Shifting Winds

Sounding warning on wind power - The Berkshire Eagle

The citizens’ group opposing a potential municipal turbine project atop Lenox Mountain has stepped up its campaign following a recent informational session featuring wind-energy opponent Eleanor Tillinghast, co-founder of Green Berkshires, Inc.

During a Power Point presentation attended by about 100 residents at the Lenox Community Center, Tillinghast -- who’s also president of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters -- described herself as a one-time supporter of wind turbines.

"Over time, my position on wind turbines on forested ridge-lines started to shift," she said, adding that Midwest or West Texas locations may be appropriate but that Berkshire sites present "too many environmental hazards."

Describing her presentation as factual and documented, she claimed that Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed 1,200 turbines across the state by 2020, or 929 if the off-shore Cape Wind project is completed, assuming all are the same size as the possible Lenox Mountain project.