Smear tactics, untruths don't belong in Dixield

To the Editor:

In a letter to the Editor on August 1st, Alice McKay Barnett likened me to “a wind lawyer,” saying I use fancy words like “proprietary” to avoid sharing wind data which my company measured and paid for with private funds. To be clear, I am not a lawyer.

We do not publicize wind data for a simple business reason: we must compete to sell power. Sharing wind data would be like telling competitors your price before bidding, which is dumb. For anyone who is interested, you can get a rough idea of wind speeds in the area from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory website: http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/images/windmaps/me_80m.jpg

Because my company donates funds to worthy causes, Alice accuses me of bribing communities. She goes on to accuse me of handing out $20 bills to Carthage villagers to spend at the Blue Moose, which is rubbish. Even worse, after reading the paper, now everyone is asking me for their $20 bill. I am aware that Santa Claus distributed $20 Walmart gift cards at the Blue Moose just before Christmas in 2010, although I’m sure Alice isn’t attacking Santa.

Alice, a person with no background in energy, finance, or technology has decided that wind power is not cost effective, but she has based that decision on faulty or made up information. Modern wind turbines are amazingly efficient, generating electricity over 75% of the time, even in low winds. The electrical losses for wind turbines are no different than for any other form of electricity generation. It is by far the most cost-effective renewable energy technology we have today.

I’m sure that Alice would agree that the people of Dixfield deserve factual information as they decide, once again, whether or how to regulate wind power in town. Smear tactics and untruths, so common in today’s politics, don’t belong in Dixfield.

Tom Carroll

Patriot Renewables