A new Vermont group in support of wind power has formed, and its members hope to counter the increasingly loud opposition movement.
Wind Works VT is a coalition of individuals and wind power developers, said Kyle Martel of KSE Partners, a Montpelier government affairs and strategic communications firm that represents the group.
Arguing that public opinion polls show strong support for wind power, the group has launched online ads to make the case that wind is a locally generated, clean and renewable source of energy critical to meeting the state’s renewable energy goals.
The individuals and developers behind the group don’t want to be identified, Martel said, “because of the way the anti-wind crowd has bordered on harassment.”
Wind Works VT has been buying ads since July on media websites, including sites for WCAX, the Brattleboro Reformer, VTDigger.org and the Caledonian-Record, he said.
He added: “We do not currently have an exact figure on how much will be spent, but will spend the resources necessary to help more Vermonters understand the important role that wind plays in fighting climate change, reducing our dependence on foreign fossil fuels and helping us meet our state’s goal of 90 percent renewable by 2050.”
Wind critics noticed the group’s ads in July and disputed the accuracy of its claim that wind power will reduce dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Just 1 percent of the state’s energy mix comes from oil, said Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, which opposes wind projects.
“People don’t understand that when you build more renewables in this big grid system, you’re going to need more of the gas in the form of new gas generators all over New England to meet [peak] load like we are going to experience today,” Smith said.
Though the group announced itself just on the heels of the primary election, it doesn’t plan to become involved in the 2016 campaign, Martel said. But it will be championing wind power at a time when the issue is playing a big role in the governor’s race. Democrat Sue Minter has declared her support. Republican Phil Scott has called for a halt to ridgeline wind projects.
Wind Works VT formed after Vermont legislators this year debated and passed a new wind-power siting procedure and its members worried that what they consider a misleading anti-wind message was taking over, Martel said.
Three Wind Works VT board members are willing to be publicly identified: Jessica Edgerly Walsh, who works as organizing director of SunCommon and is a Montpelier city councilor; Arthur Berndt of Sharon, chair of the Governor’s Council on Energy and the Environment; and Tom Gray of Norwich, former executive director of the American Wind Energy Association.
Wind Works VT is not related to a similarly named group that formed and disbanded several years ago, Martel said.
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Why am I shocked that the conversation here has been dominated by two accounts (who may be the same person for all we know)? Annette seems to believe that posting over and over again will show she’s right; non-biased facts show her to be in the minority.
I ask those who oppose renewables here what they’d rather powering the grid, right now and in the future. Coal? Oil? Natural Gas? Nuclear? We can’t power ourselves on hydro alone (not to mention the thousands of displaced First Nation residents in Quebec thanks to Hydro-Quebec), and I’ve heard only NO from Annette and her crew of Internet bloviators.
KNOWYOURASSUMPTIONS: You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But to hide behind an anonymous username to attack Annette Smith, is cowardly. The vitriol in your remark, makes me believe that you are one of the parties that is featured in the story.
If Sue M is elected our state will continue to be destroyed with these fruitless turbines. Shummy has lined his friends’ pockets with the , no permit needed, don’t care what the public thinks, wind projects. This group buying up ads has a LOT of money to do so, thanks to Shummy and his cronies. They don’t want this cash cow to end anytime soon. For this reason alone we MUST elect Phil Scott.
From what I can tell, all Annette is doing is presenting information and asking questions.
And the method of response is always the same: First you are ignored, then you are marginalized, then targeted, then attacked, then threatened, and then in a final act to try and silence you, they file a phony lawsuit against you. VT does not enforce it’s own anti-SLAPP laws.
And all because you simply tried to tell the truth and get others to perform their job. This is what VT has become. And Annette is not the only one this has happened to.
The more I see what’s going on, the consortium behind Wind Works, or should I say Big Wind, is taking the same tact as Big Oil before them, and Big Tobacco before them. It was the same way with the nuclear power industry…just smear and silence those who know what they are talking about.
Annette Smith = Mt. Philo.
We love paranoid conspiracy theories!
Listen to knowyourassumptions. He knows what he is talking about.
We keep giving you a thumbs down because you are a ridiculous, pathological narcissist. As your 5 posts on this thread alone (so far) attest. You were the first to post and you’ve posted 5 out of 13 comments. You think you’re a genius. You think you’re better and smarter than everyone who disagrees with you. You think your opinion is more valid than everyone else’s. You’re a self-appointed hero. You’re infatuated with yourself. You are just like Peter Shumlin.
And it will promptly be 6 posts no doubt.
A large scale industrial hydro electric dam would be dismissed immediately, yet somehow people are naive enough to believe large scale industrial wind turbines on our pristine ridgelines is a good thing…bizarre how people fall for this green washing…
The media is starting to tell the truth. Title of this Washington Post article is what the renewable industry in Vermont isn’t to talking about. “Turns out wind and solar have a secret friend: natural gas.” The article says a study is finding renewables might be requiring more fossil fuels, not less
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy…
The New York Times also went out on a rare limb last month and accurately reported that renewables may not be helping with climate change
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/business…
For all you folks who keep giving my posts a thumbs down, I live off grid with solar and love renewables. I just want it done right. I am not the enemy of renewables that the wind industry claims.
Thank you, Annette, for sharing that. It’s disturbing.
But not surprising. Facts don’t matter. Testimony doesn’t matter. The truth doesn’t matter. The majority of Vermonters opinions don’t matter. I wish it was just this one issue, but it’s not. I see it on issue after issue, at both the State and even at the local level. At virtually every hearing or board meeting, with very few exceptions. There are no penalties for lying, so it is done with impunity across the board. And when challenged by caring, concerned individuals…they are labeled NIMBYs, or obstructionists, regardless of the issue.
And it’s making it even harder and harder to recruit dedicated individuals to serve on local boards. Plus, good people who do serve are marginalized and attacked…and then resign. It’s eroding our sense of community. It’s creating a society where many people feel so disefranchised they just give up. Faith in gov’t, even at the local level, is at an all-time low. And deservedly so. Big money, and self-interest, has taken over. I can give you a long list of former board members, like myself, who will all attest to this.