http://www.sunjournal.com/index.php?t=3&storyid=224394MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Gov. Jim Douglas on Thursday said he was "disappointed" with the Public Service Board's approval a day earlier of a 16-turbine wind power project planned for the northeastern Vermont town of Sheffield.
"I don't think industrializing our ridge lines is the right thing to do for the natural beauty of our state," the governor said at a news conference. "I don't think the modest amount of electricity that will be generated from wind turbines is worth the impairment of our ridge lines.
"But I also respect the law," and the quasi-judicial board's role under it in making determinations about utility projects, the governor said, though he added he expected the ruling might be appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The governor's comments followed approval of the first utility-scale wind power project in Vermont in a decade, and also followed his own frequent comments in recent years taking a dim view of the size and scale of wind power projects along Vermont's mountaintops.
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