Well, that’s not quite true. The three freakin’ geniuses who birthed the thing (Sens. Bob Hartwell, Peter “The Slummin’ Solon” Galbraith, and Joe Benning) are inordinately proud of it. But lots of other folks are lining up against it.
S.30, for those just tuning in, is the revised wind-moratorium bill, Now With 100% Less Moratorium, that passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee last week amid a flurry of smug back-patting by Messrs. Hartwell and Galbraith. It would require Act 250 review (in addition to the existing Public Service Board process) for any new energy project over 500 kilowatts. It’s aimed at utility-scale wind, but it would also apply to other types of energy, making it almost impossible to increase Vermont’s renewables portfolio.
The ardent Windies don’t like the new S.30 because it doesn’t include the moratorium. Today, a broad coalition of Vermont businesses, and most every major environmental group in the state, announced their opposition because they want to promote renewables as a source of cleaner energy and jobs.
First, the businesses. They come from all areas of endeavor, and range in size from Vermont-large (Ben and Jerry’s, NRG Systems, Washington Electric Co-op) to community small (Green Mountain Dairy Farm, Moose Mountain Forestry). They assert that S.30 would “upend decades of well-planned statewide energy permitting, stifle jobs and restrict access to affordable, clean energy,” and “take Vermont backwards in meeting the goals of our state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan and addressing climate change.”
As for the enviros, they urge a “No” vote when the bill comes to the full Senate, which could happen as soon as next week.
Christopher Kilian of the Conservation Law Foundation says that S.30 would make it harder to build renewables than nuclear, coal, or large-scale hydro. Charles McKenna of the Sierra Club Vermont says the continually increasing evidence for climate change underscores the urgency of adopting renewable sources.
Antinuclear groups Citizens Awareness Network and Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance say promoting renewables — including utility-scale projects — is the only way to wean ourselves from nukes and fossil fuels.
The groups note that “S.30 calls for a study of all potentially negative impacts of wind energy, while failing to call for any evaluation of far more dangerous and polluting energy sources.”
The groups signing the news release include: VPIRT, Conservation Law Foundation, 350Vermont, Sierra Club Vermont, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Citizens Awareness Network, National Wildlife Federation (Northeast), and Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance.
For the record, Moose Mountain Forestry is owned by Trip Wileman, who owns the ridgeline upon which GMP built its wind project.
1) The article says “Christopher Kilian of the Conservation Law Foundation says that S.30 would make it harder to build renewables than nuclear, coal, or large-scale hydro.” Could someone explain this? As far as I can tell, most of the provisions of the law apply to ANY electric generation plant of over 500KW capacity (Section 2(b)(5)and those that don’t apply either to studies or to conflicts of interest (Wind is singled out for both of those provisions). What am I missing?
2) Also, you write: “It would require Act 250 review (in addition to the existing Public Service Board process) for any new energy project over 500 kilowatts.” I don’t see that it in the law. Could you cite the relevant section(s) please?
From what I can tell, the law requires the PSB to grant a CPG and consider everything that would have been considered in an Act 250 process (thus explicitly incorporating regional and town plans). But that’s quite different from requiring 2 reviews.
It also requires that regional plans include energy project explicitly.
I’m not defending (or attacking)this bill; I’m simply trying to understand it completely.
can do it, so can we & everyone else. Take that windies! Excellent read:
http://timesargus.com/article/…