MONTPELIER, Vt. -- When it comes to wind power,
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas and Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie
don't always agree.
The state's top two elected officials, who are up for
re-election in November, have different ideas about
using mountaintop windmills to harness wind and
convert it into electric power.
Dubie is all for it. Douglas supports it in theory but
opposes the installation of wind turbines on ridge
lines, saying the amount of energy they could generate
isn't worth marring mountain vistas.
"There's a lot of potential sites in our state," Dubie
said Wednesday. "Even though they may be on ridge
lines, I don't think they should be ruled out." His
comments came a day after he told an energy conference
he was "an unabashed supporter of wind."
Douglas has been less enthusiastic about large-scale
wind projects, which developers say need elevations of
2,500 feet or higher to harness the wind needed to be
economically viable.
"While the governor supports renewable energy ... he
cannot support the commercialization and
industrialization of our mountaintops," Douglas'
spokesman, Jason Gibbs, said earlier this month.
Gibbs and James Barnett, chairman of the state
Republican Party, said Thursday that Democrats aren't
all on the page, either.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Scudder Parker has
said he strongly supports wind power, and earlier this
month criticized the Douglas administration when the
Department of Public Service came out in opposition to
a proposed wind power project in Sheffield and Sutton.
Congressional candidate Peter Welch was quoted in the
weekly Manchester Journal earlier this month as
saying, "I am against the industrialization of the
ridge lines... I think wind is a good renewable source
of energy, but that it's good doesn't mean that its
good everywhere or that it's practical everywhere."
Welch aide Andrew Savage said Welch's real concern was
not with the projects' locations, but that their
benefits go to Vermont communities and not just to
out-of-state electric consumers or investors.
Douglas did support the East Haven Wind Farm project
proposed for the top of East Mountain. But that
project, which called for four 400-foot-tall wind
turbine towers on the site of a former U.S. Air Force
radar base, was rejected by the Public Service Board
last month.
The board cited concerns raised by the Agency of
Natural Resources that the developers had not done
sufficient studies to determine the project's possible
effects on the area's bird and bat populations.
At a news conference Wednesday, Douglas said he was
unaware of Dubie's remarks to the energy forum
Tuesday. "I'll certainly have a chance to chat with
him," Douglas said.
Dubie said the two already had talked about the issue.
"I've talked at length with the governor," Dubie said.
"The governor has got this passion to protect ridge
lines and so do a lot of Vermonters. But it's my
opinion that we need to find some locations where we
can locate large wind facilities like Searsburg."
Searsburg, in southern Vermont, is the site of
Vermont's first and so far only large-scale wind power
development.
Green Mountain Power put up 11 towers there in the
1990s. Dubie said they had been well received in the
area, but wind power critics note that the Searsburg
towers are only about half as tall as the current
industry norm of 400 feet.
Searsburg could become home to some of the larger
towers.
A developer last year proposed up to 30 of the larger
towers on Green Mountain National Forest lands near
the current Searsburg wind power site. The U.S. Forest
Service is reviewing the proposal.
Dubie, a pilot who has training in mechanical
engineering, said he understands why wind turbines
need to be placed on or near mountaintops.
"A little bit better location, a little bit more wind
makes a huge difference in the efficiency and
economics of a wind project," he said.
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