Opinions
Willing to say anything
If Catamount will lie on such a basic point as this, why should we believe anything else they say?
February 16, 2006
by Hollis Rinehart, Londonderry
in The Rutland Herald
In support of their proposal to build 19 420-foot high wind towers on Glebe Mountain, Catamount Energy has recently circulated a flyer in which they claim, among other things, to be "a local company whose core values reflect Vermont, including respect for our neighbors and community." This is a transparent lie. Catamount is owned by Diamond Castle, a Wall Street private equity firm. Its financial partner for the proposed Glebe Mountain project is Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate (Business Wire, Nov. 21, 2005). So far from respecting our community, Catamount is proceeding with its proposal despite the fact that both the Londonderry and Windham town plans specifically forbid commercial wind construction on Glebe Mountain.
If Catamount will lie on such a basic point as this, why should we believe anything else they say? Of course, there is more than one way of telling a lie. One way is to tell part of the truth, omitting the inconvenient parts. For example, the same flyer claims that wind power, in the 22 states where it exists, produces "enough electricity to supply 2.3 million average American households." This is a good example of a partial truth. Wind power may indeed produce this much electricity, but that does not mean it is available for use whenever you need it. Any household which relied exclusively on this wind power would be dark 25 percent to 75 percent of the time. This is due to the obvious fact that wind does not blow all the time and does not blow steadily when it does blow. As has been pointed out time and again, wind power requires backup, in the form of conventional resources such as coal, gas, hydro and nuclear power, for the times when wind is not blowing, or not blowing at the right speed.
Wind power can never replace conventional sources of energy; at best it is a source of additional energy, but a very expensive one. The subsidies to the wind power industry, per unit of energy produced, are more than twice what they are to any of the conventional sources of power, while the electricity it produces is less than half as valuable, because it is not always available when needed. Denmark, a leader in the field, with more than 12,000 megawatts of wind power installed, has yet to close a single conventionally powered plant; in fact it sells its excess electricity to other countries at a loss.
If Catamount Energy were to tell the truth in its flyer, it would say something like this: "Diamond Castle of Wall Street and Marubeni of Japan are eager to make money out of undeveloped Vermont land by taking advantage of discriminatory government subsidies. To accomplish this, we are willing to say anything."
| < prev | next > |
Note: this article may be subject to the Fair Use Notice.