What does a town do when its commitments to preserving scenic resources and supporting renewable energy—values enshrined in its Town Plan—appear to be pitted against each other? That’s what happened recently in Manchester, Vermont when Maine-based Endless Energy Corporation announced a five-turbine wind farm proposal for nearby Little Equinox Mountain. In response, the people of Manchester chose to do something radical about it: they started a conversation.

Nestled along the banks of the Battenkill River in southwest Vermont and between two mountain ranges—the Greens and Taconics—the historic town of Manchester is home to some 4,300 people. Fly fishers flock to the Battenkill in the spring, skiers buzz through town in the winter en route to nearby slopes, and buses line the streets each fall filled with “leaf peepers” eager to take in the surrounding vistas. Manchester’s economy and quality of life derive in large part from such natural amenities, and its Town Plan reflects this reality, calling for the preservation of its scenic ridgetops. As an environmentally conscious community, however, Manchester also recognizes the need to support the development of renewable energy sources. These values peacefully coexisted until the proposal build a wind farm on one of the town’s closest ridges put them, and the community, to the test.

Few issues divide the environmental community like the siting of wind farms—where some see scenic ridgelines spoiled by “industrial” towers others see symbols and sources of indispensable clean energy.  While most Manchester residents are familiar with wind farms (nearby Searsburg hosts an eleven-turbine facility), the Little Equinox proposal brought the issue home, initiating lively debate within Manchester and neighboring communities about which should come first—scenery or energy—or whether there’s a way to accommodate both? Working with Manchester and the Consensus Building Institute, the Foundation helped design and implement an ambitious citizen engagement process, called the Little Equinox Wind Forum, to help the community grapple with the issues raised by the proposal in a civil and constructive way. The Project aimed to help stakeholders visualize the proposed facility through a customized application of CommunityViz, engage a broad and diverse cross-section of the community, and encourage constructive public dialogue about the choices and trade-offs involved.

The Project partners held six community meetings on topics ranging from ecology to economics, leading up to a Wind Summit in February, 2006 attended by about 100 people. The summit employed innovative visualization and decision-making technologies, including photo-simulations and 3D CommunityViz visualizations. Armed with knowledge and images of the proposed project, Summit participants gave feedback using keypad polling technology and roundtable discussions, focusing on concerns and benefits, possible ingredients of a Town-Developer agreement, informational needs, and the Wind Forum process itself. Eighty-six percent of the attendees felt the Forum process helped them to become more informed about the issues; 79% felt the information was credible, fair and balanced. A vote on the proposal in the March Town Meeting reflected a divided electorate—with a slim majority voting to oppose the facility—but the discussion was civil and several people mentioned the value of the Forum process in framing the debate. The proposal is now expected to face the State Public Service Board, which retains final decision-making authority on energy facility siting.

The environmental, economic and political implications of the Little Equinox wind farm proposal and outcome reach well beyond Manchester. Private power companies are currently considering wind farms in Londonderry and East Haven, Vermont, and myriad other sites around the country where the same conflicts play out. With energy costs skyrocketing and climate change already underway, the issue of renewable energy and energy facility siting is not going away. Only through sustained conversation and informed, equitable and collaborative decision-making will communities be able to understand and evaluate these and other proposals yet to come and chart a sustainable course for the future.