About Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc. and Clear Sky Vermont:

Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc., is a volunteer group formed in order to gather and share information from a local perspective about the PPM Energy wind turbine project proposed in the Green Mountain National Forest in Searsburg and Readsboro, Vermont. ClearSkyVT.org was created to be an educational tool to share what we have learned about this project and about wind power in general. 

Our group was recently incorporated. The following excerpt is from our Articles of Incorporation:

Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc. is a non-profit environmental organization established to preserve the natural condition of  Vermont’s mountain landscape and to protect it from the negative impacts of wind energy development, and to promote the orderly development of energy resources and responsible management of energy needs to minimize the adverse environmental and economic impact of energy use in Vermont. To accomplish these purposes, Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc. will engage in educational, civic and charitable activities and will develop scientific evidence to help achieve these purposes.

The Vermont Public Service Board started the public approval process for this project with a site visit and hearing that both occurred on October 2, 2007.    For those who attended, it became clear how much of an impact these seventeen 410' tall towers with rapidly flashing lights will have upon our environment, our health and our beloved landscape, not only during the day but at night as well.   

Members of Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc. are local residents, vacation homeowners, visitors and business owners who have many concerns about this project and oppose its construction because of those concerns.  Save Vermont Ridgelines, Inc. recently became an intervening party in the Vermont Public Service Board's Docket No. 7250 - Petition of Deerfield Wind LLC for a Certificate of Public Good. 

Although no one can deny that there is a great need for alternative energy, we feel that the many negative aspects of this particular project far outweigh any small energy benefit it might provide.  Some of those negative aspects are:

1. This proposed project would destroy over 80 acres of pristine ridgeline on National Forest Service land.  This would set a detrimental precedent for Vermont and the nation.  If turbines are allowed to be built on National Forest land, it will start a freight train of ridgeline industrialization that will be difficult to stop. 
2. The US Forest Service’s 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Green Mountain National Forest identifies 37 sites, with a total of 19,700 acres, as viable and suitable locations for wind power development. This proposed site in Searsburg and Readsboro is one of these sites that the Forest Service has classified as “Diverse Forest Use”.
3. Seventeen 410 foot tall turbines are proposed. They would be taller than a 40 story skyscraper and 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty .  The existing Searsburg turbines are just under 200 feet tall.   
4. The turbines will have red flashing lights per FAA regulations which will make our clear Vermont night skies a thing of the past.
5. Not enough energy will be produced (a potential maximum of less than 1% of Vermont’s annual load) to warrant the sacrifice of our National Forest lands.
6. The turbines are so tall that migrating birds and bats will be  susceptible to colliding with the rotating blades and killed.
7. The beech stand most used by bears in Vermont (almost 500 trees) will be destroyed.
8. More than 60 homes are located within 1 mile of this proposed site.
9. Documented medical studies have shown many adverse health effects of wind power for those living closest to turbines from the noise and shadows of the blades. These include insomnia, irritability, depression, and many other conditions.
10. Wind energy is not entirely “clean” energy. Fossil fuels are still required to power the turbines.
11. The possibility of a turbine fire, requiring a fire-fighting effort at a great height in the middle of the forest, is a major concern to nearby residents. As Searsburg has no fire department of its own, we would have to rely on Wilmington's fire department located 7 miles away.
12. There are no guarantees that any energy produced will be available to local residents or even other Vermonters.  It will be sold to the grid.
13. This proposed site, on National Forest land remember, will be closed to the public, denying all of us our rights to snowmobile, hike, or hunt on that land.
14. When the turbines are finally decommissioned, the area will never return to pre-existing conditions. Tons of concrete and rebar will be left in the ground forever.
15. Current pristine ridgeline views for many miles around, in no fewer than 8 towns, will be ruined. These proposed turbines with red flashing lights are so massive that they will be a blight on the land.

In conclusion,  wooded ridgelines in a National Forest are definitely not the right place for an industrialized wind energy project such as PPM Energy is proposing. 

On this website, you will find letters, articles, maps and photos, informative links and information about some safe and more efficient energy sources. Please take the time to read our thoughts and concerns.

Thank you for visiting our website.