June 1, 2012
Editorials, Vermont

Please, no Encore

The Orleans Record | orleanscountyrecord.com 31 May 2012

The clamor in Derby over industrial wind turbines has ended with an announcement from the development company that it will abandon its current venture. Beyond the stated reasons given by developer – Encore Redevelopment, we assume that the company bailed because they ran out of time requisite to secure critical federal subsidies before they expire at the end of 2012. We’re glad to see them go.

It’s well-documented that wind power couldn’t exist without huge taxpayer and rate-payer subsidies. Beyond that, Vermont has more electricity than it needs, wind farms are ravaging our ridgelines and tearing communities apart, wind power is intermittent and unreliable, and industrial farms over all of our mountain tops would have zero impact on our overall carbon footprint.

Developers get guaranteed windfalls of cash but ratepayers end up paying quintuple the amount they would from conventional power sources. That formula puts Vermont on a slippery slope with the businesses that drive our collective economy.

We aren’t totally close-minded on the topic. Vermonters For A Clean Environment, as reported by the Burlington Free Press, developed a simulation to show 450 foot wind towers on Lake Champlain (see photo below). We like that idea, and would most certainly soften our resistance if Burlington was willing to line its shores with the expensive and inefficient monsters.

In the meantime we hold out hope for no Encore.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/06/01/please-no-encore/