February 19, 2014
Letters, Massachusetts

Can town trust Lightship Energy?

Berkshire Eagle | 02/19/2014 | www.berkshireeagle.com

As I recall from an Economics 101 Class I once took in college, when two parties enter into a business venture together there is a mutual respect between both entities, and the business agreement is beneficial to the parties involved. Each party thoroughly checks the character and reputation of the other, to ensure that there are no red flags. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be occurring with the business venture that the town of Peru seems to be blindly entering into with Lightship Energy LLC, the development company that submitted an application for the proposed Industrial wind turbine project at Garnet Hill.

Lightship Energy has requested numerous waivers and variances, which would be solely beneficial to the company. With these special exceptions its project would more or less be taking over the town and even part of the Peru State Forest if the Zoning Board of Appeals approves its permit.

More significant is the stability or even the existence of Lightship Energy. Research that I recently performed on corporate files on the secretary of the commonwealth website (www.sec.state.ma us) indicated that on June 30, 2013 Lightship Energy was dissolved involuntarily by a court order. However, in September, Lightship Energy submitted its application to the town with the numerous bylaw waivers and variances requested. So it appears it was not operating legally then or now. I do not believe it is legal for a corporation to continue to conduct business after dissolution, and doing so can be interpreted as an act of fraud. My question for the Zoning Board of Appeals is, if Lightship Energy is not able to manage its own business, how is it to be trusted with managing an industrial wind turbine project in Peru?

I believe that the Zoning Board of Appeals needs to consider the character of the partner it is looking to enter into a business venture with. Do you trust this company with planning and constructing a massive project that has already disrupted residents and created an unwanted divisiveness in town?

JOSEPH KAMINSKI

Peru


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/19/can-town-trust-lightship-energy/