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Groups Across Pennsylvania Speak Out Against Industrial Wind Projects on Forested Ridges
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A Press Conference has been scheduled for 12 noon on Monday September 17, 2007 in the rotunda of the Capitol in Harrisburg to protest the statewide push by the Rendell Administration to turn hundreds of miles of Pennsylvania’s forested ridge tops into industrial wind facilities.
Groups from across the state will be addressing the various concerns that wind power facilities pose to Pennsylvania’s wild areas, wildlife, tourism, historical resources, and viewscapes.
Concerned citizens from a number of Pennsylvania counties (Bedford, Blair, Somerset, Fayette, Lycoming, Tioga, Dauphin, Northumberland, Potter) have formed a Wind Truth Coalition to push for more stringent siting requirements. While these groups recognize that wind power is renewable energy, they maintain that it is not a clean or green energy when the turbines and associated infrastructure pose grave harm to wildlife, or historic and natural areas.
Coalition members want fellow Pennsylvanians to understand that both state and federal regulations are necessary to protect our natural environment from industrial wind turbine projects.
The Press Conference will follow Gov. Rendell’s address to the joint session of the Senate and House at 11:00 a.m. The special session will consider “funding for renewable energy.” Past funding measures have supported several wind projects in the Pennsylvania. PPM Energy received a state grant of $150,000 to help develop a wind project in Somerset County which was partly located on reclaimed strip mine areas – habitat that is much better suited for wind development than forested ridges. A more controversial use of taxpayers’ money was the PEDA grant of $360,295 for Harrisburg’s mayor to conduct a wind feasibility study on the ridges of St. Anthony’s Wilderness, the largest roadless area in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The threat of global warming should make preservation of our natural areas even more critical. Our forested mountains are key to species’ preservation and form an integral part of greenways that are being recognized by conservation groups as critical resources for humans and wildlife.
The Coalition is working with Pennsylvania legislators to provide a state-level review and create siting requirements for wind development in Pennsylvania.
Contact: Laura Jackson, Chairperson, Save Our Allegheny Ridges, 814-652-9268, mljackson@hughes.net
Save Our Allegheny Ridges, P.O. Box 178, Everett, PA 15537
www.saveouralleghenyridges.com
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