The first ever taking of publicly owned land by a private company is happening in Vermont. Iberdrola, a multinational wind giant based in Spain, who is also active on other industrial wind projects in VT will be taking 80 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest. Iberdrola has 565 billion in assets. One of Iberdrola's energy partners is Gaz Metro. (Of note, Gaz Metro is investing heavily in liquid natural gas storage. One of the members of "the Iberdrola Group" also focuses on liquid natural gas moostorage. LNG storage is a critical need right now in the Northeast....)
Back to the taking of the national forest in VT, a first for the country:
This national forest deal now approved by the PSB comes with ridiculous "bear offsets." The company was told by the PSB that they needed to find comparable land somewhere else nearby to preserve and protect bears, since 80 acres of the bear habitat of these bears living in the national forest will be damaged.
Fifteen 400 ft tall wind towers that are so tall they require flashing lights for aircraft will be installed on 80 acres. This deal approved by the PSB includes a million dollars to cover not only land to be used as an "offset," but to studies how the bears may be driven crazy by the noise or unable to eat. (Sorry for bitter insertion of opinion there. You will have to listen to the story to draw your own conclusions. Link is below.)
PSB dysfunction clinches the deal: Iberola was not able to find any such land to "offset" this harm to the bears and other animals in the forest by this taking of 80 acres for industrial wind. The company has been looking for years but it turned out that the company could find no one nearby who wanted to make a deal.
So the PSB now has told the Iberola just to skip it for now. --Go ahead with construction. We trust and that someday, somwhere you will be able to follow through.
Big industrial wind to feed the centralized Northeast grid and parts of Canada is driving people out of their homes and off their land in the same way that this pipeline did. Big industrial wind for energy export far out of state is also causing serious health problems for people who have no choice but to stay where they are. Big industrial wind for commercial use is now for the first time ever in the US taking national forest land, as Vermont continues to be turned into an energy corridor for multinational energy giants of every sort, and local-regional generation under local control and decision making is driven out as an option.
The question is not just fossil fuels vs. renewables. The question is so-called "renewables" for what? And when are "renewables" not really for renewable aims at all, but for status quo societal consumption and corporate greed as usual to the end of the climate and the demise of Earth's vital, life supporting resource?
Here is yesterday's VPR story the taking of land in the Green Mountain National Forest for industrial wind
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