LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

News Watch Home

2 senators want halt to wind projects 

Credit:  January 4, 2013 | www.timesargus.com ~~

MONTPELIER – Two Vermont state senators called Thursday for legislation that would impose a three-year moratorium on large-scale wind power projects in the state and for a more thorough environmental review of energy projects.

Sen. Robert Hartwell, D-Bennington, said review by the Public Service Board, the three-member panel that considers proposed utility projects, is an inadequate process. He and Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, said the process does not allow for enough public participation.

The senators’ move drew a flurry of press statements from environmental and renewable energy groups, saying a moratorium would be a job killer and would hurt Vermont’s efforts to fight climate change by reducing carbon emissions.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, who would have to sign any bill imposing a moratorium or changing the way wind projects are reviewed, said at a news conference that he was cool to the ideas. The governor noted he recently appointed a special commission to look at the way Vermont reviews energy projects.

Projects like the large-scale wind power installations on Lowell Mountain in Lowell and in Sheffield are reviewed under state law designed to balance the need for energy versus environmental protection. Benning and Hartwell would have them reviewed instead under Act 250, in which a broader range of development projects are subject to what they maintain is more stringent environmental review.

“Let’s hit the reset button and redefine this conversation in a way that makes sense,” Benning said in an interview.

The senators argued that the bulk of Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions come from vehicles and building furnaces. Vermont gets large amounts of power from Canadian hydroelectric dams, a New Hampshire nuclear plant and other low-carbon sources. With electricity accounting for just a fraction of Vermont’s carbon footprint, a full build-out of potential wind power sites in the state would gain little, the senators said.

Meanwhile, extensive environmental damage is being done to the fragile mountaintop environments where wind towers are being built, they said. Hartwell said aerial photos taken by Benning showed huge swaths of trees were cut down along the Lowell Mountain ridge line, where Green Mountain Power recently built 21 turbines.

Trees absorb carbon, and “the forest is the single biggest carbon sink we have,” Hartwell said.

The Vermont Natural Resources Council was among several groups defending wind power development in the state.

“VNRC believes that carefully sited renewable energy generation facilities – including wind turbines – coupled with aggressive energy conservation and efficiency strategies, are a responsible response to climate change, peak oil and the need for an independent, clean energy economy,” it said in a statement.

Source:  January 4, 2013 | www.timesargus.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky