-We’re basically Middle America, except we’re off the
grid,” says Diane Mitsch-Bush, a longtime resident of Steamboat
Springs, Colo. Her neighborhood, only a few miles from the center
of town, has powered itself with solar and propane energy since the
early 1980s.
But Mitsch-Bush and other residents
say their low-key and environmentally conscious lifestyle is about
to change. Jim Mann, the president and CEO of SunGard Data Systems
in Pennsylvania, has decided that the neighborhood is a perfect
place for the 21,000-square-foot house he plans to retire in.
Through letters and press coverage, the seven families in the area
have tried to convince Mann not to bring utility power into the
neighborhood, urging him to build a smaller house and use only
solar power and propane.
“When you come up here
at night, it’s dark. The Milky Way is incredible,” says
Mitsch-Bush. “But when I asked (Mann) if he’d seen it, he said “I
really haven’t been up there at night.” He doesn’t get it.” She
says she and her neighbors also reject electric lines because the
source – the coal-fired Hayden power plant – spews pollution into
nearby wilderness.
Mann did look into other
options for his house, but decided that solar power for such a
large house would be impossibly expensive.
“The
reaction is far more emotional and intense than I would have
imagined,” said Mann, speaking on a cell phone from a train
traveling between Philadelphia and New York
City.
Construction on the house has begun, and
construction of the power line is expected to begin this month.
“We’ll try not to look at it,” says Mitsch-Bush, who will be Mann’s
next-door neighbor. “But we’re concerned about the larger issues.
This is an example of what’s happening in the whole county.”
*Michelle
Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline There goes the neighborhood.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
