Fast forward a couple of weeks to a packed meeting of the Waitsfield
Planning Commission for a discussion of the Town Plan and whether it
should be amended to allow wind farming on the Northfield Ridge. The
Town Plan currently and specifically prohibits it - a critical
distinction for the Vermont Public Service Board, which reviews
applications for wind farms.
After hearing overwhelming support for keeping the Town Plan as is,
planning commissioners announced that the Town Plan would not be
amended. At a second hearing last week, planning commissioners
reiterated their intention to keep the prohibition on wind farm on the
Northfield Ridge intact.
Enter a member of the Moretown Select Board who, acting on his own
rather than as a representative of the town, approached Citizens Wind to
discuss whether wind farming will work on the Northfield Ridge as it
runs through Moretown. The select board member raved about the
possibility of Moretown receiving significant sums of money from
Citizens Wind, akin to the six-figure tipping fees Moretown receives
from hosting the Moretown Landfill. Said board member noted that if the
project gets shut down in Waitsfield, it might be built on the
Northfield side of the ridge.
Citizens Wind spokesperson Randy Male, queried last week about the
addition of Moretown to the possible proposed route, said his company
expanded its interest in Moretown after being approached by "the town."
The original Citizens Wind proposal was slated to run along the
Northfield Ridge from the Waitsfield/Moretown line to the
Waitsfield/Warren line. Mr. Male also said that the Waitsfield Planning
Commission's refusal to amend the Town Plan to allow wind farming on the
Northfield Ridge did not necessarily constitute a setback and that it
was not a definitive answer from the entire town.
The Valley towns, select boards, planning commissions and energy
committees need to proceed very cautiously as wind farming is discussed
for our community. Six-figure additions to any municipal budget could be
a good thing, but the money could also be a Trojan Horse.
Citizens Wind explicitly stated that the company would not try to permit
a project against the wishes of the townspeople, but to move from town
to town, Waitsfield to Moretown to Northfield, proposing the same
project is perilously close to the tactics of those who propose big box
stores for communities. When rejected by one, they move to the
neighboring town - until ultimately there is a Wal-Mart on every corner.
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