Burlington: "Wind good, Yankee Bad"
Last night I was lucky enough to find myself along with 150 other folks at the Tuttle Middle School in tropical South Burlington for the Department of Public Service’s second hearing on Vermont’s energy future. From the get go I was quite concerned by the fact that the DPS did not seem to anticipate such a large turnout and thus had to close registration days before the event. Thankfully, Raab Associates (the group doing the polling) modified their website so that people could sign up for an online poll that would be taken into consideration with all the other data. Lesson to be learned:
A great number of people care about Vermont’s energy future and planning by the state needs to reflect that.
So, on to the festivities. Sitting in a middle school cafeteria dredged up some horrendous flashbacks from my tenure in 5th grade. I was, and still am, a geek and thus the moment I walked in was prepared to be mocked mercilessly by the 5th grade football team. Thankfully, I found a much warmer welcome in the form of chocolate chip cookies and diet peach Snapple.
Once you sign in they give you a little key pad and assign you to a table after which you are free to grab some dinner (see aforementioned Snapple) and chat with your table mates. Mine were great, intelligent and caring community members who, while we disagreed on some issues, all wanted what was best for the community and the State.
After dinner and the get-to-know-you the program begins in earnest. There was a quick round of demographic polling before we finally got to the meat of the matter, the energy presentation. The problems with this presentation can be seen fully in Drew Hudson’s blog post about the St. Johnsbury DPS hearing so I will not belabor that point here.
The presentation ended with a charge to sit down with your group to discuss and think up some questions. Our group discussion was great, we had everything from relatively pro nuclear to totally anti nuclear. But one place we hit an absolute consensus was that our energy portfolio must become diversified. And the question we ended up asking the panel was “How could large companies be incentivised to start producing power on site?” The answer from DPS was, “we’re starting to sit down with businesses to get that done right now.” Well, right on then.
Last but definitely not least was the all important polling section of the evening. Here is a rundown on the numbers:
1) Those polled disagreed strongly with continuing to purchase energy from Vermont Yankee.
2) 76% of those polled believed that we need to institute a Renewable Portfolio Standard.
3) 97% of those polled believe we need to increase the amount of renewable energy we use in the state.
4) People would be willing to more than $6 a month extra on their energy bills for renewable production.
5) 81% of those polled would strongly support a wind farm they could see from their homes.
6) 80% of those polled want the state to increase funding in our energy efficiency program.
7) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 is critically concerned the visual impacts of wind rated a 2.26 where as radioactive waste score a 7.63
8) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 is a critical threat to Vermont’s beauty utility scale wind rated a 2.65 and residential wind rated a 1.79.
9) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 was critically important decreasing greenhouse gasses scored a 7.99, decreasing nuclear waste scored a 7.62 and increasing investment in renewable resources scored a 8.02.
10) Those polled stated that their three highest energy priorities were wind, hydro and energy efficiency and their lowest priorities were coal, nuclear, and oil
Once again, score one for the good guys. Hopefully there will come a day when our law makers and administration see that the people want change and are dedicated to the kind of changes it takes to combat this global climate crisis. Last night gave me hope, let see if it will give our law makers some ideas.
A great number of people care about Vermont’s energy future and planning by the state needs to reflect that.
So, on to the festivities. Sitting in a middle school cafeteria dredged up some horrendous flashbacks from my tenure in 5th grade. I was, and still am, a geek and thus the moment I walked in was prepared to be mocked mercilessly by the 5th grade football team. Thankfully, I found a much warmer welcome in the form of chocolate chip cookies and diet peach Snapple.
Once you sign in they give you a little key pad and assign you to a table after which you are free to grab some dinner (see aforementioned Snapple) and chat with your table mates. Mine were great, intelligent and caring community members who, while we disagreed on some issues, all wanted what was best for the community and the State.
After dinner and the get-to-know-you the program begins in earnest. There was a quick round of demographic polling before we finally got to the meat of the matter, the energy presentation. The problems with this presentation can be seen fully in Drew Hudson’s blog post about the St. Johnsbury DPS hearing so I will not belabor that point here.
The presentation ended with a charge to sit down with your group to discuss and think up some questions. Our group discussion was great, we had everything from relatively pro nuclear to totally anti nuclear. But one place we hit an absolute consensus was that our energy portfolio must become diversified. And the question we ended up asking the panel was “How could large companies be incentivised to start producing power on site?” The answer from DPS was, “we’re starting to sit down with businesses to get that done right now.” Well, right on then.
Last but definitely not least was the all important polling section of the evening. Here is a rundown on the numbers:
1) Those polled disagreed strongly with continuing to purchase energy from Vermont Yankee.
2) 76% of those polled believed that we need to institute a Renewable Portfolio Standard.
3) 97% of those polled believe we need to increase the amount of renewable energy we use in the state.
4) People would be willing to more than $6 a month extra on their energy bills for renewable production.
5) 81% of those polled would strongly support a wind farm they could see from their homes.
6) 80% of those polled want the state to increase funding in our energy efficiency program.
7) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 is critically concerned the visual impacts of wind rated a 2.26 where as radioactive waste score a 7.63
8) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 is a critical threat to Vermont’s beauty utility scale wind rated a 2.65 and residential wind rated a 1.79.
9) On a scale of 1 to 9 where 9 was critically important decreasing greenhouse gasses scored a 7.99, decreasing nuclear waste scored a 7.62 and increasing investment in renewable resources scored a 8.02.
10) Those polled stated that their three highest energy priorities were wind, hydro and energy efficiency and their lowest priorities were coal, nuclear, and oil
Once again, score one for the good guys. Hopefully there will come a day when our law makers and administration see that the people want change and are dedicated to the kind of changes it takes to combat this global climate crisis. Last night gave me hope, let see if it will give our law makers some ideas.
Labels: global warming, Vermont Yankee
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