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| This innovative design could triple the energy output of wind generators—but not here in Charlestown, where they're now banned. (Photo courtesy Mother Nature Network) |
By Linda Felaco
Here in America, we like to think we're free. But in reality, the one area of our lives in which we have the closest thing to true freedom is consumer choice. I can go to the drugstore and select
from hundreds of different varieties of toothpaste or deodorant. Back in the bad old days of the Soviet Union (yes I'm that old), this was held up as the major way our lives were better than theirs, that in a state-run economy, the Soviets could only buy a limited number of products from state-run stores whereas
here we have choices!
Well, not when it comes to buying electricity. Here in the People's Republic of Charlestown, if we
want juice, we have to buy dirty juice from National Grid; we can't have clean energy.
Now you're probably thinking, OK, they banned wind power last night, but we can
still have solar.
Wrongo, Keebler. I searched the Code of Ordinances, and the word "solar" is mentioned nowhere. Not even once. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Meaning that according to the Platner principle*
("any use that is not permitted is prohibited"), you can't have solar either.
So sorry. Not my fault.
I tried, I really tried. I wrote to the council twice, got a letter to the editor published
in the Westerly Sun, wrote here about it many times (some of you might say ad
nauseam), and even stood up before the council last night to plead for my right as a homeowner to power my home however I choose.
And still they voted us down.
Or should I say, Councilors Marge Frank and Greg Avedisian, who both fought the good fight on our behalf, were voted down. Avedisian even gave a
rousing speech to the audience, telling us that we shouldn't let the matter drop and that we should organize groups to keep working on the issue. Which
was kinda ironic given that just last week, the council had voted not to allow groups to speak in council meetings, but I didn't want to spoil the
moment and point that out seeing as how Avedisian's was the lone dissenting vote on that one. Bravo, Councilor Avedisian.
Well, I was hoping to finally be done with this subject; if you guys are tired of reading about it, just think how tired we are of writing about it. I
have a laundry list of other topics I've been trying to find time to move on to. But we'll have to keep hammering away on this one.
So I'll leave you with a few questions about this breathtaking example of legislative overreach:
1) What would've been so godawful terrible about just letting the existing moratorium expire, if the goal, as Planning Commissioner Ruth Platner and
wind energy banners Tom Gentz, Dan Slattery, and Lisa DiBello keep insisting, is to permit homeowners to use wind energy? Nowhere in any of the
discussion on this issue have I heard this question even raised. The moratorium was stupid from the get-go. They should've let it die a merciful death.
2) What makes electricity a zoning issue in the first place? Is electricity illegal without a permit? Was I supposed to get zoning approval to power my home with electricity from National
Grid? If not, why do I need zoning approval for a wind generator?
3) Gentz and Platner have stated repeatedly that there's no rush to allow residential wind energy because no one has applied for a permit. Why on earth
would anyone bother applying for a permit once the moratorium was in place? I for one don't like to engage in exercises in futility.
4) For that matter, what makes the council so sure that no one in Charlestown has a wind generator already? If I'd had the money, I would've just gone
ahead and bought one myself the same way I bought my gas-powered generator; it wouldn't have crossed my mind to ask permission to do it. And since
moving here, I've gotten the distinct impression that I'm not alone in that sort of thinking. I believe there's a silent majority here in Charlestown
that goes about its business and does what it pleases without asking for the blessing of the Town Council or even paying much attention to its doings.
And you know what? After seeing the Town Council in action a few times myself, I think the silent majority is right.
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| One worker was killed and four injured yesterday at this French nuclear waste reprocessing plant. But it's not in Charlestown, so what do we care. (Photo courtesy CEA) |
5) As Dave Fisher of EcoRI pointed out in his report on last night's Town Council meeting, Slattery and others have made repeated references to alleged "health effects" and other "drastic consequences" of wind turbines. Yet he wonders why they never seem to mention the health and other negative effects of continued fossil fuel dependence (or nukes, for that matter; one person died and four were injured yesterday in an explosion at a French plant that reprocesses nuclear waste).
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*I was both flattered and entertained to learn last night that Commissar Platner is an avid reader of Progressive Charlestown and has been busy seeking
out data to rebut points made here on the blog. Or so I surmise from the detailed listing she gave, in true nanny fashion, of what she clearly perceives to be the stumbling blocks
in the way of residential wind power, including the absence of strong enough, steady enough wind in most parts of town (though I recently read about a new technology that could triple the amount of power generated by the same amount of wind) and the fact that a wind
generator that is connected to the grid could not in fact be used in a power outage because of the risk of feeding electricity back through the lines
that could potentially injure linemen working on them. Thank you, Ruth, for telling me what I already knew. Here's a newsflash: We're perfectly
capable of doing the same research you've done. We just draw different conclusions from it.
Read the rest of our coverage of the wind power issue.
Read the rest of our coverage of the wind power issue.