Published on July 20, 2011

ALBANY — David Hallquist and a handful of other executives from Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) came into the lion’s den here Monday night.

Waiting for him were a group of people who seemed unanimous in their opposition to the Lowell wind project, and hostile to VEC’s participation in it.

Mr. Hallquist, the co-op’s chief executive officer, came to Albany for one of a series of informational meetings VEC has held to discuss a rebuild of a power line that would carry wind energy from Lowell north to Jay.

But he didn’t spend a lot of time discussing the details of the proposal, and never got around to showing the Power Point presentation he had brought along.

He began, instead, by asking how many of the roughly 20 people present were undecided about the project, which is the subject of a vote of the co-op membership this month.

One hand went up.

“I’m not sure this is the place to make a presentation on why to vote for it,” Mr. Hallquist said with a smile.

“Why don’t you just be honest with us?” came the response from the bleachers in the Albany Community School gym.

Mr. Hallquist repeated something he says frequently these days — that he is less interested in the outcome of the vote than he is in the participation of co-op members.

“It doesn’t matter what the vote is,” he said.  “It matters that people vote.”

If that’s so, he was asked, “why are you sending out cards calling on people to vote yes?”

“Because the opposition is encouraging people to say no,” Mr. Hallquist replied.  “We want our members to hear a balanced story.”

However, he added, “We have our opinion.”  Lowell wind power, he said, would be the lowest-cost power that would satisfy the state’s demand that its utilities invest in in-state renewable energy sources.

Later in the meeting, during a discussion of how the members’ ballots will be counted and, if necessary, recounted, Mr. Hallquist repeated himself.

“I don’t really care how the vote comes out.”

“If you don’t care how the vote comes out,” Dennis Liddy of Westfield demanded, “How come I got this in the mail today?”

He brandished a post card urging co-op members to “vote yes” on the transmission line.  It was paid for, it said, by VEC and Green Mountain Power, the developer of the wind project.

“That’s education,” Mr. Hallquist said.  “It’s very important for us to educate the membership.”

“This is propaganda,” Mr. Liddy said.

Another member, Kevin McGrath of Lowell, brought the VEC’s “yes” campaign up again later.

In response to his question, Mr. Hallquist said VEC had a budget of $20,000 to $30,000 for the campaign.  The co-op also mounted a telephone campaign.

Mr. McGrath said that was irresponsible.

“You should put your sword down and let the members decide,” he told Mr. Hallquist.

In reply, Mr. Hallquist explained why the co-op is campaigning hard for a high voter turnout across its widespread territory.

“If the opponents energized a small percentage of the co-op,” he said, “the vote could go down, and that would not be representative of the full membership.”

“When we get a flier with a wind turbine on it, that is reckless and irresponsible,” Mr. McGrath insisted.  “I’m very disappointed as a member that all this money was spent to present your personal view.”

“It’s not my personal view,” Mr. Hallquist replied.

“I would have preferred it if your junk mail represented both sides,” said Mike Nelson, who has represented Albany in the project’s hearings before the state Public Service Board (PSB).

Though he didn’t take a position on the upgrade, Mike Ladd of Glover defended the co-op’s mail campaign.

“You’ve got a board of directors,” he said.  “If you put forth a program and didn’t support it, that would be irresponsible.”

Mr. Ladd is running for the vacant board seat in the district that includes Glover, Lowell and Albany, among other towns.

Members also questioned the co-op’s claims that, even without the wind project, the line between Lowell and Jay urgently needs to be replaced.

VEC’s chief operating officer, Jeffery Wright, said that, in the co-op’s capital plan, replacement had been scheduled for 2018.

The new line has the strong support of Bill Stenger, owner of the Jay Peak resort, who has said it is urgently needed.

If the resort needs the power, said Bernard Peters of Irasburg, “why not take all those wind towers and stick them on Jay Peak?”

Among the active opponents of the Lowell wind project on hand Monday were Steve Wright of Craftsbury, who didn’t speak while the Chronicle was at the meeting, and Nancy Warner, head of the Lowell Mountain Group which, like Craftsbury and Albany, had party status during the PSB hearings.

Ms. Warner challenged Mr. Hallquist’s insistence that the state Legislature has compelled the co-op to find in-state renewable energy.

If VEC didn’t buy a share of the Lowell project’s energy, she asked, would someone go to jail?

No, Mr. Hallquist replied, but the co-op would turn to the next most costly alternative.

After federal investment tax credits are deducted from the cost, he said, Lowell wind power will cost VEC 8.1 cents a kilowatt hour.

The next option would be biomass power at 14.5 cents, he said.

Since the PSB ruled in late May that Green Mountain Power will get its Certificate of Public Good for the project, its opponents have not fared well in their efforts to slow things down.

Last week the PSB ruled against motions for reconsideration filed jointly by Craftsbury and Albany, and by the Lowell Mountain Group.  It granted motions from Green Mountain Power that it move back deadlines that would have made it impossible to start construction by August 1.

Dorothy Schnure, spokesman for Green Mountain Power, said Tuesday that the utility still needs storm water permits from the state Agency of Natural Resources, and clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers.