GOP again blocks wind turbine bill in Mass. Senate
August 30, 2010
Associated Press


BOSTON – A Republican lawmaker has again blocked the Massachusetts Senate from taking a final vote on a bill that backers say will make it easier to site wind turbine facilities.


The bill had passed the Massachusetts Senate and House, but failed to win a final parliamentary vote in the Senate before the clock ran out in the Legislature’s formal session on July 31.


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Wind Bill is Bad Policy for Massachusetts
Rep. Denis Guyer
August 24, 2010


I support wind energy projects that are appropriately planned, with community input and local boards and commissions having the ultimate authority for their approval.


It is important for me to say that in the very beginning of this writing because proponents of the Wind Siting Act in Massachusetts will often attempt to paint anyone objecting to this legislation as “anti wind energy” and that is simply not the case for me. Both the Jiminy Peak and Brodie Mountain projects are within my legislative district and in fact, I supported a public grant for the Jiminy Peak project.


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Forget pennies — real money is in taxpayer handouts
By Robert Skole
Letter to the Editor
August 24, 2010
Boston Globe


Joan Vennochi raises questions about Cape Winds’ “ultimate cost to consumers’’ in her Aug. 19 op-ed column “Unknown costs, unanswered questions.” But the costs to consumers — reflected in the 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour that National Grid will pay — are only the frosting on Cape Wind’s rich cake.


Most of the Cape Wind dough would come from federal and Massachusetts taxpayers.


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GOP senators block wind bill
August 24, 2010
State House News Service


BOSTON — The state Senate sought yesterday to revive a proposal to overhaul the wind turbine siting process and Senate President Therese Murray indicated she’d throw the weight of her office behind an effort to send the bill to Gov. Deval Patrick.


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Wind energy bill stalls
By David Pepose
August 24, 2010
Berkshire Eagle


PITTSFIELD — The road toward more wind energy in the Berkshires took an unexpected turn Monday, when a lone Republican state senator put the brakes on new regulations meant to streamline turbine projects in the state.


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Wind Power Won’t Cool Down the Planet
Often enough it leads to higher carbon emissions.
By Robert Bryce
August 23, 2010
Opinion, Wall Street Journal


The wind industry has achieved remarkable growth largely due to the claim that it will provide major reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. There’s just one problem: It’s not true. A slew of recent studies show that wind-generated electricity likely won’t result in any reduction in carbon emissions—or that they’ll be so small as to be almost meaningless.


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GOP senator blocks wind power bill vote
August 23, 2010
Associated Press


BOSTON – A Republican lawmaker has blocked a final vote in the Massachusetts Senate on a bill supporters say would streamline the siting of wind power facilities.


The bill had passed both the Massachusetts Senate and House, but failed to win a final parliamentary vote in the Senate before the clock ran down in the Legislature’s formal session at midnight on July 31.


Democrats tried to push the bill through today, but Republican Sen. Michael Knapik of Westfield objected.


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GOP lawmaker blocks vote on MA wind power bill
August 23, 2010
WBZ Radio


A Republican lawmaker has blocked a final vote in the Massachusetts Senate on a bill supporters say would streamline the siting of wind power facilities.


The bill had passed both the Massachusetts Senate and House, but failed to win a final parliamentary vote in the Senate before the clock ran down in the Legislature’s formal session at midnight on July 31.


Democrats tried to push the bill through on Monday, but Republican Sen. Michael Knapik of Westfield objected.


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Senate Renews Push For Wind Energy Siting Bill
By Michael Norton and Kyle Cheney
August 23, 2010
State House News Service


The state Senate sought Monday to revive a proposal to overhaul the wind turbine siting process and Senate President Therese Murray indicated she’d throw the weight of her office behind an effort to send the bill to Gov. Deval Patrick.


“We spent a lot of time and effort on this bill, and many communities are waiting on it,” said Murray spokesman David Falcone in a response to a News Service request. “To have it die just because we’re in informal sessions wouldn’t be fair. The bill was passed at midnight at the end of session, and the Senate didn’t get the opportunity to take it up before adjourning. The President is prepared to call informals every day if she has to in order to get it passed.”


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Senate Renews Push For Wind Energy Siting Bill
By Michael Norton and Kyle Cheney
August 23, 2010
GateHouse News Service


The state Senate sought Monday to revive a proposal to overhaul the wind turbine siting process and Senate President Therese Murray indicated she’d throw the weight of her office behind an effort to send the bill to Gov. Deval Patrick.


“We spent a lot of time and effort on this bill, and many communities are waiting on it,” said Murray spokesman David Falcone in a response to a News Service request. “To have it die just because we’re in informal sessions wouldn’t be fair. The bill was passed at midnight at the end of session, and the Senate didn’t get the opportunity to take it up before adjourning. The President is prepared to call informals every day if she has to in order to get it passed.”


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Small Mass. wind power project facing stiff breeze
By Steve LeBlanc
August 22, 2010
Associated Press


BOSTON — Bob Anders used to count himself among the fans of wind power — until developers pitched the idea of a 10-turbine wind farm near his Webster home with blades reaching close to 500 feet in the air.


That’s when Anders began having second thoughts about the disruption from the constant whooshing of the turbines to the repetitive glint of sunshine off the blades at certain times of the day, not to mention a feared drop in property values.


“I’ve dedicated the past two or three months of my life to reading about this and I haven’t found anything good,” Anders said. “It’s a major impact on our neighborhood.”


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Wind Power’s Strongest Critics Air Their Views At Forum in Chilmark
By Peter Brannen
August 10, 2010
Vineyard Gazette


On Sunday night opponents of wind development off Vineyard shores — including selectmen, fishermen, Wampanoags and a Republican candidate for Massachusetts governor — were given a megaphone to voice their views.


Hosted by POINT (Protect Our Islands Now for Tomorrow), a group led by Andrew Goldman of Chilmark, the forum drew a large crowd to the Chilmark Community Center.


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Some who created wind-power fast track now questioning the goals they set
By Naomi Schalit, Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting
August 10, 2010
Bangor Daily News, Part 1 of 3-Part Series


Editor’s Note: This is part one of a three-part series on the 2008 law to expedite wind turbine development in Maine.


AUGUSTA, Maine — The Wind Energy Act of 2008, which gave developers a fast track for putting up wind turbines on some of the state’s treasured high ground, was a piece of legislation passed at the time in the name of jobs, energy independence and climate change.


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Task force had mandate to promote wind power, not study it
By Naomi Schalit, Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting
August 11, 2010
Bangor Daily News, Part 2 of 3-Part Series


AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. John Baldacci established the Governor’s Task Force on Wind Power Development by executive order on May 8, 2007 with the expectation it would make Maine a leader in the wind power industry.


Baldacci’s timing was perfect:

  • The day before, a CNN story had reported that the price of gas “has hit a new record high, averaging $3.07 for a gallon of self-serve regular in the United States.”


  • Climate change was in the news almost daily.


  • Developers and environmentalists had just fought a battle in western Maine over construction of a huge wind power project, ending in defeat for the project.



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    Wind power law hasn’t prevented development conflicts
    By Naomi Schalit, Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting
    August 12, 2010
    Bangor Daily News, Part 3 of 3-Part Series


    AUGUSTA, Maine — After proposing major changes to state law that would speed up the review of wind power projects, Gov. John Baldacci’s wind power task force members went one step further: They made a map.


    Without the map, the law would be just a set of rules. The map was essential because it showed where wind turbines could go to get fast-track consideration.


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    Time ran out for wind power plan but it’s likely to be back soon
    By Erin Ailworth
    August 4, 2010
    Boston Globe


    Despite repeated support from Massachusetts legislators, in the end there simply was not enough time to pass a bill to streamline the permitting process for wind energy projects.


    The bill failed at the close of the legislative session, said Robert Keough, spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Though it received final approval from the state House of Representatives near midnight, he said, the bill was still short of the approval it needed from the Senate.


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    Wind energy reform exemplifies dishonest politics
    Frank Haggerty
    Letter to the Editor
    August 4, 2010
    Herald News, Fall River MA


    Why do we want the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act? This act I believe was given part of its name “Reform Act” to confuse the voters of Massachusetts. This act does the opposite — it takes your town’s zoning away. This act sites commercial wind turbines as tall as 40-story buildings in your backyard. An individual resident can’t afford a Supreme Judicial Court appeal under the “Reform Act.”??


    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Wind energy siting bill stalled in legislature
    By Patrick Cassidy
    Cape Cod Online
    August 4, 2010


    A state law that would streamline the permitting of large land-based wind turbines has hit a snag.
    Separate versions of the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act were passed in the House and the Senate, and a compromise bill did not clear the Senate before the end of the legislative session Saturday.


    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Turbine noise ruffling feathers in Falmouth
    By Aaron Gouveia
    August 1, 2010
    capecodonline.com


    FALMOUTH — Neil and Elizabeth Andersen prefer open windows to air conditioning, but their home is now hermetically sealed despite the warm and breezy weather.


    Although Neil, 57, and Elizabeth, 53, have spent more than 20 years enjoying Falmouth’s fresh air and working in their meticulous gardens on Blacksmith Shop Road, they now remain indoors and devote effort to blocking out the constant noise emanating from Wind I, the 400-foot-tall, 1.65-megawatt wind turbine whirling less than 1,500 feet from their front door.


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    Lawmakers challenge state permitting process
    By Patrick Cassidy
    July 30, 2010
    Cape Cod Times


    A bipartisan group of House legislators, including several from Cape Cod and Nantucket, are asking state Attorney General Martha Coakley to take a hard look at a proposal to overhaul how land-based wind energy projects are approved.


    In a letter delivered to Coakley’s office Wednesday the lawmakers argue that a bill now in conference committee could increase electric bills. The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act would also eliminate local control over the placement of turbines and could possibly eliminate Coakley’s authority to weigh in on how a project’s costs affect ratepayers, the letter says.


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    MA lawmakers agree on wind energy permits bill
    July 30, 2010
    WBZ Radio


    Massachusetts lawmakers have reached a compromise on a bill designed to streamline the permitting process for new wind energy facilities.


    Legislative leaders announced late Thursday that a conference panel had forged an agreement on legislation supporters say will help the state meet its renewable energy goals by making it easier for wind projects to secure state permits.


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    Who’s the real environmentalist?
    By Gabrielle Gurley
    July 27, 2010
    Commonwealth Magazine


    THE ELEGANT, LAZY MOTION of wind turbines once appealed to Eleanor Tillinghast. Generating energy takes a heavy toll on the natural world, so it stood to reason that Tillinghast, a committed environmentalist, once thought wind farms were a good thing, even though she knew little about them. The Hoosac Wind project, the 20-turbine wind farm proposed for the tiny hill towns of Florida and Monroe in the Berkshires, changed her mind.


    After careful study, Tillinghast concluded the environmental cost of wind power was too high. She isn’t just upset that the turbines would spoil mountain views; she fears that building access roads, transmission lines and related buildings would destroy wetland habitats and level mountain ridgelines, not to mention posing risks to birds and bats. All for a minuscule amount of electricity that she believes does not begin to address the state’s electricity needs.


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    Hot Air and Wind Energy
    A bill targeting land turbines is poised to pass
    By Nora Lewontin-Rojas
    July 24, 2010
    Weeklydig.com


    Massachusetts lawmakers—who aren’t generally regarded as models of efficiency—have passed a bill that could streamline the plodding bureaucracy of wind farm permitting. The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, which is backed by Gov. Deval Patrick and several environmental groups, earned Senate approval in February and passed in the House two weeks ago.


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    A growing debate on the wind in Ashfield
    By Don Stewart
    July 23, 2010
    Shelburne Falls & West County Independent


    “Ashfield has the most privately owned, commercially viable land in Franklin County, so we’re going to be the epicenter of the wind ‘gold rush.’” — Ashfield resident Harry Dodson


    ASHFIELD — Initially an advocate for the potential benefits of electricity generated by wind power, with further study Mount Washington resident Eleanor Tillinghast underwent a sea change. Speaking to an assembly of some 90 area residents on July 8 at Ashfield Town Hall, she explained her conversion.


    “I started off very much in favor of wind power . . . ” she said, noting that she first became skeptical while attending an informational meeting in the Berkshires outlining a wind power proposal. “Listening to questions and answers, my environmental research antenna got activated. The more research on wind power I did, the less enamored I became.”


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    House debates streamlining wind power plants
    July 13, 2010
    WBZ Radio


    Massachusetts House lawmakers are weighing a bill designed to streamline the permitting process for wind energy facilities.


    Lawmakers debated the bill for about four hours Tuesday before putting off a final vote until Wednesday.


    About three dozens protesters gathered inside the Statehouse to press lawmakers to reject the measure, which they said takes local control over the projects away from cities and towns.
    Supporters say the bill preserves local control.


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    Not in anybody’s backyard
    By Brent Harold
    July 13, 2010
    Cape Cod Times

    All the world is someone’s backyard. And the people caring most for a backyard are those living in that backyard. The evaluation of a technology includes the costs as well as the benefits and if you want to know the costs, you need to consult those who will be living with that technology and paying the costs.

    What’s good about NIMBY is that it is only humane and logical to respect the experience and of those living in the relevant backyard. As Wellfleet, after an overwhelming, idealistic town meeting vote, developed second thoughts about three large turbines in its backyard, we were hearing stories of the Falmouth guinea pigs who were finding out the hard way the price of wind turbines in sleepless nights and emotional upset.

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    Wind energy bill draws criticism
    By Patrick Cassidy
    July 9, 2010
    Cape Cod Online


    Earlier this year, opponents of a wind turbine proposed near the Cape Cod National Seashore convinced Wellfleet officials to nix the plan. In May, Harwich town meeting rejected a plan to build two turbines next door to a neighborhood west of Hinkleys Pond.


    Similar showdowns are playing out across Massachusetts, prompting state legislation that would make it easier for wind energy projects of at least 2 megawatts to clear local hurdles.


    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Acushnet to lobby against wind turbine siting act
    By Paul Gately
    July 6, 2010
    South Coast Today

    ACUSHNET — Selectmen agree with their Wellfleet counterparts on Cape Cod that towns should not give up local regulatory power when it comes to reviewing wind turbine proposals in their communities.


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    Windmills will NOT save the earth
    By Alan Rivenson
    June 22, 2010
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle

    In response to Celina Gigliotti’s June 17 letter entitled “Windmills will help save the Earth,” to begin with, let’s stop calling them windmills. The term windmill paints a pastoral picture of Holland and tulips. These are 400-foot industrial turbines with lights, transmission lines and access roads cut along sensitive mountain ridges.

    Secondly, let’s stop defining these extreme and false choices when discussing wind energy. It’s not an either or choice about living under smokestacks or wind turbines. It’s about making intelligent decisions that account for our national energy needs, the global environment and our local environment.

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    Why exactly is the wind energy siting bill such a good idea?
    By Michael Bliss
    June 14, 2010
    Viewpoint, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

    The Patrick administration and the environmental groups have been falling all over themselves recently supporting the so-called wind energy permitting reform legislation currently before the Legislature (An Act Relative to Comprehensive Siting Reform for Land Based Wind Projects, S. No. 2260, H. No. 4687).

    The Senate has already passed the legislation, and word is that the House is ready to approve it as well.

    The legislation would make sweeping changes to existing law. For starters, it would exempt new wind facilities from all (that’s right, all) state and local laws and regulations, including of course local zoning bylaws and local and state environmental and health and safety requirements.

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    Wind turbine problems
    By Emily Rooney
    June 9, 2010
    WGBH-TV

    In an effort to go green and save money, Falmouth recently installed a wind turbine. The 400-foot turbine, named Aeolus, cost $4.9 million and generates 1.65 Megawatts of power for the town. The tower was expected to save Falmouth $300,000 a year by powering the town’s wastewater plant and other facilities. However some residents are complaining over how much noise the turbine generates.

    To watch the entire TV segment, please click here:




    US Utilities Target Costs Of Keeping Up With Wind Generation
    By Mark Peters
    June 9, 2010
    Wall Street Journal

    NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Utilities increasingly are looking to pass on new costs they say come from growing amounts of wind power being added to the nation’s electric grid.

    The on-again, off-again nature of wind farms forces utilities to ramp up and down the output of their coal- and natural-gas-fueled power plants to balance supply and demand. That creates wear and tear on plants and cuts performance, adding costs as wind power expands rapidly.

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    Windmill bill overrides local control
    By Wayne Klug
    June 7, 2010
    Letter, Eagle Tribune

    A hundred times more wind turbines than we now have, coming soon to neighborhoods across the state. Towers reaching 50-story heights, red lights flashing and blades like a 747’s wingspan, placed wherever the Secretary of Energy thinks they should go. Home rule bypassed. Planning boards sidelined. Neighbors without right of appeal. Low-frequency noise sickening residents in homes no one wants.

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    Home Rule and Wind Power
    By David Kulp
    June 5, 2010
    Ashfield Town Common

    It was reported on this blog that Andy Wells recommended that the Select Board formally oppose state bill H.4687, the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, which trumps local zoning control of placement of turbines. Paul Swem replied that this was a “NIMBY” response to a greater good and that opposing it did not necessarily represent the will of the people. For the Select Board to oppose the legislation could even be illegal, Paul suggested.

    Andy has experience with wind farm installations and has been involved with reform of turbine projects in other parts of the state that are sited too close to homes or that damage the environment. I’m a friend and neighbor of Andy’s and I also share his cautious attitude. As a clean, renewable resource, wind is an attractive energy solution. But just the same, there’s very good reason to be worried about a turbine in your backyard — pejorative term aside. But to that issue in a moment.

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    Falmouth wind-turbine noise has local residents whirling
    By Christine McConville
    Wednesday, June 2, 2010
    Boston Herald

    Mark Cool is an air traffic controller whose job requires clear thinking and plenty of confidence.

    But ever since March, when the town of Falmouth’s 1.65-megawatt wind turbine started spinning less than 1,200 feet from his home, the whirring, banging and clanking has meant sleepless nights and frayed nerves for Cool.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Falmouth’s responsibility is to its residents’ health
    By Mark Cool
    May 31, 2010
    Letter, Cape Cod Times

    When the well-being of Falmouth residents is at possible risk, it is appropriate to proceed with caution. This is what our neighbors to the north are echoing to their government officials. Halt the turbine whirlwind!

    The industrial-scale enterprise being deployed in our town and throughout our commonwealth is being conducted similarly. Full knowledge and investigation of the health implications have not been given due diligence. Municipalities and state legislators are creating industrial wind turbine bylaws that do not protect communities.

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    Clean, cheap and ours
    By David Baumann
    May 29, 2010
    Op-Ed, Berkshire Eagle

    With oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of one Exxon Valdez every 3.5 days and oil dollars spewing into the Middle East at the rate of $700 billion per year, the United States’ energy policy is in dire need of practical and cost-effective alternatives to oil. Boone Pickens thinks natural gas makes sense and, in his Pickens Plan commercials he states, “natural gas is cleaner, cheaper, abundant and it’s ours.” If in fact true, Pickens’ claims for natural gas would make it vital to the energy policy of this country.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Proposal weakens towns’ control of wind turbine siting
    By Patrick Cassidy
    May 28, 2010
    Cape Cod Online


    A proposed bill that aims to streamline the permitting process for land-based wind turbines has some Cape officials worried it will give the state veto power over local zoning regulations.


    The Green Communities Act Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law last year created a commission to analyze whether fossil fuel projects have an unfair advantage over renewable energy projects.


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    The Next Financial Crisis
    By Jeremy C. Stein
    May 27, 2010
    Harvard Crimson

    Washington, D.C., May 27, 2025.
    Just four months into his first term, President Scott P. Brown faces what is rapidly becoming a severe financial crisis, with the collapse yesterday of yet another Stable Wind Farm Trust. The failed institution, Magna-SWIFT, is the largest thus far, with over $90 billion in assets. Rumors also continued to swirl about the condition of the Houston Power House, one of the nation’s largest clearinghouses specializing in weather and power derivatives. Experts warned that a major clearinghouse failure could have devastating implications.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Living near a windmill puts energy in perspective
    By Barry Funfar
    May 26, 2010
    Letter, Cape Cod Times

    The recent letter by Richard Elrick, treasurer of Clean Power Now, cries out for a rebuttal. He obviously has not been forced to live near one of these quality-of-life-minimizing, irritating, mammoth windmill structures.

    I have an engraved stone slab in my garden that says, “An hour in the garden puts life’s problems in perspective”; now all I can think about is Falmouth’s nearby windmill!

    I applaud Harwich for caring enough about its citizens to forgo wind energy. What is the point of having even free electricity if it disrupts your peace of mind? Not one person should be forced to diminish their quality of life by having to live near a windmill. There is plenty of open space far from people’s homes where these generators could be placed.

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    Wind Energy Siting Bill Advances in House
    May 19, 2010
    State House News Service

    Critics of a bill aimed at increasing wind energy development across Massachusetts, which advanced in the House on Wednesday, say it eliminates cities and towns’ ability to determine whether they want to host a wind facility and overrides state environmental laws.

    “It is a bad bill for communities,” said Eleanor Tillinghast, president of Green Berkshires, an environmental group. Tillinghast accused the Senate, which passed the bill in March, of “misrepresenting” components regarding local control over wind project siting. She said the bill could prove bad politics for House members in a tough election year. “Why would [Speaker Robert] DeLeo want his representatives to go back home and say I voted against local control?” Tillinghast said. “Why would he put his representatives in that position?”

    A coalition of the state’s major environmental organizations told House members in a letter Wednesday that it supports the Senate wind facility siting reform bill because it “strikes a careful and thoughtful balance with respect to advancing responsible wind energy projects while protecting natural resources and ensuring a meaningful ongoing role for local communities.”

    The coalition, which includes Mass Audubon, Environment Massachusetts and the Conservation Law Foundation, said it had concerns about the capacity of a proposed Green Communities Division of the Department of Energy Resources and House plans to direct appeals of state approvals to the Superior Court rather than the Supreme Judicial Court. Environmental groups see the bills, if the House completes work on its version Wednesday, headed for a House-Senate conference committee. The House is scheduled to give the bill further consideration later Wednesday.




    Falmouth turbine noise fuels debate
    By K.C. Myers
    May 14, 2010
    Cape Cod Times

    FALMOUTH — They described the sound as a jet hovering or an old boot tumbling in a dryer.

    But the noise from Falmouth’s wind turbine doesn’t have to be loud to be disruptive, resident Todd Drummey said last night.

    “A mosquito isn’t loud either when you’re trying to sleep,” he said at a meeting in a private home located about one-third of a mile from the nearly 400-foot tall turbine that started operation in March. “It’s irritating.”

    A group of about 20 residents talked last night about the noise that has kept many of them awake since the turbine near the Falmouth Wastewater Treatment Facility began spinning. And they discussed ways to stop a second town-owned turbine now under construction at the same 300-acre treatment facility complex.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Wind Power The Worst Kind Of Mirage
    By Henk Tennekes
    March 3, 2010
    Financial Post

    Wind energy is an engineer’s nightmare. To begin with, the energy density of flowing air is miserably low. Therefore, you need a massive contraption to catch one megawatt at best, and a thousand of these to equal a single gas-or coal-fired power plant.

    If you design them for a wind speed of 34 miles per hour, they are useless at wind speeds below 22 mph and extremely dangerous at 44 mph, unless feathered in time. Remember, power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Old-fashioned Dutch windmills needed a two-man crew on 12-hour watch, seven days a week, because a runaway windmill first burnt its bearings, then its hardwood gears, then the entire superstructure.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Mountaintop Wind Power Is Not Green
    By Jonathan Carter
    March 2010
    Guest Essay, Bangor-Metro

    High elevation wind farms are the antithesis of “going green.”

    I have been advocating for wind power for decades. I never thought I would see the day when I would be opposing wind power development. However, the current frantic rush to install industrial wind on every viable mountaintop is both shortsighted and ecologically damaging. To call mountaintop wind operations “farms” is nothing more than PR. Farms suggest a positive relationship with the land. The industrial wind operations are nothing less than massive electrical generating facilities that destroy the quality of place and pose serious health problems for both humans and wildlife.

    To read the entire article, please click here:



    The Brewing Tempest Over Wind Power
    By Robert Bryce
    March 1, 2010
    Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal

    Imagine this scenario: The oil and gas industry launches an aggressive global drilling program with a new type of well. Thousands of these new wells, once operational, emit a noxious odor so offensive that many of the people living within a mile of them are kept awake at night. Some are even forced to move out of their homes. It’s easy to predict the reaction: denunciations of the industry, countless lawsuits, and congressional investigations.

    Now substitute wind for oil and gas and consider the noise complaints being lodged against wind projects around the world.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Don’t sacrifice our mountains to
    save the planet
    By Eleanor Tillinghast
    February – March 2010
    Op-Ed, Hill Country Observer

    Today, we are confronted by the crisis of climate change. Descriptions are so fearful, confusing, and occasionally contradictory that it’s hard to know what to think. We each try to do what we can to reduce our personal impact on the earth, and ponder how to preserve the planet from a catastrophic fate that could be imminent and irreversible.

    For many people, renewable energy has become the panacea: producing power from wind, trees, grasses, and the sun.

    But the turbines used to capture wind energy are massive and inefficient, and thousands are needed to make a dent in electricity consumption. Germany, twice the size of New England, has more than 20,000 wind turbines producing 7.5 percent of its electricity, and has plans to build as many as 26 coal-fired power plants.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Wind and Property Values: Relation Unknown
    By Kennedy Maize
    February 16, 2010
    Power Magazine

    Washington, Feb. 15, 2010 — Local opponents of wind farm developments often claim that the energy projects depress their property values. It’s a difficult issue to settle. The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory claimed last December in a $500,000 study, three years in the works – “The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis” – that the fear of property value declines is bogus …

    Not so fast, Denise. Albert R. Wilson, a national expert on real estate valuation, got wind of the study, looked at it, and found its methodology dodgy. His target was the way the LBNL researchers used “hedonic analysis” in their paper.

    To read the entire article, please click here:



    Wind power legislation unfair to state, businesses
    By Eleanor Tillinghast
    February 4, 2010
    Op-Ed, Patriot Ledger

    The state Senate is considering legislation that will undermine protections of our towns, neighborhoods and landscape to benefit a single special interest in ways that are unprecedented both in Massachusetts and New England.

    It will also raise our electricity rates, already among the highest in the nation.


    To read the entire Op-Ed, please click here:




    County panel rips plan
    By Ryan Hutton and Glenn Drohan
    February 2, 2010
    Berkshire Eagle

    SAVOY –The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has blasted the environmental notification form filed by Minuteman Wind LLC for its $35 million West Hill windmill project as “wholly inadequate,” citing numerous environmental concerns and casting extreme doubt on whether the developer could deliver its five turbines over the transportation routes proposed.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    An Unquiet Nation
    By Julia Baird
    January 28, 2010
    Newsweek

    “There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

    “The day will come when man will have to fight noise as inexorably as cholera and the plague.” — Nobel Prize–winning bacteriologist Robert Koch, 1905

    Silence is something you assume you will always be able to find if you need it. All you have to do is drive far enough in the right direction, trek through quiet fields or woods, or dive into the sea’s belly. For true silence is not noiselessness. As audio ecologist Gordon Hempton defines it, silence is “the complete absence of all audible mechanical vibrations, leaving only the sounds of nature at her most natural. Silence is the presence of everything, undisturbed.”

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Wind site bill misses the point of conservation
    By Tad Ames
    January 20, 2010
    Op-Ed, Boston Globe

    While the Cape Wind-Nantucket Sound drama between US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Wampanoag Indians drew the wind-energy spotlight last week, a quieter play opened on Beacon Hill, where the Senate Ways and Means committee reported out its version of the Patrick administration’s Wind Siting Reform Act.

    Good news for a greener Massachusetts? Not entirely. Rather than a comprehensive set of siting standards for onshore wind farms, the bill assaults the integrity of the Commonwealth’s environmental regulations and conservation legacy.

    To read the entire op-ed, please click here:



    NStar chief not sold on Cape Wind
    May says utility is ‘agnostic’ on project but backs alternative energy
    By Erin Ailworth
    January 20, 2010
    Boston Globe

    The head of one of the largest utilities in Massachusetts is not sold on the state’s largest wind power project

    NStar chief executive Thomas May said yesterday that although he believes in alternative energy, he’s not counting on the proposed Cape Wind project.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Wind Act encourages profiteering
    By Mackenzie W. Waggaman
    January 17, 2010
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle

    The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act moving through the state Legislature asks the citizenry to give up home rule, our political right, so wind energy developers and their banking partners can make quick money from taxpayer grants and subsidies.

    To read the entire letter, please click here:




    Real concerns about wind power
    By James Mullen
    January 2, 2010
    Op-Ed, Berkshire Eagle

    The Eagle’s promulgation of the state’s misleading representation of the obstacles to industrial/ commercial wind generation in Berkshire County is really quite remarkable (“Exploiting Savoy’s Wind,” Dec. 22). The foremost of these misconceptions is the notion that “local defenders of the mountaintops” have delayed these projects. Secondly, The Eagle’s support of the Comprehensive Wind Siting Reform Act is premature for it is still in draft form. For a bill revised three times since May 2009, any pledge of support is premature.

    To read the entire op-ed, please click here:




    With Wind Energy, Opportunity for Corruption
    By Doreen Carvajal
    December 14, 2009
    New York Times

    The northern trade winds of the Canary Islands have long tempted daredevil windsurfers, but now the gusts rising up to 60 kilometers per hour are attracting giant wind turbines and the millions of euros behind them.

    With their blades whirling, the 55 turbines that stand beyond the gray pebble beach of Pozo Izquierdo are stark, white symbols of a growing industry and the potential for abundant clean energy — and corruption.

    The town of Santa Lucía Tirajana, host to the annual Grand Slam windsurfing championships, was struck this year with gale force. A yearlong investigation by the Guardia Civil — the Spanish gendarmerie — turned up irregularities in a plan to build a new wind park. Now the mayor, five town officials and two wind park developers are fighting criminal charges that include influence peddling, misuse of public office, misappropriation of land and bribery. The motivation? Up to €40 million in European Union subsidies.

    To read the entire article, please click here:




    Rhode Island’s renewable-energy suicide
    By Thomas E. Gebhard
    November 28, 2009
    Op-Ed, Providence Journal

    I noticed the other week that Deepwater Wind is looking to renegotiate its contract to supply power from its proposed phase one offshore-wind project. As a veteran developer of wind projects and one who worked on an alternative bid to the Deepwater project, all I want to say is I told you so.

    At the time, I ran the numbers with a competing group and came up with a required power price of about 15 cents per kilowatt hour. I was surprised when the state announced a development that could supply power at under 10 cents. We believed at the time it could not be done.

    To read the entire op-ed, click here:




    Wind Act threatens our landscape
    By George Wislocki
    November 19, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle

    The recent acknowledgment by the National Geographic Society that the Berkshires are one of the earth’s 10 greatest tourist destinations (Berkshire Eagle Nov. 19) is a significant distinction. It highlights that our primary attraction is an intact natural landscape …

    Today the commonwealth’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs has authored proposed legislation which has the potential of seeing over 700 wind turbines built on the Berkshire’s commanding ridgelines. The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act would effectively remove all local control over siting these behemoth turbines. The intent of this legislation is to shift the decision-making powers over the siting of these turbines from the municipalities to a newly forming Energy Facility Siting Board whose composition would be carefully screened so as to appear to represent Berkshire community and environmental interests. However you can bet your bottom dollar that when critical votes are taken by that board the utility interests will always come out on top.

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Wind Act will hurt our region
    By Alan Rivenson
    November 16, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle

    In your Nov. 6 editorial in support of the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, you state that this act does not remove local control of wind power projects when in fact the Act shifts ultimate decision-making power over the siting of industrial wind turbines from municipalities to an unelected state board appointed by the governor. The Energy Facilities Siting Board has never rejected an energy project application.

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Ex-partner of Boston wind exec charged
    Italians nab soccer club president in energy fraud
    By Christine McConville
    November 15, 2009
    Boston Herald

    The Massachusetts native who helped found controversial wind-energy developers Cape Wind and First Wind expressed surprise late last week at news that his one-time partner in a separate wind-energy company in Italy has been arrested and charged with fraud.

    “I read about it in the papers, and I was very surprised,” Brian Caffyn said from Hong Kong, where he is now building wind-energy farms in China and the Philipines.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    Downing must fight wind power act
    By Bobbie Hallig
    November 15, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle

    Ben Downing is a great guy doing a difficult job. So how is such a good fellow going so wrong on the issue of wind power, and why is he not taking a stronger stance against something which is so obviously damaging to the Berkshires?

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Berkshires a top destination
    By Benning W. De La Mater
    November 14, 2009
    Berkshire Eagle

    Think of all the destinations treasured by the globe-trotting elite.

    Tuscany. The French Riviera. The Great Barrier Reef.

    The Berkshires beat them all.

    In this month’s edition of National Geographic Traveler magazine, the region tied for 7th out of 133 vacation destinations ranked by a panel of 437 experts in fields such as historic preservation, sustainable tourism, travel writing, food, photography and archaeology.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    Wind law could benefit company
    By Christine McConville
    November 6, 2009
    Boston Herald


    Despite significant opposition in Western Massachusetts, state environmental affairs secretary Ian Bowles is pushing hard to get a controversial wind-turbine law passed before the legislative session ends on Nov. 18.

    The bill could benefit a wind-energy firm, recently relocated to Boston, whose chief executive helped co-author the proposed law and whose financial backers have close ties to the Obama administration.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    A message from Mars Hilll
    By Wendy Todd
    November 05, 2009
    Letter, Caledonian Record


    To the people of Lowell and the surrounding communities:

    My name is Wendy Todd and I am from Mars Hill, Maine. I grew up in Mars Hill, on a farm that has been in my family for generations. After getting married, my husband Perrin and I moved to southern Maine. About five years ago we moved back to the County to raise our children and enjoy the rural living that we both grew up with. Shortly after moving into our new home at the base of Mars Hill Mountain, construction began on the Mars Hill Wind Farm. The entire project went on line in March of 2007.

    The wind turbines have changed our lives forever …

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    NE Governors endorse wind energy plan
    By Charlie Deitz
    September 17, 2009
    WAMC Radio

    To listen to the radio broadcast, click here:




    Homegrown energy, with a price
    By David Scribner
    August 2009
    Hill Country Observer


    To the casual observer, the clearings in the Savoy Mountain State Forest might not seem unusual: the result of some logging, perhaps, or the removal of a diseased section of forest to make way for healthier young growth.

    The clearings along Adams and New State roads were left by the clear-cutting two years ago of several dozen acres of spruce tree plantations that had been planted in the 1930s. Removing the trees, which the state contended were diseased, provides a better view of Mount Greylock to the west.

    But to some environmental watchdogs, the clear-cut parcels in Savoy – and others in the Windsor Jambs, Beartown, Peru and October Mountain state forests – symbolize what they say is a sharp increase in aggressive logging on state lands in the past few years.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    The 5-percent scam
    By Mickey Friedman
    August 28, 2009
    Column, Berkshire Record


    For the record I’d better say up front that I’ve been working pro bono as associate director of penguin/human relations for Penguins United: an organization devoted to preserving penguin habitat. The penguins have taught me about global warming.

    I mention this so that you know up front that I care about the climate crisis.

    Now some people will tell you we have to give up our mountains if we really, truly, deeply care about global warming. Some of them get paid to tell you this; others believe it from the bottom of their hearts.

    I think it’s a false choice, or as we used to say in the Bronx, a crock.

    To read the entire column, click here:




    Research before implementation
    By Neil Chrisman
    August 21-27, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Record


    Re: “Gov Patrick pauses to celebrate a new wind turbine in East Otis” by Michael Kelley, Aug 14-18, 2009

    I, too, celebrate initiatives to move away from fossil fuel to sustainable alternative energy sources and particularly when the power generated serves its local area and has community approval.

    However, in moving toward a comprehensive plan to promote such energy initiatives and in proposing the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act (now before the Commonwealth Legislature in draft) I think we have the cart before the horse.

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Wind siting bill threatens Berkshires
    By Margaret E. Sheehan
    August 19, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    I am writing to clarify the statement on renewable energy in the Berkshire Eagle on Monday, August 17 attributed to me. ["Wood-burning plan draws ire," Associated Press.] The statement quotes me as saying that burning forests to generate electricity “is not like wind and solar which are truly green and clean.”

    My position is on wind is qualified by the caveat that it must be properly sited, and industrial scale wind turbines do not belong on public lands or on scenic ridge lines such as those in the Berkshires. Until we have implemented all conservation and efficiency measures, and unless wind is locally owned and controlled, there is no need to destroy the scenic and ecological value of the Berkshires which is so closely tied to the regional tourist and recreational economy.


    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Get a wind energy report card
    By David Baumann
    August 15, 2009
    Column, Berkshire Eagle


    Then I gave Governor Patrick my report. Since 1998 and up to 2004, when the statistics completely disappeared, the best year for Searsburg was a 26 percent production factor. In other words, it produced 26 percent of its total nameplate capacity of six megawatts averaged over that year. The balance of the years Searsburg produced in the low 20 percent range. Again, Searsburg was picked because it was determined to be one of the better wind sites.

    Compare these numbers to the industry- advertised standards of 30 to 35 percent. The difference between a 25 percent factor and a 35 percent factor amounts to a very significant 28 percent reduction. Even at the industry-advertised production of 35 percent wind energy does not fly on its own economic merit.

    To read the entire column, click here:




    Local Wind
    August 13, 2009
    Editorial, Martha’s Vineyard Times


    This page favors local planning and rule making, the more local the better.

    This view is based on be-the-town-you-want-to-be, be-the-neighborhood-you-want-to-be principles. It leads to some folks choosing Edgartown to make their homes, some choosing Aquinnah, and so forth. The nature of one town, the accumulated decisions that have made it what it appears today to be, speaks to this person, but not to that one. Do the planning and rule making at the town level first. That’s where leaders are mostly closely accountable to voters.


    To read the entire editorial, click here:




    Mars Hill windmills prompt civil lawsuit
    By Jen Lynds
    August 12, 2009
    Bangor Daily News


    “During all of these meetings,” she continued, “We were told that noise would not be an issue, that the windmills were ‘gentle giants.’ We were told that you would have to be within 500 feet to hear anything, and that the visual aspect of the project would be the hardest thing to get over. We felt that we could get past that, so we believed we were all set.”

    That, Todd said Tuesday, was wrong. And now the Todds are joining with others who live near the windmills to try to rectify the situation.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    Wind Act bypasses local zoning bylaws
    by John Ditomasso
    August 11, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    I am writing to express concern about the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, which the governor supports. If enacted, this act would allow developers to bypass local zoning bylaws. The Patrick administration is focusing on our end of the state to meet its goal of 2000 megawatts of wind by 2020. I wholeheartedly support alternative energy production, and wind energy, as long as local communities are allowed to have some input in the process. This act takes away the tools communities have to address these issues.

    We the people know what’s best for our communities, not big government bureaucrats that want to force their will on us.




    Why We Need a Bold Vision for Preserving Our Wilderness
    by Robert Redford
    July 27, 2009
    Huffington Post


    I have welcomed several promising signs coming out of the Obama Administration, from the president’s push for clean energy to Interior Secretary Salazar’s efforts to block oil and gas leasing near some of Utah’s most stunning landscapes.

    But there is still something I am waiting to see: a bold new vision for preserving America’s wilderness.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    Save our mountains, and our rights
    By Joe Gwozdz
    July 24, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    The state Legislature is poised to vote on the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. This act will strip the constitutional protection of our parklands and remove all local government from the “permitting” process, essentially doing away with home rule. The intent is to “streamline” the permitting process to establish windmills both on and off shore of the state.

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Barrington selectmen seek list of turbines
    By David Scribner
    July 17, 2009
    Berkshire Record


    The Board of Selectmen is demanding that a joint legislative committee convene a full-scale public hearing in the Berkshires on the proposed Wind Energy Siting Reform Act that would potentially allow the erection of 25 wind turbines within town limits, even if the town did not want them.


    Click here for a link to download a PDF copy of the article.




    Turbines are a costly blight
    By Eleanor Tillinghast
    July 13, 2009
    Op-Ed, Boston Globe


    Governor Deval Patrick’s goal of 2,000 megawatts of wind power by 2020 will achieve very little at great cost, according to the state’s own data. Nonetheless, he is seeking from the Legislature an unprecedented set of special privileges to benefit the wind industry.

    His Wind Energy Siting Reform Act will override 300 years of home rule, displace environmental laws, eliminate longstanding rights of appeal, and launch a process for opening the state’s last unspoiled forests and ridgelines to industrial wind development.


    To read the entire Op-Ed, click here:




    Big wind emerges from corporations
    By Bobbie Hallig
    July 07, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    Building hundreds of wind turbines for a tiny fraction of our electricity is not only foolish but it is a tradeoff which is absurd in the entire picture.

    To read the entire letter, click here:




    State wind power plans stir up local concerns
    By Richie Davis
    July 4, 2009
    Greenfield Recorder


    Slow down, the Franklin Regional Planning Board has advised the state about its proposed ‘fast-track’ wind energy siting legislation.

    The Legislature should conduct a hearing in Franklin County, the regional board wrote this week in its comments on the fast-track bill.

    To read the entire article, click here:




    An ill wind is blowing turbine issue in our state
    By Eleanor Tillinghast
    July 3, 2009
    Op-Ed, Berkshire Record


    People who treasure the Berkshire landscape should now be alarmed that the state owns so much of it.

    To read the entire Op-Ed, click here.




    Wind Act bulldozes home rule
    By Laurily K. Epstein
    June 30, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    I object strongly to the premise of the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, the subject of a “listening session” by DOER representatives at BCC on June 24.

    To read the entire letter, click here.




    An act of tyranny, not one of reform
    By Mackenzie Waggaman
    June 28, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    Whether you are for or against wind farms in Massachusetts you should be aware that the pending Wind Energy Siting Reform Act of 2009 is a threat to your freedom and constitutional rights. This Act is currently being fast-tracked through the state Legislature with virtually no on-the-record public debate at the insistence of Gov. Patrick, the wind energy industry and its financiers.


    To read the entire letter, click here:




    Get out of town
    Editorial
    June 26, 2009
    North Adams Transcript


    Let us not hesitate in beating paths to our state representatives’ doors and urging them to vote a resounding NO on the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, otherwise known as the Bill That Would Plaster The Berkshires With Wind Turbines.

    To read the entire editorial, click here.




    Wind Turbine Forum in Pittsfield
    By Charlie Deitz
    June 25, 2009
    WAMC Radio

    To listen to the radio broadcast, click here.




    Locals air turbine fears, hopes
    By Dick Lindsay
    June 25, 2009
    Berkshire Eagle


    PITTSFIELD — While the Berkshire hills are being eyed as the primary location for wind power projects on state-owned land, turbines aren’t likely to start popping up anytime soon, state officials said Wednesday during a public input session at Berkshire Community College.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Land use fuels wind debate
    By Christine McConville
    June 24, 2009
    Boston Herald


    State officials will be in Pittsfield tonight to discuss a plan to install wind turbines on hiking trails and public beaches. The move is part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s goal to develop 2,000 megawatts of wind power by 2020. Patrick’s top environmental aides have crafted a plan to make it easier to build onshore, industrial wind farms in Massachusetts.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Wind-siting act threatens home rule
    By Narain Schroeder
    June 24, 2009
    Letter, Berkshire Eagle


    The Legislature’s proposed Act Relative to Comprehensive Wind Siting Reform and the governor’s push to open land protected under Article 97 of the State Constitution deserve close scrutiny. The proposed wind siting reform develops a streamlined permitting process through the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) which sidesteps local decisions and state environmental laws. If passed as written, communities will have little power to stop or significantly alter unwanted wind power plants.

    To read the entire letter, click here.




    Turbine bill steamrolls towns
    By Eleanor Tillinghast
    June 22, 2009
    Op-Ed, Berkshire Eagle


    Hundreds of industrial wind turbines could be built in the Berkshires under a bill being fast-tracked through the state legislature. The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act establishes an unprecedented process for opening public and private land in the Berkshires to industrial wind development. It allows the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board — which has never rejected a power plant application — to override decisions by local zoning boards about the permitting of wind facilities. It replaces existing state environmental laws with standards to be set by the EFSB for the permitting of those facilities.

    To read the entire Op-Ed, click here.




    Mass. officials to hold forum on wind power
    By Associated Press
    June 21, 2009
    Boston Herald


    PITTSFIELD — The state Department of Energy Resources heard public comment last week at a forum in Bourne. There, speakers mostly praised plans to harness wind energy on state-owned land while others pressed officials to keep in mind the impact on conservation areas.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    State looks to fast-track wind power projects:
    Hilltown officials worry locals will lose power in new siting process
    By Diane Broncaccio
    June 17, 2009
    Greenfield Recorder


    As the state moves forward with proposed legislation for siting wind turbines, planning board officials in some hilltowns want a public hearing in western Massachusetts, where the mountains, open space and vast areas of state-owned land could be prime locations for commercial windmills.

    To read the entire article, click here.:




    Before Adding, Try Reducing
    By Sari Krieger
    June 15, 2009
    Wall Street Journal


    The U.S. government offers a lot of subsidies to expand renewable energy. Should it be doing more to subsidize conservation?

    The U.S. government is committing billions of dollars to support renewable energy such as wind- and solar-power plants. Some say it should use more of that financial clout to encourage less energy consumption in the first place.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Storm over windmills
    Foes say Deval’s bill may hurt scenic vistas
    By Christine McConville  
    June 12, 2009 
    Boston Herald


    Gov. Deval Patrick’s ambitious wind power plan for Massachusetts is pitting green vs. green.

    Patrick is pushing legislation that could bring some 1,200 forty-story wind turbines to mountaintops, scenic roadways and coastal vistas, but outraged critics say the pro-business initiative strips communities of a valued voice in where and how the onshore industrial turbines are built.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Wolves in green suits
    T.J. Smith
    June 5, 2009
    Letter, North Adams Transcript


    In the minutes of the September 2008 meeting of the Wellesley Light and Power Company Board, it is explained how a private power company located in one of the wealthiest communities in the commonwealth has agreed on the plans of Minuteman Wind LLC, a wind facility developer, as presented by president Don McCauley.

    This move was to exploit the pristine landscape and the economy of one of the poorest communities, Savoy, in the same commonwealth. The aim of Minuteman Wind is to take advantage of lucrative profits from the purchase of renewable wind energy — energy that without Federal Production Tax Credits could not compete in the general power market.

    To read the entire letter, click here.




    Keep public’s voice in energy issues
    By Judith Eiseman
    June 2, 2009
    Op-Ed, Daily Hampshire Gazette


    Now the new Inland Wind Energy Siting bill just submitted to the Legislature takes disrespect for the public to new levels by proposing to eliminate citizen input severely and by putting all inland wind energy generation siting into far too few hands – many with vested interests.

    To read the entire Op-Ed, click here.




    End of home rule?
    In headlong rush to build wind farms, state may steamroll local towns
    May 30, 2009
    Cape Cod Times


    First, the state Energy Facilities Siting Board approved a bundle of permits for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, overruling local concerns raised by Cape towns and the Cape Cod Commission.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Planners opposing wind siting bill; Request hearings “west of the Connecticut River”
    By Virginia Ray
    May 29, 2009
    Shelburne Falls & West County Independent


    HAWLEY — Planning Board member Lloyd Crawford doesn’t like what he’s learned about the terms of the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act currently on Beacon Hill under consideration by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

    To read the entire article, click here.




    Radio Interview
    Eleanor Tillinghast by Bob Balogh
    May 29, 2009
    WBCR-FM

    To hear the radio interview, click here:




    State energy push cuts out the people
    By Alexandra Dawson
    May 25, 2009
    Column, Daily Hampshire Gazette


    The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act was adopted in 1972 to considerable acclaim. It is found in Chapter 30 of the General Laws, Section 61-62H.

    It was created in imitation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and similar laws in several other states, including California and New York. All these laws require preparation of environmental impact reports for important projects. All are now in decline, though not actually repealed, as interest in the environment has been eclipsed by concern for other movements.

    To read the entire column, click here.




    Battle Over Test Towers: Loophole Allows Wind Turbine Work In Colebrook Without Local Debate
    By Rinker Buck
    May 25, 2009
    Hartford Courant


    Renewable energy is now an American mantra, but homeowner Stephen King has learned that a legal limbo awaits anyone who wakes up to discover that a wind farm might be going up next door. Because of a loophole that allows zoning boards to approve test towers for wind turbines without notifying neighbors, residents near terrain favorable for wind energy could face the prospect of a major wind energy project being built in their community with limited ability to challenge it.

    To read the entire article, click here.



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