Energy Siting Commission Public Hearing, Brattleboro, Jan 23

Friends of Graftons Heritage is a grassroots organization is made up of Grafton residents and property owners who are dedicated to preserving Graftons valuable natural environment. They are concerned about the negative impacts of a potential large-scale industrial wind installation on the ridgelines in Grafton/Windham and ask if there are more cost-effective and less destructive ways to meet Vermonts future energy needs.
Friends of Grafton's Heritage question if large-scale industrial wind projects are smart for Vermont. They want to ensure that the permitting process serves the public good rather than the economic interests of a very few. They are seeking answers to questions like these:
§ How good must a ridgeline wind resource be to make it worth the kind of massive destruction necessary to erect 450-foot turbines in mountainous terrain?
§ What are the real health effects of inaudible sound waves, pressure pulses and shadow flicker on humans in homes and schools within 2 miles of industrial scale turbines?
§ What is the real effect on property values?
§ What is the effect on town budgets and individual property taxes of the payments made by wind developers?
§ How are the interests of landowners who want to develop big wind on their land to be reconciled with adjacent landowners who dont want development of this kind?
§ How are the economic interests of towns adjacent to these projects to be reconciled when their residents and voters have different goals for development?
§ Is it reasonable to abandon the long practice of permitting new electrical generation solely on the basis of need and replace it with a policy that says, If its renewable, its good; so build it now even if we dont need the power?
§ What will be the effect on electrical rates?
Background:
Energy Siting Commission: This is the first Energy Siting Policy Commission public hearing in Brattleboro. It takes place after their site visit to the Londonderry NH natural gas plant. On October 2, 2012, Governor Peter Shumlin created the Governors Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission through Executive Order No. 10-12. The charge of the Commission is to survey best practices for siting approval of electric generation projects (all facilities except for net- and group-net-metered facilities) and for public participation and representation in the siting process, and to report to the Governor and to the Vermont Legislature on their findings by April 30, 2013. The Commission will also look at alternative dispute resolution processes for project siting, permit coordination opportunities, how cumulative project impact is considered, and whether generic siting guidelines should be developed.
Appointees of the Commission, selected by the Commissioner of the Public Service (who serves on the Commission ex officio, as does the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources), include:
â ¢ Gaye Symington, Executive Director of the High Meadows Fund and former Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
â ¢ Jan Eastman, past President of the Snelling Center for Government and former Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
â ¢ Tom Bodett, East Dummerston, VT, Selectboard member and municipal representative to the VT Enhanced 911 Board
â ¢ Louise McCarren, former Chair of the Vermont Public Service Board
â ¢ Scott Johnstone, Executive Director of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and former Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
WHAT: Energy Siting Commission Public Hearing
WHEN: Wednesday, January 23
TIME: 5-7 p.m.
WHERE: Brattleboro High School
131 Fairground Road
WHO: Liisa Kissel and other members of the Friends of Graftons Heritage will be in attendance.