(Keep hootin’, hollerin’ and howlin’, Scott! – promoted by eli_beckerman)

ASKING OUR TOWNS TO AFFIRM THAT LOCAL ENERGY POLICIES WILL SHAPE THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS:  THESE POLICIES SHOULD INCLUDE SEEKING MEANINGFUL MEASURABLE ACTIONS TO DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES OF CONSERVATION, SOLAR, AND WIND, FOCUSING ON COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP.

Following the issuance of the Lenox Wind Energy Research Panel’s final report, the Board of Selectmen held a public hearing on February 27 and then voted 4-0 on February 29 not to pursue the project as it was outlined in a feasibility study it had received from Weston Solutions.

Lenox will continue to develop solar projects and conservation programs.  I will continue to argue that wind energy development should not be taken off the table, even while acknowledging that the feasibility study for wind energy that was prepared by Weston Solutions was not thorough enough for any actionable proposal to be voted upon.

I submitted the following statement to the Lenox Board of Selectment on February 28, 2012.  It includes a call to affirm the town’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions through a town meeting vote and by incorporating such an affirmation into the charge of an Energy Committee.

To Lenox Board of Selectmen:

Here is the cliff notes version of my talk at the Feb 27 public hearing.  (I apologize for the windy narrative* I gave.)

Comments, critiques and observations on Lenox Wind Energy Panel and its final report:

I.  The town’s Sustainability Coordinator was pulled from active involvement in facilitating the panel.  My information was that her leg injury was not the only reason for her absence.  She was re-assigned.  The Sustainability Coordinator is very skilled and is an asset to the town who was underused in this process.

II. The Wind Energy Research Panel should have been specifically charged with making visits to existing turbine sites.  The fact that not one visit was made – despite a few attempts – is a failure of the process and is a disservice to the mission of educating the town.  Talking to residents and stakeholders at an operational site in an open meeting scenario would have benefited the process.

III. More expert testimony should have been sought for presentation during the committee meetings.  For example, in early December I suggested that the panel invite Beth Greenblatt, who is already advising the town on the solar project, whose client base includes municipalities who have and who are pursuing ownership and leasing models for wind energy.

IV. Apparently there was no vetting by the panel on papers that were compiled in the final report and sent to the Lenox Library.  This leaves me wondering how useful that resource is versus simply browsing through Google searches (‘Wind Energy Good’) or (‘Wind Energy Bad’) for whatever ‘research paper’ pops up.

V.  The report of the economic sub-committee should be vetted at least by the Town’s Finance Committee and perhaps an energy agency.  In particular, I question the 4.5% finance charge assumption in the town ownership scenario.  It’s too high.  The fact that one member of the Wind Energy Research Panel is also a Finance Committee member does not mean that the Finance Committee has even seen or discussed the spreadsheets.  Two Finance Committee members told me that they hadn’t seen the analysis and concur that it should be properly vetted.

VI. No one disputes that the Weston Solutions study is inadequate and that there is no proposal that is close to being ready for consideration at Town Meeting.  The panel did a good job in flushing this fact out.  Individual recommendations from most panel members were made to table the study, for different individual reasons, but no formal motion was made by the committee, as news stories implied.

VII. I’m concerned that there is now a rush to take any kind of wind energy off of the table.  There are potential proposals for wind energy that I would support and there are potential proposals that I would oppose.  I believe that to be true of many Lenox voters.  Public participation at the panel’s meetings and at last night’s public hearing were not necessarily a representative cross-section of the town’s voting public.

VIII. Town meeting is the proper forum for taking a pulse of the town, where a non-binding question can be placed before voters, such as:

THE TOWN OF LENOX AFFIRMS THAT ITS LOCAL ENERGY POLICIES WILL SHAPE THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS.  THESE POLICIES SHOULD INCLUDE SEEKING MEASURABLE MEANINGFUL AND APPROPRIATE ACTIONS TO DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES OF CONSERVATION, SOLAR, AND WIND.  My own opinion is that community ownership of energy should be particularly encouraged.

IX.  I support the Town of Lenox creating a formally charged Energy Committee, as many other communities in Berkshire County have, to replace the current informal Environment Committee.  The charge of the Energy Committee can include the same text as the town meeting question I suggested in the preceding paragraph.

X.  The town has documented the work of the Wind Energy Research Panel, which other communities may study and improve upon.