Whose Fault is that 292-Foot Wind Turbine?? in Newburyport, MA
That 292-foot high wind turbine is quite a sight, isn’t it? Try NOT looking at it when you ride along Route One in Newburyport.
The Current hit the target when they referred to it as, “A 292-foot mistake,” on their February 27th editorial page.
But whose mistake was it? The editorial leaves the impression that Mark Richey and his “experts” tricked the city council. We’re to believe that these experts, employed by the wind turbine proponents, minimized the negatives and our city council didn’t catch on. Are our councilors that naiveté? I don’t think so.
In my opinion, Newburyport is a community in which the care of the environment is very important. When someone comes along with an idea that seems to head in that direction the resistance loses ground.
Mark Richey’s wind turbine was just such an idea. The advocates touted its environmental positives and discovered that in this town they were preaching to the choir. The disorganized opponents were dismissed as over-reacting and not able to see the big picture.
Well, now the wind turbine is in place. One look tells you that it is a monstrosity and the happy environmentalist chatter will not change that. Instead of admitting their complicity in the decision to allow the tower, the city council cowardly attempts to slide the blame elsewhere.
I suspect that many of the most ardent, “environment first – people second” advocates, do not have the wind turbine in their sight lines. They assume that those that do will get used to it for the greater good of the community.
When Senator Ted Kennedy was alerted to the fact that speck-sized wind turbines would be built off Hyannis, the champion of alternative and renewable energy lost the fire in his belly and made sure they weren’t built. What is a hypocrite?
I believe that the “environment first – people second” crowd in Newburyport have given us a wonderful example of what their views look like in real life. When they start trying to “walk their talk”, in the future, it is time to remember their 292-foot mistake.
letter to the editor for the Newburyport Current
