Not a Koch Bros. flack
Brattleboro Reformer | 03/23/2013 | www.reformer.com
There is a sizable group of people around the state and especially in Grafton, Windham, Sheffield who are opposed to large-scale industrial wind production (In response to “What’s the origin of Vermont anti-wind sentiment?” March 15). None of us is on the payroll of the Koch Brothers. To my knowledge none of us is a mouthpiece for ultra-right organizations. We are Vermonters who love our ridgelines the way they are. Act 250 sought to preserve the ridgelines and has stood the test of time. We support Act 250 as a way to preserve the forests and fields of our state. Industrial wind projects do not have to conform to Act 250. Due to undemocratic lobbying by big monied utilities, they are not covered by Act 250 and utility development requires no environmental impact statement. Not only that the permitting process prohibits input from the neighbors.
Aside from their beauty, ridgelines protect us from flooding which global warming is guaranteeing will get worse. So why make the flooding worse by shaving the tops off our ridgelines? In the name of saving us from the effects of global warming, we are making the effects of global warming more disastrous? Not smart.
I understand that getting a PhD requires reading books, getting opinions from other sources and then using them as your own as you create sweeping generalities. Please don’t assume that the rest of the world requires spoon feeding in order to come to a conclusion. We don’t have PhDs and our opinions come from our experience as landowners in Vermont. Wind is fine as an alternative energy when it is sited in a physical location where it doesn’t destroy the land. Without any ultra-conservative input, we have decided on our own that it is stupid to destroy Vermont’s landscape in order to save it from global warming.
Small dams and water power worked here for generations as energy sources. Conservation, public transport still need to be pursued as energy saving options. This makes much more sense to my far left sensibilities. My question to the authors of the column is who paid you to write it? Iberdola? Atlantic Wind? The arguments you make are identical to those made by the industrial wind mouth pieces, but unlike you, I do not assume you have been paid to flog the company line. However, it is a valid question back to the person who questions motivation.
Sally Warren,
Grafton, March 18
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/03/23/not-a-koch-bros-flack/