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Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 17:02:09 PM EDT
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(Important municipal-level issues on alternative energy and town governance. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
The Select Board in Lenox is feeling the heat from some dedicated wind opponents, just as the Select Board in Amherst has been feeling some solar heat.
My letter to the Berkshire Eagle below suggests allowing the town meeting process to play out in Lenox next year, as happened this year in Amherst, where the town didn't appear to be as divided as the solar opponents had claimed.
(That being said, the solar project in Amherst is being held up by a lawsuit or two, but, hey, what would get accomplished if we balked at every lawsuit threat.)
No one is suggesting a massive industrial wind farm. The site that was tested can support one or two turbines, which would provide the town and possibly residents and others with clean energy options. If Lenox has the capacity to develop both wind and solar it should pursue those options and not close any doors. |
| scott_laugenour :: Wind and Solar Hot Seats |
To the editor of the Berkshire Eagle:
The Lenox Board of Selectmen has heard from a group of persistent and organized people telling it that wind energy is controversial and divisive in Lenox. Some have even lobbied town officials to close debate on wind energy at town-sponsored public forums.
Lenox voters should expect the presence of warrants on both wind and solar options at next year's town meeting. It would have been a failure of leadership for the town to close public debate on wind energy simply because there are some resourceful and loud opponents to the idea. At the moment there is not even a specific wind proposal to be for or against.
Comparisons with organized opposition to a municipal solar project in Amherst earlier this year are interesting. Judging by the volume of letters to the editor, the number of opponents who assembled at its meetings, and no doubt some behind-the-scenes lobbying the Amherst Board of Selectmen might have felt that the 4.75 megawat municipal solar project it was considering on a capped landfill was 'controversial.' Similar to Lenox's wind energy site, the Amherst solar site is surrounded by high-priced residential real estate. Opponents knew how to amplify their message.
The Amherst Board of Selectmen showed leadership when it presented the solar project on a warrant at its annual town meeting this year, where there was impassioned discussion that was promptly followed by an overwhelming and definitive voice vote approving the project.
At a minimum, the best wind and solar proposals for municipal power could produce significant savings off of the approximately $400,000 that Lenox now spends for electric power annually. There remains ample time to educate Lenox voters on municipal alternative energy projects and on the additional financial and environmental benefits that can accrue from such important investments. Let's proceed in the spirit of open forums and a town meeting, where all the citizens can hear about all options, pros and cons, make an educated decision that will benefit the town, and where a final vote tally will reveal how controversial and divisive the issue truly is.
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"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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