March 17, 2012
Press releases

Massachusetts’ fact-finding mission to Europe: a snow job?

EPAW-NAPAW, 17 March 2012

The Massachusetts delegation to the UK, Denmark and Germany, officially sent to learn from the European experience with wind energy, will only be interviewing parties having a vested interest in the business. They just refused to meet with representatives of those Europeans who know best about the problems that cripple the industry.

On March 13th the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW), which represent 520 associations and federations from 23 countries, proposed to the Governor of Massachusetts that members of the MA delegation would meet with them. Two days later, EPAW received an email “on behalf of Governor Deval Patrick” showing no interest whatsoever in their offer to provide useful information.

The terms of the reply were nonchalant as can be, evidencing contempt for vox populi: “We understand your concern about this issue, and we are grateful to have your voice as part of the discussion. Please feel free to contact our office in the future with any further questions or concerns; your comments are always welcome in this administration.” In other words: we binned your email without reading it, but we love hearing from you; please write again.

Says Sherri Lange, CEO of the North-American Platform Against Windpower (NA-PAW): “So much for the hype about windpower in Denmark and Germany: isn’t it easy to form a rosy opinion if one refuses to look at the other side of the coin?”

“It’s a case of the blind leading the blind”, opines Mark Duchamp, Executive Director of EPAW. “Incidentally, this leaves MA taxpayers wondering: are we paying for a fact-finding mission, a junket, or a snow job?

The MA delegation is composed of Matt Morrissey, executive director for the city’s Economic Development Council, Patrick Cloney, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, New Bedford’s John Miller from the Marine Renewable Energy Center and Paul Vigeant, assistant chancellor for economic development at UMass Dartmouth.

Contacts:

Mark Duchamp +34 693 643 736 (Spain) Skype: mark.duchamp

Executive Director, EPAW

www.epaw.org

save.the.eagles@gmail.com

Sherri Lange +1 416 567 5115 (Canada)

CEO, NA-PAW

www.na-paw.org

kodaisl@rogers.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/17/massachusetts-fact-finding-mission-to-europe-a-snow-job/