Plainfield, Vermont Biomass Continues to Rile Neighbors

- by Eric Blaisdell, March 27, 2015, Vermont Public Radio

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"437","attributes":{"alt":"biomass ","class":"media-image","height":"221","style":"width: 322px; height: 148px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;","title":"Graphic: Bumbeck/Seven Days","width":"480"}}]]Things got so heated at Plainfield’s Select Board meeting Monday night in a discussion about Goddard College’s planned biomass-fueled heat plant, that one elected official told board members they’d be in “deep water” if they disregarded some residents’ wishes to have another meeting on it.

The school is applying for a 40-year Rural Development loan from the USDA that would cover 90 percent of the costs for the plant. As part of that process, it needs a letter of support from the town.

Goddard emailed the Select Board on Thursday looking for that support. Chairman Bram Towbin, speaking for himself, replied that the school has “mishandled the community relations aspect of this project” by not telling residents what was going on since the project began. Towbin invited someone from Goddard to attend the board’s meeting Monday to plead its case.

Residents who live near the plant’s site have been fighting it every step of the way. On Town Meeting Day in March 2013, voters rejected a nonbinding article asking the college to halt construction until it could be proven the nanoparticles emitted would be harmless. The debate got nasty, with neighbors accusing each other of being “liars,” “losers” and “jerks.”