Vermont Black Bears in Danger of Losing Winter Food on Lowell Mountain

Stop the Mountaintop Blast of Lowell Mountain

Dear Vermont Senators,

Over 800 people have signed this petition, from all around the globe because we love Vermont and care about saving its most precious heritage, its natural beauty.

We implore you to help stop the madness on the Lowell Mountain ridge. Give those hardy souls support in saving one of your biggest revenue streams - the mountains.

The Petition We Signed:

Stop the Mountaintop Blast of Lowell Mountain

By the summer of 2012 Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom will have 21 460-foot high wind turbines visible along more than three miles of the Lowell Ridge as part of Green Mountain Power’s Kingdom Community Wind project.
 
These 40-story high ridgeline windmills require massive construction equipment to be transported on newly cut roads on one of the most sensitive mountaintops in the United States. 

In order to stabilize the wind turbines on the headwater ridges, the mountaintops are blown off and the intricate water system that feeds pristine streams, waterfalls, ravines and lowland meadows are redirected picking up silt, mud and debris as the runoff makes its way into the farms and small towns of this ancient countryside.
 
In early February, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources told Green Mountain Power the project was a “go” despite the fact that 1) the Agency of Natural Resources scientists had said there was no way to offset the ill effects of the wind project; 2) the official directives had not been issued by the Vermont Public Service Board and; 3) there were no public hearings.
 
The tacit, premature approval of the Agency came after heavy lobbying by Green Mountain Power and pressure from Gov. Peter Shumlin — a longtime supporter of putting wind power on Vermont’s ridgelines.
  
In order for Green Mountain Power to qualify for $40 million in federal tax credits, the turbines must be up and running by the end of 2012.

“The governor is free to make deals,” said Steve Wright, Craftsbury resident and former fish and wildlife commissioner under Governor Madeline Kunin. “But his appointees also have an oath to protect the natural resources of the state and represent the citizens of the state.”

What about the bears, the bobcats, the birds?   In early fall as black bears are getting ready for hibernation, they climb atop beech trees on Lowell mountain to gather beechnuts for winter storage. Just to build the road to the Lowell Ridge wind farm, 22 acres of beech trees will be destroyed. Ecological imbalance such as this will also upset the bobcats whose nurseries are in the ledges of the highest ridge, not to mention the eagles, the moose, the beavers, the fish, the deer, the wildflowers.

Steve Wright: “Vermont is destroying tens of thousands of years of geological history to make room for one short-term power project that will last, at best, 40 years.”
 
The Vermont Public Service Board awarded a "Certificate of Public Good" to Green Mountain Power which enables the project to go forward. The Vermont Supreme Court could proclaim this Certificate was issued in error.

Small groups of local citizens are appealing this through bureaucratic channels. Let's help them with our own appeal to U.S. Senators Leahy and Sanders.

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