January 12, 2012
Letters, Massachusetts

Wind Wise is grass-roots group trying to get out facts about Duxbury wind project

www.boston.com 12 January 2012

Regarding “In Duxbury, wind project’s backers cry foul’’ (Globe South, Jan. 5), Wind Wise – Massachusetts is a statewide alliance of grass-roots organizations and individuals who have united to challenge the assumption that wind energy is a viable green technology for the Commonwealth. This is an all-volunteer organization. We receive no outside funding.

We are just a loose affiliation of people. We are armed with facts and a generous neighborly willingness to help other people just like us when they find their communities targeted by the wind industry (and its collaborators in the environmental community and state government). We have a wealth of facts, not dollar bills.

One reporter has asked me where our funding comes from. After I stopped laughing, I explained that we had no funding. He said, “Then you are a true ‘grass-roots’ organization.’’ Yes we are.

Duxbury Wind Wise needs a fair shake. Let me rewrite your lead sentence: “Duxbury advocates for wind power admit that they have been targeted by a well-organized, well-educated, homegrown local opposition group whose factual presentation wowed the majority of the Board of Selectmen.’’

Duxbury Wind Wise has one of the best websites in the Commonwealth for factual information. Take some time and read their postings. You will learn some things that the wind industry will not tell you.

Virginia Irvine Brimfield, Wind Wise – Massachusetts steering committee

Regarding “In Duxbury, wind project’s backers cry foul,’’ the proof I offer, to the allegation of an anti-wind-turbine conspiracy group funding the cause in Duxbury, is that the nearly $6,000 spent from my own pocket was for the defense of our family’s health and well-being in Falmouth.

Our group of neighbors hired attorney Christopher Senie and we also hired Mike Bahtiarian from NCE, a noise consultant for noise level testing. The only financial support from outside of our neighborhood of contributors came from a philanthropic donation by the estate of Bruce McPherson, a former Hyannisport resident. His donation was in support of another neighborhood noise study which was recently released.

Being neighborly is the basis of our “grass-roots’’ effort. Being Christian and practicing principles of “doing the right thing for yourself, your family, your neighbors, and your community’’ is considered a virtue in most circles. These recent accusations serve as an example of outspoken, caring, and concerned neighbors being eviscerated by those trained to deflect from the real issues and truth. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last.

The more accurate interpretation of the problem isn’t about who is funding a movement against wronging the fundamental decencies of your neighbor. It’s about when our society, neighbors in Falmouth and Duxbury, ceases to care for each other, and only about profit or saving money.

Count me, and a growing number like my wife and me, as neighbors that care. We are pro-neighborhood! If it so happens that we help our neighbors fight for “right’’ financially, I guess this makes us an anti-wind conspiracy group. It is what it is.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/12/wind-wise-is-grass-roots-group-trying-to-get-out-facts-about-duxbury-wind-project/