Wind tower wars 

A new front in the wind tower wars in the Northeast Kingdom has emerged. The Dairy Aire commercial wind project in Holland.

After enormous pushback from other towns in the region, wind developers are employing a new strategy, targeting individual farm owners and approaching them with their pie in the sky promises of wealth and trying to convince them that Big Wind will save their farms in this time of declining milk prices.

Holland is a small town with limited resources to fight the financial and political power that is behind these developers. One wonders how many towns need to be targeted by these predators before the obvious becomes apparent. These developers will keep pushing their agenda until they find a hole in the dyke.

Holland is surrounded by towns that have overwhelmingly rejected industrial wind. Morgan, Brighton, Newark, Derby, Irasburg, etc. Now Holland is in the crosshairs.

Many say “it is just one tower.” But the reality is that if one tower is permitted, the precedent is set. Other farmers in Holland are waiting in the wings to build their “one tower.” If the PSB approves this horrible defacing of our town, other towers will follow. There may be farms that erect multiple towers.

We will not be able to stop the industrialization of our small rural, agricultural town.

We will not be able to stop the victimization of neighboring residents.

We will not be able to protect our school, which is less than a mile from the proposed tower.

We will not be able to protect ourselves against the proven detrimental health affects wind towers unleash upon people and animals within a 3 mile radius.

We will not be able to protect ourselves from declining property values.

There are people who say that a landowner should be able to do anything they want with their property. Does that include destroying your neighbor’s health, their quality of life and their property values? Is it ok to destroy their lives?

Wind turbines are notoriously inefficient, averaging between 30% and 40%. If you owned a business that was looking to install a new piece of equipment, this level of performance would be unacceptable. But because of federal government subsidies, (from the taxpayers) they are enormously profitable for the developers. So the taxpayers of Holland and other towns will be effectively paying for the rape of their towns.

So who is behind this assault on our homes and neighbors? In every case it is the same people, carpetbaggers from Chittenden County who destroy towns, destroy friendships and destroy people. They know that their ugliness would never fly in Charlotte or Stowe or Woodstock. Instead they bring their bad intentions based on money and greed to the NEK, the Vermont outback, where they think they will encounter the least resistance. Targeting the poorest people in the state. Shame.

We as a town need to aggressively fight this intrusion on our lives by greedy developers that have no regard for our wellbeing, individually or collectively. The State of Vermont is in the pocket of these developers, with a stacked Public Service Board and a Governor who will sell his soul to the highest bidder.

In conclusion, I would ask our select board, our local legislators and ultimately the Public Service Board to stop this cancer on our town.

Bruce Wilkie

Derby Line, Vt.