Writer unfairly tarnishes Barre family, town officials

Editor:

This is in response to Andrea Rebeck’s letter from August 28. I don’t know how she can speak knowledgably about the conduct of Clear Skies when she hasn’t been at most of the town meetings and doesn’t live in Barre anymore.

Charles Mathes’ letter stating that Clear Skies has been acting out and being rude at meetings was correct. All you need to do is watch the Town Board meetings that Robin Nacca so kindly provides for us to see for yourself. It seems that their mission at each meeting is to yell, hurl insults, and badger people with falsehoods about turbines, so they will eventually win out. That strategy has been used by other anti-wind groups around the country. It isn’t everyone from that group, but a small number turn each meeting into a three-ring circus.

It was totally inappropriate to go after the entire Mathes family! Leaseholder families have taken a lot of hits from Clear Skies, regularly being called greedy, their names being submitted to the Attorney General, and being harassed at meetings. This was just another shameful swipe at them!

It was also inappropriate to suggest that the town officials are taking kickbacks from Apex to support the project. She has no evidence of this and suggesting it only feeds into the paranoia that the group has been promoting.

The town officials have done a lot of research and are doing their best to ensure that Barre will get the best deal out of having such a large economic investment. To suggest that town officials have taken paybacks is further proof of their disrespectful behavior.

Apex is not employing a divide and conquer strategy. They cannot control how the community handles them simply doing business. As adults, we should all have control over our own behavior. The suggestion that they are making millions and not sharing it with the town is another paranoia tactic. Please give me the name of any company that is going to give you most of their profits!

However, the town will get a good amount that will help the town, taxpayers, and school. Regarding the laws on developing wind projects being weak and ineffective, Heritage Wind is in the Article 10 process which is one of the most strict and litigated permitting processes in the nation. Not only is it strict, but Apex was required to give Clear Skies $35,000 dollars to fund their fight against the project.

Many Barre residents and taxpayers are struggling, and the revenue from this project will help everyone. Aside from that, my support for this project is not just about monetary gains, but the fate of our planet. We need this project to give future generations the hope that they will have a planet to live on. If Clear Skies succeeds in destroying Heritage Wind, just know that the turbines will come at some point. In a few short years, the opinions of the anti-wind groups will be totally disproven.

Chris Loss

Barre