Show us the science says Lenox Selectman
Lenox Selectman Channing Gibson served on the town’s Wind Energy Research Panel, composed of 3 proponents and 3 skeptics. In his letter to the editor published in the Berkshire Eagle on 7/29/12, he challenges the governor to do what the panel did. They engaged in a cost/benefit analysis and used “a fact-based investigation of the positive and negative impacts — to the town’s economy, its environment and its citizens’ health — of siting wind turbines on Lenox Mountain for the purpose of generating electrical power for the town.”
It is not enough for the governor or anyone else to say that on-shore wind-generated power needs to be in the energy mix; they must prove it. The proponents of wind, especially the governor, must prove, definitively, to the citizens of Massachusetts that the enormous, taxpayer-supported subsidies our state offers to wind-power developers make economic sense and are worth the vast impacts to the ecology and scenic value of our ridgelines. Show us the numbers. They must prove, definitively, that there are siting standards that will protect human health. They need to prove, definitively, that the governor’s plan will reduce global warming, pollution and the destructive extraction of fossil fuels. Show us the science.
The town ultimately decided to adopt solar technology to meet town electricity needs. Clarence Fanto’s article in the Berkshire Eagle (Wind energy panel recommends against Lenox Mountain turbine) on February 17, 2012 reported
After four months of study, the majority of the Wind Energy Research Panel is recommending the proposal be scuttled because it won’t be a financial benefit to Lenox, but would raise health concerns and yield a negative environmental impact. The panel was assigned by the Select Board to evaluate a single or double municipal wind-turbine installation atop Lenox Mountain.
The report is available on the town’s website.
Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts 