March 14, 2012
Letters, Massachusetts

Uninformed attack on Lenox

The Berkshire Eagle, www.berkshireeagle.com 14 March 2012

In Sarah Gardner’s March 11 letter to The Eagle she dismisses the residents of Lenox, our Selectmen, and a study panel who spent months earnestly and openly vetting the issues of wind turbines on Yokun Ridge, as “NIMBYS.” I fully expect comments like that from the uniformed. I expect less intellectual laziness from the assistant director of The Center for Environ mental Studies at Williams College.

Ms. Gardner, if you attended our months of open meetings you might have learned something. If you took the time to meet with residents of Fal mouth who came here to tell their devastating stories of living next to poorly sited industrial scale wind turbines you might have learned something. If you had attended the public comments forum in Lenox you would have learned that the study panel arrived at an almost unanimous decision that siting of industrial scale wind turbines in Lenox’s water shed was not in the best interests of the town environmentally, financially, nor for the health of the citizens who live too close to the proposed site. You would also have learned that they arrived at this conclusion based on research and facts that clearly demonstrated the poor wind resource on our ridge, and the serious risk to the town’s water supply due to construction.

Instead of hurling unfounded invective at the well informed, progressive citizens of Lenox who are seeking the best alternatives to help our town participate in the struggle against climate change, you might have driven less than 50 minutes to see and hear what we’re doing. Our town manager is in the final stages of negotiating for the installation of a solar field that will power all our municipal needs without destroying a valuable environmental resource.

The process in Lenox was an example of what is needed now more than ever – a community’s commitment to addressing global warming, vetting renewables to find the smartest solutions for our town. The process encouraged the citizens of Lenox and the surrounding communities to join together, to get engaged, and to work towards a common goal. What we don’t need is exactly what you are perpetuating: name calling with a complete lack of information.

CYNTHIA WICK

Lenox


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/14/uninformed-attack-on-lenox/