June 19, 2012
Letters, Vermont

Where did PSB get its power?

Rutland Herald | www.rutlandherald.com via: grandpasknobwind.wordpress.com 19 June 2012

The proposed wind project on Grandpa Knob ridgeline is opposed by the citizens of the “host” towns. Vermont power companies have already assured themselves of, and contracted for, sufficient power for the next 20 years. There is no need or desire for this project. Unfortunately, moneyed interests hope to cash in on huge government subsidies – our money.

In spite of many negatives associated with this project, one state agency – the Public Service Board – has the final say. This three-member board can overrule the wishes of the citizens, grant exemptions from environmental laws, ignore the objections of the Agency of Natural Resources and other governmental agencies and impose this project on the rest of us, simply by saying yes.

When did we volunteer to surrender our liberties and our laws to these three people? Who created this board? How did it achieve such excessive power? Politicians can offer only flimsy justification for putting such power in the hands of a majority of two. Let’s find out the real reason this board was created and given such power. It is an almost inescapable truth that a vast sum of subsidy money will corrupt some people.

Some citizens would like Gov. Shumlin and/or the Legislature to appoint a special independent prosecutor. (Unfortunately, that might be akin to asking a thief to appoint someone to investigate his latest robbery.) The special prosecutor’s task would be to investigate the creation of the PSB and discover which state senators, representatives and governors supported its creation and power. With whom did they meet, both publicly and privately, and how often? Were there exchanges of favors for votes? Did “romance” sway votes?

At the very least, those who supported PSB’s creation and power should be voted out of office, since they oppose fundamental values of the American heritage. Any unethical transactions between public servants and outside financial interests should be vigorously prosecuted.

All readers are urged to get involved in discovering why and by whom the PSB was granted such extraordinary power.

KENT HART
Florence

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/06/19/where-did-psb-get-its-power/