Windfo revival meetups

At the Sutton School on Monday (Feb. 27), starting at 6:30, Clean Air Vermont, a group that appears to have been conjured just for this meeting, probably born in the bowels of VPIRG like that other "volunteer driven group" Clean Power Vermont -- anyway, said group has called a meeting to restore the Suttonites to the true faith of industrial sprawl and centralized power. (I don't know when -- or why -- VPIRG got into this business; it is completely antithetical to their usual concerns.)

Then on Tuesday (Feb. 28) down in Montpelier, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Vermont's Building for Social Responsibility is putting their face into the same wind. This one actually promises to be a discussion to sort out the pros and cons of commerical wind power development on Vermont's ridgelines. We'll see.

There is currently 1 small operating wind power facility in Vermont and 9 big ones in the pipeline. These projects will affect 58 of the state's 251 towns.

A statement from Vermonters with Vision (and potential petition) is as follows:

We oppose the construction of industrial wind power turbines on Vermont's ridgelines.

1. The energy benefits are minimal.
   
2. The addition of noise, light, and visual pollution is unacceptable.
   
3. The negative impact to the land and to wildlife is significant.
   
4. The harm to Vermont's rural character far outweighs vaguely promised pay-offs to affected towns and individuals.

For expansion of these statements, see www.rosenlake.net/vwv.

tags:  wind power, wind energy, Vermont, environment, environmentalism