Editor’s note: This commentary is by M. James Morey, of Windham, who is president of Wild-Life Styles, a wildlife habitat assesment and enhancement service for private landowners. He has been Windham County Natural Resources Conservation Service supervisor and is on the Windham Planning Commission. He has addressed the Vermont House Natural Resource and Energy Committee and the Governor’s Energy Siting Commission on energy siting. This commentary was first submitted to Sen. Chris Bray’s hearing on solar and energy siting.
[V]ermont legislators,
I respectfully urge you to enact legislation to give significant consideration to regional and town government and their official plans relative to siting of industrial wind developments. At present, the Public Service Board clearly states that they cannot give substantial consideration to towns because the law does not require it.
We have learned valuable lessons from Lowell and Sheffield, unfortunately the hard way due to this unbalanced system. We now know that industrial wind has serious long-term impacts on high elevation watersheds and erosion, ecology and wildlife. Every day more evidence of related health issues is revealed. Perhaps most importantly, we know it damages property values, retirement/second home buyer markets and tourism. I want to emphasize that peer-reviewed studies done by certified appraisers and university professors, show a 40 percent or greater loss in value of property located within one mile of industrial wind developments.
Quoting Sen. Bray from his VTDigger commentary of June 18, 2014:
“The Vermont Constitution, Chapter I, Article 1 spells out our ‘unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety …’ Property rights are fundamental. But they are not unlimited.
“In the very next section, Article 2 says: ‘That private property ought to be subservient to public uses when necessity requires it, nevertheless, whenever any person’s property is taken for the use of the public, the owner ought to receive an equivalent in money.’”
When the PSB was first established there were a limited number of major project applications per year by public utilities. Today, there are dozens of major projects applications, made primarily by private, for-profit developers with staffs of advocates and lawyers. The results: Vermont’s regions, towns and citizens have no control over their town development, property rights, health and environment. Local municipal government, made up primarily of volunteers, living daily with complete knowledge of the issues, are pushed out of the way, while decisions affecting the future of hundreds of Vermont families are made in Montpelier, by a three-person board of distant career “professionals.”
Local municipal government, made up primarily of volunteers, living daily with complete knowledge of the issues, are pushed out of the way, while decisions affecting the future of hundreds of Vermont families are made in Montpelier, by a three-person board of distant career “professionals.”
With limited time to respond, limited funds to hire representation and no official status, the people have virtually no chance to defend their homes and towns against the international developers and out-of-state landowners.
The isolation and insulation of the PSB from the real world is so complete, there is not even visitation or public meetings on site of major industrial-sized developments by state decision makers. This lack of representation is unconscionable in a small, predominantly rural state with its traditions of town meetings and respect for one’s neighbors.
These problems are too serious to be left solely in the hands of powerful developers, their full-time lobbying staffs and the three political appointees of the PSB. In closing, I will direct your attention to the official PSB website. Under their FAQ section there is only one item, “how do I file a complaint.” I have to assume the PSB has no knowledge of the public’s questions or interest in revealing answers. I again urgently request that you, our elected representatives, give us back our rights and voice in energy siting, one of the most crucial issues to face Vermonters today.
