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

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Budgeting for Battle 

Credit:  Frank Seawright | Rutland Herald | October 13, 2016 | www.rutlandherald.com ~~

In Windham, as in many towns across Vermont, we are working on our budget. We face a large new expense, as we continue to fight the threat posed by Iberdrola/Avangrid, the multi-national wind developer that came here four years ago. Windham is among Vermont’s smallest towns, and Iberdrola/Avangrid is among the largest of the corporations that currently benefit from millions in U.S. tax subsidies. This is truly a David and Goliath mismatch if ever there was one.

Iberdrola’s reps have said they respect our carefully developed town plan, which prohibits industrial wind. Even so, they ignored it and now a flashpoint approaches in the form of a townwide referendum on their project, to be held on November 8. Iberdrola says it will honor a “no” vote and leave, but history suggests the company will find a way to renege even if the town votes “no,” so we must plan for the possibility that we’ll have to take to the battlefield anyway.

Today’s battlefield is different from the one where David and Goliath met. It’s an air-conditioned chamber with judges, lawyers, clerks and expert witnesses. Dollars are slung instead of stones. We’ll need money from Windham taxpayers to pay our legal fees and our experts. What else can we do? We’ll fight to defend our town, but no matter the outcome, our community is wounded.

Recently, Iberdrola unveiled its latest plan for our town. Our community has been tense for a while, and our tension was increased by rumors that the corporation had funded a small group of people to negotiate with them prior to the unveiling. The Iberdrola-appointed group provided cover for the developer’s contention that its new plan responded to “community concerns,” even though the group operated in secrecy. No one knew how it was formed, whether it included Windham residents, when or where it met, or what “community concerns” it voiced. Other Vermont communities that might be future targets of developers’ gropings should remember this peculiar tactic, for it is an especially corrosive one.

By contrast, the current Select Board was elected by the people of Windham. The anti-wind position of two of the three members was known at the time each was elected; the third member’s position was not known when he was elected, nor is it known now. A majority of the Select Board and the town of Windham Planning Commission have been working for years to collect relevant data and information on the site proposed for the installation, as well as on other pertinent matters. We found that our town is an inappropriate location for a project of this type.

At a recent meeting prior to Iberdrola’s unveiling of its current proposal, a person in attendance asserted that the upcoming vote would favor the project, thereby relieving the town of the expense of defending itself. The Select Board, she said, must succumb to the tyranny of the majority and surrender to Iberdrola. Although we had no way of knowing it at the time, this person turned out to be one of Iberdrola’s hand-picked group of conspirators, the only one presently identified. She knew that Iberdrola would be offering Windham voters a bribe of around $1,000 per year for a favorable Nov. 8 vote.

The bribe ploy was hardly homegrown: Iberdrola had bragged about it to Montpelier insiders. So the burning questions for Vermonters might be these: What does it mean for us as a people that Iberdrola has selected and funded a secret group of citizens, in order to bypass a legally elected local government in pursuit of limited self-interest? And what will be the basis for town government, if a company backed with unlimited U.S. taxpayer money can simply establish a fund to pay voters for a favorable vote?

Frank Seawright is chairman of the Windham Select Board.

Source:  Frank Seawright | Rutland Herald | October 13, 2016 | www.rutlandherald.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