Dear Editor:
Why is it that supporters of commercial wind power routinely ignore the ever-growing mountain of data demonstrating this technology's ineffectiveness? And why do they refuse to acknowledge increasing real-life evidence that this kind of development is off the charts with respect to inappropriateness in our rural communities? I believe anyone who thinks it's okay simply doesn't comprehend the true impacts of what they're supporting. They say they've investigated, gone to see the machines close up, talked to people around them, and still insist that the money they or the town expects to take in makes it all worth while. It's hard to comprehend how anyone can come to this conclusion.
The turbines that Invenergy wants to use are almost as tall as Buffalo's Marine Midland Bank Building. Imagine 86 of these buildings plunked between the homes and properties of Sheldon, all with their own substantial access roads cutting back into woods, open fields, and meadows. 86! But wind turbines don't just sit quietly like buildings do. They whir and blink and moan, pretty much all the time.
This isn't just about how they "look" as supporters often say when trivializing opponents concerns. The setbacks that Invenergy is advocating defies all common sense, yet these distances are echoed by wind developers everywhere in order to more easily achieve their goals within the boundaries of residential areas where industrial development has always been off-limits. Wind developers across NY State are using the inexperience of policy makers and the lack of any guiding precedence to their advantage by telling us they are the experts, and ‘these’ are the numbers to use as our parameters. Ironically, their machines keep growing taller while their ‘recommended’ setbacks continue to shrink.
The only true mitigating factor with regard to proposed commercial scale wind turbines and existing homes is adequate distance. Indeed, wind supporter and acoustic expert Dick Bowdler of 'New Acoustics' states that the idea of putting such massive machines so close to residents is likely to cause serious problems and when consulted, he advocates that commercial turbines never be built closer than a mile and a quarter to any occupied structure. The French Academy of Medicine came out this year with recommendations for 1.5 kilometer setbacks based on rising health concerns in that country, and the only peer-reviewed published paper that exists on wind turbine noise states, “…at a distance of 1500 m. (4900 feet) tall wind turbines may in fact be up to 18 dB noisier than the calculated values suggest. A further increase in annoyance may be expected because of the pulse-like character of the wind turbine noise, especially at high rotational speeds.”
Just this past June, a flicker study was done for Horizon Wind Energy by WIND Engineers, Inc that demonstrates shadow-flicker can still be an issue at a distance of almost 5000 feet, and a nuisance as far away as 3300 feet. Earlier this year in Pubnico Point, Nova Scotia, all eight members of the d’Entremont family had to abandon their home of 23 years because several turbines within a half-mile of their residence were making the children sick and causing their Mom’s migraines to worsen, according to CBC interviews. This is just one example of what is happening more and more often as commercial wind development proliferates without concern for the inhabitants of the local environments that are targeted.
If a wind turbine is so close as to dominate the immediate surroundings, then it’s too close. And if you want to sell and move away, your chance to advertise, “country living at it’s best” is gone. You can no longer refer to your home as quiet, peaceful, serene or as having beautiful views, yet developers tell us our property values will go up, not down, with turbines nearby!
Wind developers make up the rules as they go along. They’ve insisted that their skyscraper sized steel monsters make good neighbors despite mounting data to the contrary, and because few question their ‘expert’ status, and because they WANT to say YES to those pay-outs, the claims are often accepted at face value and without further meaningful research.
The commercial wind industry is making a mockery of all environmental and renewable energy advocates who support them. They’re often ruthless in their local activities, and will no doubt disappear long before we can hold them accountable for their indiscretions against us and against the planet. Where, I wonder will Invenergy and others like them be when society realizes the folly of it all?
Sue Sliwinski
National Wind Watch, Inc.
Sardinia NY
716 592 1403
No comments:
Post a Comment