Marlyn,
The people who have made up "an orgnization such as ours" are not just raising issues for vanity's sake. I can speak for our group in particular as being made up of a very varied group of backgrounds and education levels, from an artichect to a banker to a farmer and a bus driver, all of whom started raising issues that they felt impacted them personally which then brought them into contact with each other. These are people who had lived together in the same area for many years but would never have come to know each other but through this common effort. Some were local or "natives", others long term transplants who valued what they found here and so chose to protect the things they have come to love and yet other newcomers who also arrived because they recognized the specialness here.
No one is against wind -- just this type of industrial wind in an inappropriate location. And the fact that we already have several sources of renewable hydroelectric producing projects nearby that will be ramped down when the towers come on line because the grid can not accommodate the additional power. It is not like the new electricity will give us "more" power thereby lowering the cost. but only replacing it with a different source.
In Europe where there have been wind turbines for better than 20 years, there are studies that show no traditional popwer producing plants have been replaced by the start up of wind projects, and the European countires who initially were the front runners in this new technology are now denying permitting for new construction.
Groups like ours are not ranting radicals but we thought out and researched our positions before we began this fight. We took on a considerable amount of personal debts and hard work to back our position which would not have been a voluntary choice unless considered absolutely essential.
To comment on your mention of being inconvenienced by a power outage, this is a reality we live with very regularly. And have many more "inconvenience" when it happens. No water, even to flush the toilet; no heat in below freezing and below zero temperatures due to snow/ice storms that may be days before repaired, just to name a few.
Marlyn, please take the time to read this article titled "Less For More" on the website www.wind-watch.org found under "key documents". And just because we are not the majority of people in town with objections, it does not make us a small group. When a vote on the issue was called by the town leaders, the results of the vote was 97 against to 120 for; not exactly an overwhelming majority. Meanwhile the next town over did have a unanimous vote against so not every person is an ongoing "active" fighter but we represent many people behind the forefront.
Spencer Lyman spncr_lyman@yahoo.com
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