Inside, in the halls of the Statehouse, the cafeteria and committee rooms, scores more were dressed in bright green vests to highlight their presence and emphasize the danger they feel.
Wednesday brought the biggest show of force yet by Vermonters upset with the state’s siting process for energy projects. What has in recent years been a relatively small group of wind opponents has grown into a legion of people worried about wind and solar, including town leaders from across the state.
“Now, it’s being taken more seriously,” LuAnn Therrien said of the opposition. Therrien has spent years speaking against the Sheffield wind project, which she said drove her family out of town.
The proliferation of solar projects around Vermont has changed the volume of the opposition, said Mark Whitworth, who is with the organization Energize Vermont. The group has long opposed decisions about the siting of wind projects, and it now finds new friends opposed to suggested solar sites. “That is what really has lit a fire under this energy rebellion. When it was wind in the Kingdom, it was pretty easy for people in other parts of the state to ignore it,” Whitworth said.
“We’ve been inundated with solar,” Russ Hodgkins, Westminster town manager, told the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Wednesday. He said his town supports renewable energy, but the locations chosen so far are taking prime agriculture and industrial sites out of the economy. “There’s not one of them that’s in a great location.”
Whether this growing throng of rebels will get their way is another matter. While they are railing against what they consider poorly sited projects, Gov. Peter Shumlin has been touting the growth of renewable energy and the jobs it brings.
Wednesday’s events — hours of meetings with the Senate and House Natural Resources and Energy committees and a noontime press conference and rally — were organized by Sen. John Rodgers (D-Essex/Orleans), author of a bill calling for a ban on industrial wind projects.
“In 1968, Vermont passed a landmark anti-billboard law,” Rodgers told those gathered for the press conference. The “billboard ban is what inspired me to do what I’ve known to be right for years, and that is introduce S. 210, to ban industrial wind from Vermont.”
Prospects for a ban seem as weak this year as in previous years, however. “We’ll listen, but I think the problem with that proposal is we have an orderly development process,” said Sen. Chris Bray (D-Addison), chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.
Bray insists, though, that he’s working on changes that will help, at least on the solar front. “That is the most urgent need we are responding to,” Bray said.
His committee is putting together a bill — S.230 — that he hopes will offer incentives to build solar projects in specific locations and direct the Public Service Board to consider town plans in approving projects. Changes coming to the state’s net metering regulations will also likely slow down the proliferation of solar projects, he said.
Bray’s House counterpart, Rep. Tony Klein (D-East Montpelier), said he’ll await the Senate’s bill, but he agreed changes to energy-project siting should be made this year, even if there is not yet agreement on what those should be. He said, “There’s a pretty clear message that towns do not think they’re being heard.”
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Here is a “time line” showing the history of Wind Turbine Noise problems, going back as far as 1979. Each entry provides documentation:
http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=0Ak2bgr7C0nhPdGR3S1lEekU3T3p4ZDhUNDdRV2Y2ZkE&font=Bevan-PotanoSans&maptype=toner&lang=en&height=650
1979 “First complaints received from a dozen families within a 3km radius of turbine”.
1981 “Wind turbine operation creates enormous sound pressure waves”
1982 “Closed windows and doors do not protect occupants from LFN”
1982 “NASA research on human impacts provided to wind industry”
1985 “Hypothesis for infrasound-induced motion sickness”
1987 “Wind industry told that dB(A) unsuitable to measure LFN emissions from wind turbines”
…
2004 “Wind industry knows noise models inadequate” (from Vestas)
…
2011 “Vestas knew that low frequency noise from larger turbines needed greater setbacks”
Just so it’s understood, there are many Vermonters who are happy with the amount of solar and wind being built in the state, and want to see more. If we are going to take responsibility for our energy needs, and do whats right for the planet, we are going to have to get use to seeing where our energy comes from. The people who live near the tar sands in Alberta are not complaining about the eye sore of an open mining pit. Their complaining about the contaminated drinking water, or the fact that they can’t grow food on their land anymore. It is disheartening that we are letting aesthetics get in the way of solving one of the largest humanitarian crises that we have ever seen.
My generation has committed its life to tacking climate change. I was in the state house and didn’t see a single supporter of this ban on wind that was under the age of 35.
Vermont has been known for its Green Mountains and its scenic beauty. These translate into large amounts of tourist dollars spent in the state.
Back before Young Vermonter can remember VT did not want this spoiled by billboards and we were on the leading edge passing anti billboard legislation to preserve our views for all to enjoy. I grew up in the Northeast Kingdom and when I go back to visit I find the wind towers in Lowell an eyesore and to me they ruined the view of the area.
The developers of wind want to be able to develop over objections of the local towns and villages and this highhandedness is at the crux of the problem. Our lovely mountains were something those of us older enjoy and wan to keep as we have tired to keep them for decades.
It is this treatment of local residents as not able to understand such a complicated problem and they will get wind and they better like it mentality that is found hardest to digest.
YoungVermonter, I appreciate your passion for stopping pollution, which is why I have gone vegetarian. I’m sure you are educated enough to know that is the NUMBER 1 way in which we can achieve an immediate reduction in our carbon footprint!
Industrial Wind development in Vermont is a very bad idea.Why, Professor Ben Luce, Professor of Physics and Sustainability Energy Studies at Lyndon State College, who was instrumental in developing industrial wind energy projects in New Mexico, and now lives in Vermont, is AGAINST industrial wind development in Vermont…and here’s why: it doesn’t fit our landscape. More cons than pros. Too close to people and wildlife protected areas. And (get this!) not enough wind to make it feasible!
Find out more here: (if you dare!)
https://vimeo.com/15594006
I take umbrage to your comment about it being about aesthetics. Every single testimony given yesterday at the statehouse, and in every news story written, it’s pretty clear opponents are calling for better siting so it doesn’t affect people’s health. And big blades & turbine motor components are produced in China, where the dirty carbon footprint to develop them, bring them here, and erect them is so huge, there’s practically a net-neutral gain. We can do better.
And we will.
I believe in small-scale renewables, better efficiency-measures and….(unbelievably so!): LESS CONSUMPTION
.
Better get used to unplugging your computer more. That’s the future.
Opponents don’t have a leg to stand on, except rhetorical. Turbines & solar, though not as pretty to look at as fields & hills, do *not* remove land from the economy. They are the economy. The future energy economy is in renewables, not just their presence, generating energy industry jobs and construction jobs, but their manufacture & support by local companies. What is probably unproductive land is becoming productive.
I have to agree with ConcernedVTer. It is clearly not about health effects. Even if the turbines make some noise, many people live in more urban places with regular noise levels greater than a wind farm 1/4 to more miles away. They do fine. There are utility substations in the state which have a much greater concentration of electric current flowing than a wind farm. It is about aesthetics and wanting the landscape to look like it always did.
In the meanwhile, even if we reduce our energy conmsumption by 50%, which I want us to do as quickly as possible, we need to supply the other 50% with renewable energy. Right now, we get about 4% of our power from in-state renewables.
Hydro-Quebec flooded vast areas of wilderness and ended the way of life for many first nations people in Quebec to build there huge dam projects. This is not the same as Vermonters not liking the view of wind turbines or solar farms. Communities in West Virginia see their entire hill sides removed so mining companies can get at the coal underneath. Other communities world wide see their water being contaminated by natural gas fracking operations. Vermont just closed VT Yankee which WAS emitting radiation as part of its regular functioning. We need renewable energy as fast as we can get it. Yes, we should consider impacts on wetlands and endangered species and all of the other environmental concerns that are ALREADY BEING considered in the permitting of all of these projects that a vocal minority of people are against.. We need to get to 90% renewable earlier than 2050. 90% by 2030 is a realistic goal if we want to keep temperature rise below 2°C.
I saw a child standing in the front row at the press conference holding a sign asking for wind turbines to be banned. It may be one of the many children who live within a mile of the proposed Swanton Wind development. Yes, young people are concerned about the loss of local control and the undemocratic process Vermont has established for renewable energy development.
I hope you will learn more about what people are concerned about. It is not about being against renewable energy. The system people seem to want to support is broken, and the best way to learn that is to engage in it. I have been doing it. It is brutal. It enriches lawyers. Why the industry supports it is incomprehensible. Do you really think we need lawyers to decide how to screen solar projects?
I invite you to watch this 30 minute video testimony from neighbors of the Georgia Mountain, Lowell and Sheffield wind projects https://youtu.be/3KtlBXyD7w4
Just because NIMBYs endlessly repeat their heartfelt opposition to wind turbines, solar fields, and anything else they don’t wish to see, and just because their anger and frustration has convinced them that their psychosomatic responses are real, doesn’t mean that they’re right. It doesn’t mean that they win the public policy debate and that the rest of the world should just do what they want us to do. Crying longer, louder, and more often doesn’t mean you’re right and that you win.
You folks who are questioning the health effects of these monstrous industrial turbines should be ashamed of yourselves for belittling your fellow Vermonters who are suffering. Wind turbine syndrome is recognized by the United Nations. It is real. Here in Maine, we’ve had more and longer experience with these huge turbines and it is difficult to listen to what rural residents near these machines are experiencing. The vibrations, the shadow flicker, the low level noise that goes on and on. I listened to a resident explain how she felt like a tuning fork on some days with the vibration going from her feet to the top of her head. She was a regular Mainer and spoke of how she is becoming an expert in weather, wind speed and direction, etc because the variations create different awful sensations to deal with. When these huge turbines are spinning, the peace in her home is gone. This has happened to hundreds of Mainers. And all for a lie, because these goddam industrial turbines notoriously and consistently underperform. The wind is unpredictable and very often blows when more energy is not needed such as at night. Putting them up destroys mountain tops and ridge lines, destroys wildlife habitat, kills federally protected eagles and endangered bats, removes tens of thousands of carbon sequestering trees. Why do you think such filthy companies as TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone pipeline, love the wind energy scam? They and their Wall Street/Big Bank pals love the federal taxpayer giveaway and their guaranteed rip off profits. Vermonters: put an end to the industrial wind scam as fast as you can. Protect your natural heritage, your precious wild life, your fellow citizens and your special quality of place.
Better technology is coming e.g . hydrogen cars now a reality. This technology will lower pollution while offering a solution to our energy needs.
We should not be rushing into loss of quality of place which is just as important as clean air.
Vermont had the most environmentally friendly power source ever invented–small footprint with minimal disruption to the environment–Vermont Yankee. Unfortunately, due to shortsightedness, radiophobia and the renewables religion, Vermont will now be carved up for wind turbines and access roads. What a pity.
Remember folks, decarbonization is the goal, not 100% renewables. We need to ramp up nuclear power (and keep the plants we already have) in addition to increasing solar and wind sources. So say the IPCC, the IEA, COP21 and most climate scientists. But, hey, those with the 100% renewables religion don’t care about what the IPCC has to say. Just like climate change deniers, they don’t give a damn about science when it goes against their ideology.
dynamiting head waters is BAD
The irony is the wind and solar industrialists and their blind supporters cry NIMBY at any concern without recognizing that Shumlin’s closure of VT Yankee in his Windham County backyard represents the biggest NIMBY action of all. Shummy was determined to close VT Yankee to protect his property values because of concerns with VT Yankee and not once suggested rebuilding it with 3rd generation safe and carbon-free nuclear. But he’s shown with renewables and the F-35 that he cares not a whit for anyone else’s neighborhood or property values and happily sacrifices the ordinary taxpayer for the profit of his campaign donors.
Shumlin and wind fanatic Tony Klein have even called F-35 opponents NIMBY and denigrated multi-generation Winooski and South Burlington families by saying, “Hey, the airport was there, you knew there was an airport, get over it, etc.” Guess what? VT Yankee was already there also & Shumlin well knew it when he moved back to Windham County after college and started buying properties. Worst governor we’ve ever had.
It is all about Eco-Fascism!
see
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-ag-s-office-investigating-complaints-against-annette-smit
Support Annette Smith and wind opposition in Vermont, they are right!
This action by the Vt. AG office is abhorrent to all that is just and in our bill of rights!
Help defend her first amendment rights from the onslaught of President 0 and Eco-Fascism in Vt.
When Vermonters were asked if we were in favor of renewable energy there was a resounding yes.
What we didn’t know was the following:
1. We would get carved out and blasted mountain tops.
2. Roughshod riding over local planning and zoning.
3. A governor that said,”if towns don’t want it I won’t support it”. Lying in his teeth.
4. Government subsidies (our tax money) that makes the whole thing a windfall for the financially connected.
5. The likes of Klien, Shumlin, Powell, Burns, Rechia and Blittersdorf telling us what’s good for us.
6. The use of the attorney general’s office to squelch or harass any opposition.
7. A PSB that ignores the health of families that have to live with monster wind and the loss of property values.
The backlash is underway. An election is coming. Changes are going to be made.