Bronna Zlochiver, Kathy Korb, Lynne Desmarais, Nancy Brosz, and Janis Pereira co-signed this letter.
VERNON-Dear Editor,
We are very grateful that the Reformer and The Commons took the time to cover the event on Sept. 23 regarding the battery storage facility meeting in Vernon. We would like to further address concerns that were briefly mentioned in the articles.
• Power Transitions has never used a site for a project that is home to nuclear waste. With 58 canisters of spent high-level radioactive waste on the Vermont Yankee campus, our concern is that the Vernon site could encounter unforeseen high-risk issues.
• Power Transitions has indicated that it would reserve the right to install some additional kind of power generation there as well if it does go forward with battery storage, although Carrie Hitt, the company's head of external affairs, did not say what kind. We are concerned about their future intentions.
• It was repeatedly mentioned that residents of Vernon were not interested in solar development. When was that information given to Power Transitions, and what was the source?
• As mentioned in the articles, many residents attended this meeting - so many, in fact, that all seats were full, leaving many more folks to stand along the walls.
• Power Transitions did acknowledge that although there would be many employment opportunities in the construction of the battery storage site, upon completion it would be staffed by only a few employees. Vermont Yankee employees were our families, friends, and neighbors who lived and volunteered in Vernon and the surrounding area, who shopped and contributed to the economy in the surrounding area.
• Finally, can we trust their online presence when they could not even get their PowerPoint presentation to work? Vernon residents were there to listen and ask questions so we can make informed decisions for our town. Power Transitions staff were very vague about their future plans if the site is approved for development. This vagueness only adds to our questions.
We also thank the Vernon Selectboard and Planning and Economic Development Commission for their work on this issue, for insisting on transparency, and for welcoming input from residents from Vernon and nearby towns.
Dawn Petrovsky
Vernon
Bronna Zlochiver, Kathy Korb, Lynne Desmarais, Nancy Brosz, and Janis Pereira co-signed this letter.
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