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Contradictions on wind power
Credit: Rutland Herald via Grandpa's Knob Wind Project | 6 September 2012 ~~
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Imagine a small, but beautiful state in the northeastern part of the United States, a state with beautiful valleys, pristine forests, and great Green Mountains, for which this state was named. Yes, that state is our own Vermont.Imagine Vermont governed from a grass-roots level, led by a few good men and women.I went to a brunch held by Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters in Brandon on Aug. 18. He introduced his special guest and friend, Gov. Peter Shumlin. Sanders spoke at length about large corporations controlling other politicians and where they have taken this country.Both of them, especially Shumlin, spoke about grass-roots politics and how they were different than the others corrupted by big corporations and big money. They both spoke about global warming and what we should do to stop it.
They spoke about energy conservation measures and solar energy, both of which make sense. They also spoke about industrial wind and how they were in favor of it, though Bernie hedged a bit where he said he wasn’t responsible for the location of wind projects.
Shumlin stated that we should build them “as fast as we can.” He stated that there is a price to be paid for all projects, disregarding the fact that it will be some people’s health, delicate and irreplaceable ecosystems, birds and other animals, some of them even on the endangered species list, and even the great Green Mountains themselves. Take a good look at the Lowell wind project. I am wondering just what it is he is trying to save when he says he is doing this for his children.
Now entering in come these modern day carpetbaggers, huge corporate giants with foreign backing from Nordex of Germany and Iberdrola of Spain and the developer from the Lowell project and owner Greed Mountain Power. These machines of mass destruction are only, by their own builders admission, 30 percent efficient nationwide, and that is if they are placed in the national wind corridor. Vermont is not even in the national wind corridor.
Currently there are federal grants for building renewable energy projects, particularly if constructed by December 2012. Some businesses may also be able to take accelerated depreciation, if they carry the renewable energy label. Then we have federal tax credits for renewable energy produced, state mandates that say power companies must buy renewable energy at costs much higher than conventional electrical energy. Are these the reasons that Shumlin’s biggest supporter is an industrial wind developer?
Surely these are contradictions of what these politicians say. They seem to be defining for the public good as their own personal gain. Gov. Shumlin talks about the future of Vermont and what he wants to pass down to his children. Isn’t this actually a legacy of lunacy? What we need is a few good men and women.
ALLEN A. MILLS
Florence
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