The people in this video, Margaret Harrington and Annette Smith, are eager to shut down Vermont Yankee. They are speaking on a TV series called "Nuclear Free Future." This makes parts of the video hard to watch. However, Annette Smith is realistic about the inability of wind projects to replace Vermont Yankee.
VPIRG and Governor Shumlin and Green Mountain Power have been very active in favor of wind. VPIRG's booklet about shutting down Vermont Yankee proposed hundreds of wind turbines to replace it. The Coalition for Energy Solutions (I am part of that group) wrote a report two years ago which debunked the VPRIG report. Here's my blog post about the press conference for our report.
Annette Smith does not buy into the "wind-instead-of-Yankee" scenario favored by VPIRG. This video is a reasonable review of the current wind situation in Vermont.
I do not agree with everything in this video, but it has many valid points. For example, the ridgeline water issue is well described. On the other hand, wind doesn't break up large animal habitat badly, once the construction is complete.
I do not plan to go through this video word for word, however. Overall, I think this is worth watching.
Be interesting to know just who is funding the TV program -- and why VY can't produce a counterpoint. And I don't know how these folks can say with a straight face that these monstrous noisy whirligigs won't affect the rhythm of wildlife any -- forget real estate values. It's weird because are places where the EPA thumbs-down on building benign walls or bridges to protect a snail or rodent, but they give these wilderness/scenic view killers a pass?? Would Ethan Allen's boys approve of the forests and countrysides and hilltops they defended being razed and despoiled just to placate irrational fears? People of Vermont, get with it! The fear-mongers are razing your natural heritage -- and for what? Their shrill nightmares??
ReplyDeleteJames Greenidge