Wordless Wednesday: Wind Towers Over Crystal Lake

August 3, 2011

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More Views of the Wind Towers

Underpass Road, Sutton
July 12, 2011; sky extremely hazy; 55mm

Same spot, closer view; 55mm cropped

Closer view still on Underpass Road; 250mm

Route 16, Barton, overlooking Crystal Lake
July 12, 2011; heavy haze and overcast; 55mm

Closer view from Route 16.; 250mm

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Sheffield Wind Turbines

I-91 Southbound between Exits 25 and 24

After years of legal fighting, the windmills are going up on Hardscrabble Mountain in Sheffield. These are the first photographs that I took on July 7, 2011. There are about 8 turbines up now, and as I proceed through my photograph editing, you will be able to follow the construction as it proceeds. There will be a total of 16 turbines installed when this construction is over.

After years of protests, I am now accepting the towers. They are beautiful in a way. I still mourn the loss of two hundred acres of habitat and I still am concerned about birds and bats (what are left of them). But moaning now won't change a thing, so I'm going to sit back and enjoy photographing them. I hope to visit the site in the future.

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Lempster Wind Farm

Click on the photo to view the image full size and correctly rotated. It is difficult to see the turbines except in a larger image.

I'm glad I was not driving late in the summer when we drove through Lempster and I saw my first wind farm. If I had been driving I may have driven off of the road. Lempster is New Hampshire's first wind farm and it went online in 2008. We stopped in several places for photographs and observations. I paid special attention to any noises. I had read testimony from residents of Mars Hill in Maine about the horrendous noise that their wind farm makes. The information I had read motivated me to attend town meetings in Barton to oppose any wind farm development. Yet nothing I read prepared me for the beauty of the Lempster farm.

It was quiet. I may have heard an occasional soft whoosh as if a raptor was flying, but I couldn't be sure. The twelve 250 feet (76 m) tall turbines were beautiful to see and to watch. I saw no evidence of what we were told would happen to Barton. The Lempster wind farm is much smaller than the proposed Barton wind farm, though. So while I am not convinced that wind farms are safe and worthwhile, I think I need to find unbiased facts about them. That information is difficult to find!

I found a few videos that you may want to watch. They are about the Lempster wind farm, some emerging wind technology and some of the controversy.



There will be more about the Lempster wind farm in the future when we drive up to the site to view the turbines.



Technorati Tags: Lempster wind farm Del.icio.us Tags: Lempster wind farm Flickr Tags: Lempster wind farm Furl Tags: Lempster wind farm

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Why I Oppose Wind Farms 2

An actual ad placed in a paper in Wisconsin sent to me via e-mail.
Click on the image to read it full size.
Related post: Why I Oppose Wind Farms

Technorati Tags: Ridge Protectors, wind energy, UPC, Wind Watch, wind farms
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Why I Oppose Wind Farms

Last Wednesday I posted a photo of a residential wind turbine used at a local school for their electrical needs. I don't know too much about the impact of residential turbines, but I have learned a lot about the huge (430 foot tall or 131.1 m) industrial turbines that UPC Wind wants to build on Hardscrabble Mountain in Sheffield (visible from Barton).

Several people have expressed an interest in knowing why I oppose wind farms and signed the petition in Barton.

UPC Wind, from Massachusetts, has targeted Vermont for development. The local opposition group is Ridge Protectors in Sheffield. There are similar groups all over the world. The site I read most is National Wind Watch. I have decided not to rehash the arguments against the wind farm because each of these sites provides pages of data. I have chosen to mention the objections (in case you have not heard of them) and then add my own personal opinion. I have read and listened to both sides of this debate.

The turbines are documented to have negative impacts on the wildlife where they are built (particularly bats). They are noisy (read testimony from Mars Hill, Maine here), subsidized by tax incentives, and produce little power to justify the destruction of wilderness areas. If you are actually interested in the debates, be sure to read as much as you can.

My Personal, Emotional, and Unscientific Objections

• As many people of my generation, I have a natural aversion to large corporations such as UPC. Especially when they target populations in another area. Especially when those targeted populations are not as sophisticated and well-funded by friends in Washington DC. I find their tactics bullying and intimidating.

• I resent that our people need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the land that we love so dearly from people who know nothing about us and have no ties to the land. UPC's pockets seem to be infinitely deep.

• I resent that Barton would have to upgrade Duck Pond Road just so UPC's behemoth trucks can crawl up the mountain in order to destroy it. I resent that my town is already fearing lawsuits from UPC and may capitulate because of the fear. If the children of UPC executives were bullied like this in school they would be the first to cry out. UPC is the worse bully.

• I won't believe one word of propaganda that any corporation like UPC (or Exxon or Dow Chemical) puts out to convince me of anything. Don't tell me, after all the scandals and greed, that you believe them.

• I resent that the mountains I love could be sacrificed so that someone somewhere can produce more light pollution and otherwise waste our resources. I want to see some serious conservation. I am tired of half-hearted yet well documented faux conservation efforts.

• Any claims that wind power is The Solution are false. There is not one solution to anything. I become angry with the argument that if we don't adopt wind energy, if we don't destroy our wilderness for our greed, then our world will go to hell. We need combinations of solutions that are appropriate for different cultures, climates, and needs.

• We need to stop being energy pigs. I am willing to pay more for my energy. I am willing to help those not as fortunate as me who are having problems paying for the energy they require. I am even willing to go without many of my energy needs as long as I am reasonably warm, housed, and fed. And as long as I remain free.

• I am fed up with this nation's two-faced energy policy. Is it easier to sacrifice thousands of people's lives in foreign wars (in order to prop up our destructive petroleum industry) than it is to be serious about reform? Tell me: exactly what are we trying to conserve?

• Don't bother telling me that this is a "not in my backyard" reaction. It is and it should be. Do you seriously want some corporation telling you how you should live? We fought that war over two hundred years ago.

• This is not a debate about wind power vs. nuclear power. It is silly to threaten to build more nuclear reactors and to bury more nuclear waste in Utah in order for me to agree to the wind farms. It's illogical and not well thought out.

• If wind farms are so great, build them in Boston and New York City — where you live. Put them in your backyard, not mine. Corporations such as UPC have destroyed enough of this earth because of greed. It's time to stop them. It's time they stole from the rich.

• I am not willing to sacrifice our wilderness for the energy problems in the United States. Our national wilderness is more important than your goddamn bank account and high standard of living.
  

Technorati tags: Ridge+Protectors wind+energy UPC Wind+Watch

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Nashuatelegraph.com: Vt. town petitions against wind farms

Nashuatelegraph.com: Vt. town petitions against wind farms: 

Published: Sunday, November 18, 2007 

Vt. town petitions against wind farms BARTON, Vt.  (AP) –

About 200 residents upset about recent state approval for a wind power project in a neighboring town have signed a petition to change the town plan to prohibit commercial wind power development. 

The petition drive was response to the Public Service Board’s approval in August for 16, 420-foot wind towers on a ridge line in Sheffield. 

The developer of that project, Massachusetts-based UPC Wind, still must win approval from a federal agency before proceeding with the project. 

Petition organizers say that passing a change to the town plan is designed to protect Barton from such development in the future. 

A total of 100 signatures out of 1,600 registered voters were needed to bring the petition to the planning commission. Petition organizers plan to discuss their concerns with the selectboard and planning commission Monday.

Yes, I signed.

Technorati tags: wind+farms Barton+VT UPC-Wind

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Wordless Wednesday: Future of Energy

Wind Turbine for Danville School, Danville, Vermont

Technorati tags: residential+wind+turbine Wordless+Wednesday

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