10.2190/VWQU-HAGJ-VVXG-WM2K VWQUHAGJVVXGWM2K 4 Public Opposition to Large Scale Soft Technology in Vermont: Four Case Studies 137 146 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 VWQUHAGJVVXGWM2K.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=VWQUHAGJVVXGWM2K 2 Eve C. Gruntfest Marc A. Eichen Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Academic Computing Center, Queens College, New York In response to rising costs and an uncertain public opinion and regulatory climate for conventional expansion of electric power supply, investor-owned and municipal utilities as well as private entrepreneurs have begun to experiment with grid-linked soft technology as an alternative for electric supply. We examine public opposition to four such projects in Vermont in an effort to find whether public opposition is based on issues similar to that of conventional, and especially nuclear, power projects. Our findings show that opposition to these projects is based on local economic and aesthetic issues as well as more broadly drawn and challenging economic and social concerns. M. Messing, H. P. Friesema, and D. Morell, <i>Centralized Power, The Politics of Scale in Electricity Generation</i>, Oelgeschlager, Gunn and Hain Publishers, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979. B. M. Capser and P. D. Wellston, <i>Powerline: The First Battle of America's Energy War</i>, A. Mass Press, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1981. D. Nelkin and M. Pollack, <i>The Atom Beseiged: Extraparliamentary Dissent in France and Germany</i>, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982. J. Price, <i>The Anti-Nuclear Movement</i>, Twayne Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts, 1982. S. Rothman and S. R. Lichter, The Nuclear Energy Debate: Scientists, the Media and the Public, <i>m Public Opinion</i>, pp. 47-54, August-September 1982. K. S. Shrader-Frechette, <i>Nuclear Power and Public Policy, the Social and Ethical Problems of Fission Technology</i>, D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, Holland, 1980. G. J. Burger, Low Head Hydroelectric Power in New England: The Black River Project, <i>Solar Law Reporter, 1</i>, pp. 567-582, 1979. J. G. Butler, <i>How to Build and Operate Your Own Small Hydroelectric Plant</i>, Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, 1982. C. L. Gent, <i>The Impact of Large Scale Wind Machines on Landscape Aesthetics</i>, unpublished master's thesis, University of Vermont, Burlington, 1981. R. E. Howland, <i>Vermont Hydroelectric Development Handbook</i>, Vermont Public Service Board, Montpelier, Vermont, 1980. W. Hunter, The Black River Hydro Project Local Gain at Whose Cost, <i>Solar Law Reporter, 1</i>:6, pp. 1120-1127, 1979. B. Hellecker, Community Development Director, Winooski, Vermont, Interview, January 1983. Henningson, Durham, and Richardson, <i>Refuse Wood Power Plant Aquaculture Greenhouse, a Conceptual Study</i>, Washington, D. C., 1977.