Vermont Environmentalists Turn Against Wind Power

Vermonters for a Clean Environment is leading environmental opposition to wind turbines in the Green Mountain State, standing up for ecosystems threatened by wind turbines. Environmentalists are achieving success, with the Vermont Public Service Board proposing new siting restrictions for future wind turbine placement.

Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE) is an organization strongly advocating for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. The group also cooperates with other environmental groups, such as the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network and Vermonters for Sustainable Population, on a broad spectrum of environmental issues. With these green bona fides, Vermonters for a Clean Environment advocates carbon dioxide reduction measures that stay true to longstanding environmental concerns such as land conservation and species protection.

Vermonters for a Clean Environment “believe that Vermont’s economic growth depends on its environmental health,” the group’s website states.

“We are united in the belief that Vermont’s future lies in conserving its clean, rural, small-town environment,” the website adds.

In keeping with these values, Vermonters for a Clean Environment believes the state’s beautiful mountaintop ridges and pristine rural lands should retain their natural beauty and not be despoiled with large wind turbines and the infrastructure that delivers power from turbines to the energy grid.

“In Vermont, our best response to climate change is to preserve these intact ecosystems and to preserve these mountains,” VCE executive director told Nexus Media.

The proposed Public Service Board rules would require wind power producers to maintain a setback of 10 times the height of the wind turbine and comply with strict noise standards. The proposed restrictions follow Vermonters rejecting wind power in two important voter referendums last November and electing a governor who campaigned against placing more wind turbines in Vermont.

“Vermont has some of the cleanest air in the nation and large quantities of pure water,” states the VCE website. Wind power is incompatible with preserving Vermont’s ecosystems and pristine mountaintop ridges, VCE observes. Better alternatives would presumably include more hydro power, nuclear power, and natural gas.