To the editor: Iberdrola offer pales compared to what will be lost

Letters to the editor logoMy husband and I, frequent visitors to the area over the past 10 years, are dismayed at the project being proposed by Iberdrola Renewables. As a health-care practitioner and master gardener and environmental steward respectively, we are amazed that the proposal has gotten this far. Here’s why.

  1. What makes this project necessary if the state is already enjoying the lowest prices in the northeast and other options are available?
  2. Who are the residents of Windham and Grafton that are so impoverished that they would sell their most valuable asset, the mountains that attract so many for skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, hiking, theater, dining and shopping?
  3. How can the ‘residents’ justify making a decision that affects all involved while Iberdrola specifically excluded the non-resident homeowners who pay 60 percent of their taxes?
  4. How can voters consider this minimal short-term profit that creates a forever afterward affected landscape? With the town’s former glory of Magic Mountain and the charm of Grafton altered it makes it that much easier to take our tourist business elsewhere. They will forever be known as the ‘turbine town’s’ of Vermont.
  5. Where is the consideration of learning from those that have gone before them? Ask anyone who lives near a mine, an existing turbine collection, an oil field, high power lines and you’ll get lots of stories of compromised health. Is the risk worth it? Who will pay for those costs?

Having worked in the oil and gas business for more than 20 years, I know there is no free lunch. Any money being spent is strictly for the company’s bottom line gain.

While the dollars Iberdrola purports to ‘give’ the townspeople seem large, they are a drop in the bucket compared to what they will make and what these two towns will lose if this proposal passes.

Jean Grossman,
Dr. Steven Grossman

Montclair, N.J.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: CommentaryLetters to the Editor

About the Author:

RSSComments (3)

Leave a Reply | Trackback URL

  1. J. Westclark says:

    “Having worked in the oil and gas business for more than 20 years…” And yet you feel qualified to lecture Vermonters on land stewardship.

    Perhaps the good Doctor might consider that some folks may not agree with her as to what our greatest asset is. Sure some may consider pretty scenery to the greatest asset. I certain do consider it to be important. But our greatest asset? No. I consider my fellow townspeople to be Grafton’s greatest asset. Treating them with trust and respect, especially those that have selflessly served this community for a long time, should rate right up there with an unbroken natural skyline. Please consider that.

  2. Maureen Bell says:

    Nicely said Jean and Steven

  3. Jo Bishop says:

    Perhaps for the cost of a cup of coffee a day – full time residents might actually feel insulted when comparing the “payoff” of “bribe” with the profits to be reaped by this foreign conglomerate which is here to exploit our treasures to make their own…