From Kevon Martis:
Good afternoon ICC supporters and interested observers!
The plans for the AWEA protest Nov. 4th in East Lansing are coming along very nicely.
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MI PROTEST EVENT OF THE LAST 6 YEARS! WE NEED YOUR VOICES!
Our friends in Huron County are trying to fill a bus for this event.
URGENT NEWS::
The speaker’s list for the AWEA event has been released. http://www.awea.org/events/Event.aspx?EventID=21506&SubSectionID=5633
The names there are the Who’s-who list of wind profiteers and opportunists in the State of Michigan- Rich VanderVeen who pushed the Gratiot County wind project, John Sarver who said “rural residents do not have a right to peace and quiet”, Rick Wilson of Heritage Energy, Patty Birkholz of MLCV, Doug Jester from 5 Lakes Energy, Chris Kolb of the Michigan Environmental Council- all the names that pushed the failed Proposal 3 ballot measure last year.
Our message to them is simple: NO MEANS NO!!!!
Steve Bakkal of the Michigan Energy Office and MPSC Commissioner John Quackenbush are also speaking. I have sent word to them that we are very troubled by their presence and hope that they will convey to the AWEA crowd that wind energy in Michigan is causing harm and devastating our rural communities. We have several folks who will be attending inside and taking notes. To date I have not received a response from their offices. I will keep you posted.
US Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee is scheduled to speak as well. I have placed a call in to his DC office asking for clarity on his position with respect to the Production Tax Credit for Wind Energy so that our protest could be properly targeted.
I have not yet received an answer. I have also asked that he cancel his appearance. We may need to take more action here. Keep your phone dialing fingers nimble and I will keep you posted.
Finally, Senator Debbie Stabenow is speaking as well. Our efforts to reach her on wind energy in the past have fallen upon deaf ears.
Finally, I spent all day in Lansing on Thursday. I spoke with many members of the Senate Energy and Tech Committee. I also visited members of the same committee but on the House side.
Our voices are being heard.
In the meantime, please take some time to start making protest signs for the event. Feel free to use the names of the AWEA speakers to inspire your efforts. We will again have IICC T-shirts for folks who wish to wear them. It would be good to have a few signs showing the names of which counties are represented.
Signs asking Governor Snyder to protect your communities from predatory wind developers or wind development are valuable as well.
And a few asking for the end of the PTC for wind energy are good..
We have folks traveling from OH, IN and hopefully Ontario to help us out.
I hope to see you all there.
Kevon
More information here.
