The few dogged holdouts insisting that the wind farm planned for Bent Mountain is a bad idea are slowly becoming overwhelmed by numbers. When the Sierra Club of the Roanoke Valley endorsed the project last week, it brought the number of environmental groups on the side of the farm to six. That's not counting local governments and others who favor the farm.
The Bent Mountain protesters, who live in the shadow of the proposed wind farm (which will be quite imposing from its sheer size) have presented a substantial case against the "industrial" farm, but its argument has been countered consistently by the groups listed below.
It's looking increasingly like the farm is coming and we'd all better just get used to it.
Roanoke Group, Sierra Club: Founded in 1892 by the legendary John Muir, is the largest grass-roots environmental organization in the world. The Roanoke Group has over 700 members.
U.S. Green Building Council Southwest Virginia Chapter: Devoted to sustainable building practices and listing almost 500 subscribers in Southwest Virginia.
Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition: An all-volunteer organization devoted to reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions with over 200 affiliates representing more than 25,000 citizens in this region.
Greater Roanoke Valley Asthma and Air Quality Coalition: Pulmonologists, nurse practitioners, respiratory care practitioners, registered nurses, allergists, and other representatives of health and environmental groups working to improve air quality and respiratory health for the Greater Roanoke Valley through education and partnerships with other organizations with similar goals.
Renewable Energy Electric Vehicle Association: Local volunteers from a wide variety of professions who undertake do-it-yourself renewable energy projects.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network: The first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.; educating and mobilizing citizens of the region to foster a swift transition to clean energy and energy-efficient products.
(Photo: sustainabilityninja.com)
Those same bent Mountain families also protested building cell towers out here as well. They changed their minds when their calls were dropped half way up the mountain. We're glad we have it now.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad time when our "environmental" organizations are swooned by large corporations' lust for near term financial gain from extravagantly, imbalanced, state and federal incentives created over the past two decades.
ReplyDeleteWind investors are provided with DOUBLE accelerated 5-year depreciation. $200,000,000 tax credits in ten years for a $100,000,000 investment. Wall Street doesn't need Credit Default Swaps and other derivatives with this kind of investment opportunity being supported by our environmental organizations.
For God's sake, Rev. Steve, and the rest of you, please wake up.
Who is being duped here?
Thanks for posting this entry, Dan! Environmentalists have been advocating clean renewable energy for years, and we're happy to see the successes, though there is still a long way to go before the Poor Mountain project is approved. Unlike others, we are pleased that our government (federal) is assisting this process with financial incentives for those who are investing in this technology. Without those incentives much of this progress would never happen and we would be stuck in our fossil fuel for a long time to come. We are awake.
ReplyDeleteSo you think those folks in the Bent Mountain Community are full of it...huh???
ReplyDeleteIf the proposed wind industrial turbines are constructed by Invenergy Inc. on the ridge line of Poor Mountain, the community of Bent Mountain and the Roanoke Valley will be drastically altered.
The change will be extremely negative to those of us that live and work there, and many of those that visit and interact with the natural beauty and the uniqueness that this area personifies.
If these turbines are built we will see health issues, some of which are life threatening (elevated blood pressure, and tachycardia that can affect pacemakers and defibulators). Property values will plummet, roads will deteriorate, wildlife will be adversely affected, and birds and bat deaths will be unavoidable. Bears, bobcats, and deer will be driven from their homes. Also ground water, including natural springs and personal wells will be contaminated. This exceptional mountain community that many of us love and treasure will soon become a "ghost town".
When those of us look up and see these huge 450 foot blades turning on top of Poor Mountain, all of the supporters of this monstrosity can pat themselves on the back---and know that they facilitated and contributed toward a totally inefficient source of so called "free green energy". Wind turbines do not displace, replace, or reduce the social, environmental, and economic costs of other forms of energy production.
The Sierra Club, Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, the U. S. Green Building Council, and all other individual supporters of the windmill project on Poor Mountain....you have been "bought out", my dear friends...the bottom line is, and always will be--"Money and profit”.
Kay Moore