If you live in Vermont you understand that your state economy depends on a couple of things. They don’t call it the green mountain state for nothing, Vermont’s economy is almost solely based on its environment. Boating, hiking, skiing, hunting, logging, eco-tourism and the things that support them (bed and breakfast, gear sales, etc) make up the majority of its economic activity.

That is why I was pretty surprised when I heard this from Vermont Governor Jim Douglas regarding the recent approval of a wind farm in Vermont; “I don’t think industrializing our ridge lines is the right thing to do for the natural beauty of our state.” He went on to say “I don’t think the modest amount of electricity that will be generated from wind turbines is worth the impairment of our ridge lines.”

What is this guy thinking?! Global warming will destroy Vermont’s economy. Last winter was a horrible year for skiing, global warming will do similarly bad things to the rest of Vermont’s eco-dependent industry. Perhaps the governor would like them to erect a coal power plant some place in the mid-west where he wont have to look at it. Unless Vermont residents figure out a way to use less energy they will continue to need more supply.

ISO New england has released several statements calling for more energy production in the north east, especially wind power. The reason is that New England economy as a whole is based around the changes in the weather. From winter skiing to fall leap peeping, to the health of the forests, Vermont and New England as a whole will be hit hard by global warming.

With his bully pulpit Governor Douglas should be encouraging people to see wind power as a beautiful and carbon neutral way of supplying the energy that Vermonters need for daily life. Perhaps he could have a press conference showing what happens to the ridges of mountains in the Appalachian region when they blow the top off for coal mining. So much of what people think about wind turbines is influenced by “intangible’s”, not about actual facts. Its about how you “feel” about the view, not about the cold hard fact of energy need and energy supply, and global warming. The governor could play a big role in making people see the beauty of the technology.

You tell me what is worse:

This

Or This

Or perhaps we should use oil and get it from places like Iraq or Saudi Arabia, or maybe we can get natural gas from Hugo Chaves or Russia. Maybe we could build a nuclear power plant in Vermont and let them deal with where to put all that waste. When you take a step back and look at the problems of global warming and energy security seeing a couple spinning wind turbines on your ridge doesn’t look like such a bad choice.