Published on August 6, 2003

MONTPELIER — Senator Vince Illuzzi is calling for a state-wide moratorium on the development of wind farms.

At a press conference here Monday, the senior senator from the Northeast Kingdom said the moratorium should last “until we develop a state policy.”

A Republican from Orleans County who has been in the state Senate since 1981, Mr. Illuzzi represents an area that is fast becoming a hot spot for wind farm development.

Already there are three potential sites for wind towers in Essex and Orleans counties. The most massive is a project headed by Richard Rubin of Montpelier that would place 50 towers along the ridge lines of East Haven and vicinity.

But Senator Illuzzi is afraid that the cart may be going before the horse

Speaking from his Derby home Tuesday, he said Vermonters need a public debate over the location of any prospective wind farm.

“There is no real citizen participation in the process,” he said.

“Everyone supports alternative energy, but not in my back yard.”

State law requires energy generating projects to go before the Public Service Board for approval. The board holds public hearings and then issues a ruling.

But Senator Illuzzi charged Tuesday that the board is too cozy with utility companies and should not have the final say.

“We’ve got to make it a more public, inclusive process,” he said, noting that the board makes its decisions behind closed doors.

In recent years Senator Illuzzi has become an ardent supporter of alternative energy. He erected a wind tower to supply energy to his own home, and advocates the establishment of Public Power Authority to purchase eight hydro-electric plants on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers.

But the recent push to develop wind farms in the Northeast Kingdom and the opposition that is forming has led him to believe that a wide public debate would benefit Vermonters.

Otherwise, he said, pushy out-of-staters who own second homes in Vermont and are organizing to oppose wind farms are going to push Vermonters into the arms of those who hope to make money by building them.

“There are two sides to this debate,” said Senator Illuzzi, who is one of the eight members of the power authority presently looking into the hydro dams on the Connecticut River.