March 5, 2012
Vermont

Vermont voters will give opinion on wind projects

Nick Natario, www.fox44now.com

Lyndonville, Vermont – Wind turbine projects are controversial in Vermont.

On Super Tuesday people in the Green Mountain State will be asked their thoughts about those projects in State Senator Bill Doyle’s annual survey.

Each year Doyle asks voters several questions on a wide range of issues.

The answers don’t decide issues, but they do give Doyle and others an idea of where people stand.

Lyndon State Assistant Physics Professor Ben Luce has researched wind power for nearly two decades.

Luce came from the Midwest where he says wind turbine projects generate a lot of power.

“Wind is a means to generate carbon free, or relatively carbon free electricity,” said Luce.

Luce says a big reason why wind turbines are good in the Midwest is it’s flat so you can put them anywhere but here in the Northeast he says if you put them in the valley’s it doesn’t do any good he says you have to put them in the mountains to generate any kind of power.

Seven ridgelines are the focus of wind turbine projects.

Two have been completed in Sheffield and Georgia.

Two others are being built in Lowell and Deerfield.

And the Agency of Natural Resources says three others in Derby, Brighton and Grandpa’s Knob are in the permitting process.

“This kind of development does require very, very extensive blasting and bulldozing of the ridgelines,” said Luce.

It’s that damage Luce says that can change the environment not just for animals but water trails as well.

Luce says on Super Tuesday he’s looking forward to see which side Vermonters sit on.

“I suspect it may come out on the pro-wind side but it’s still good to know where people are at,” said Luce.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/05/vermont-voters-will-give-opinion-on-wind-projects/