If we want to maintain our mountains and continue to have Vermont be thought of as an environmentally friendly place, we need to find more appropriate sources of renewable electricity. But we would have to do this anyway, because the Department of Energy’s estimates show that ridge line wind is only capable of providing a small percentage of our electricity at best, even if we develop all the ridges. We should be investing in serious sources such as solar power.

Finally, we can’t afford not to oppose these projects – they are driven by profits for corporations, and are not in the best interests of Vermonters. Don’t believe the green wash.

DIANE GRENKOW
Hardwick


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/11/scale-matters-for-wind-projects/