This letter will (hopefully) be printed in both of our local papers this week. Thought I would share.
Dear Editor,
I live inside the boundaries for the new Armow wind project.
While I understand that as property owners, my neighbours are free to make decisions about their land, the degree to which their decision effects surrounding properties is astounding; from a real estate value perspective, an aesthetic perspective, a health perspective and an ecological perspective. We all have to jump through so many hoops with the municipality to build say, a shed on our private property; something which will only effect the homeowner. Yet people are allowed to erect these monoliths without any discussion from the community around them, without even adequate testing?
We just returned from a vacation to the UK. Giant turbines now dot the once majestic hillsides. As objectionable as I find that, one thing stood out: in the EU the setbacks are much farther away from homes. For good reasons! (CanWEA says Ontario turbines can be 200m from homes; France requires 1,500m and many EU countries turn them down at night.)
Like many I am keen to see the development of more sustainable energy solutions. I am not opposed to all wind turbines; small turbines which provide power directly to a property, which do not effect the properties surrounding the turbine, which do not effect the relationships of neighbours, and do not have negative health effects…. let’s subsidize those!
Residents should know that the wind companies here have such strict confidentiality agreements that people who are sick cannot talk about it. Thankfully, some risk it all and do it anyway. People are unable to sell their farms. Neighbours are turning their backs on each other. In some cases, good, honest people are literally walking away from their homes. Our rural community is being torn apart for the sake of carbon offsets.
I am personally terribly concerned about the serious potential health implications associated with prolonged exposure to low frequency pulsation that would come from living in close proximity to wind turbines. Likewise, the effects of stray voltage related to the management and transmission of the electricity they produce. These need to be better understood before any more development takes place.
My husband and I have two small children on our beautiful 50 acre homestead. We produce much of our own food. We moved out to the country to provide a natural, connected and safe environment for our children. Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms promises us all “Security of the Person”, which I fear I am on the brink of losing, while in the sanctity of my own home.
I will be at the Queens Park rally this Wednesday and I implore everyone reading this to consider supporting a moratorium on wind farm projects UNTIL there have been suitable studies completed about the environmental and health effects associated.
Thank you, Ashley Duncan.
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If you are able to make it, please consider attending the rally this Wednesday. More information here.
You don’t like turbines? I don’t know much about the health risk stuff you mentioned (I’m sure there are health risks, but thankfully there are proposals to build them offshore)… but I find them so amazingly beautiful! So gracious, lean and proud. They make me hopeful that the human race will get out of this sticky little mess we’ve emitted ourselves into.
Wind turbines do very, very little to reduce emisssions. They need to be backed up with fossil fuel at all times. Their carbon footprint before they are even running is enormous. Huge amount of steel, transportation and 25 truckloads of permanent concrete in the ground for every turbine. Think beyond what is “pretty” and look at the actual viability and usefulness please.
Jessica, I don’t know what yours are doing but ours are the furthest thing from green. They’re all tarsands offsets, they’re owned by oil companies, they’ll never produce enough energy to warrant their size and they negatively impact almost all life around them. Oh, and they can’t even MOVE the energy on the transmission lines yet. Energy that goes nowhere. Yeah, no. You could say I don’t like them!
Build them offshore? So we can kill off the remaining ocean life? They drive every earth worm in the soil away for miles. I can only imagine what they’ll do to fish. A farmer here, his cows went from a cool 50k L milk per year to 30K annually. That’s a huge drop. Abortions spike. That may “just” be cows, but what does that mean for people?
Small sustainable wind, absolutely. You’d actually have people using the power created from them and you wouldn’t ravage human or ecological health.
Turbines here are unreliable, inefficient , expensive and a futile excuse for power generation. Looking at them makes me sick to my stomach.
I don’t blame you for being upset. I don’t know about the risk/hazards of turbines, but it does make you wonder. I agree with you about the installation of these turbines ruining the majesty of nature. When my husband and I went on vacation to the Smokey Mountains, we saw cell phone towers EVERYWHERE! That is what I want to see wedged in between a scenic mountain view, cell towers.
P.S. Keep us posted on what happens!
I have heard that there is also a very major issue of these turbines having a severe effect on the bat population at least in the US. These large turbines (which are huge if you look at them in proportion to other utility devices) wipe out hundreds of thousand of bats who are migrating.
R: Bats, birds, worms, cattle. Everything. Really interrupts bird migration and we have a major flight path in our neighbourhood. Dead birds galore at the bottoms of these things.
I admit I don’t know much about turbines per say, although they are ugly little (and by little I mean huge) suckers (IMHO).
I am all for using natural energy IE solar power, as I would very much prefer to live off the grid, but these things, Jesus Christ! I do miss the green space that I lack living in the city, but if the green space I do visit is going to be invaded with these things, then I would rather stay here.
Only 200m WTF!!! I live in Arran Elderslie Township……right smack dab in the middle of the area where the proposed wind farms are supposed to go. Most of the farmers are opposed to them but the mennonites are really pushing to get them and lucky us… are 1 1/4 acres is surrounded by mennonite land. I figured we may luck out because our property line is less than 550m (which I thought was the legal set back). The only problem with living out here (for now) is the drive back and forth to town. With these monstrosities I would rather live in town…and I am a country girl!!!!!
I had no idea that wind turbines could cause beautiful cows to miscarry – how sad.. :’(
Makes you wonder what the effect is on human reproduction – if an 500 l cow is affected in this way – imagine what it could to do people!
I have this week off so I hope to see you on Wednesday – perhaps we can meet somewhere?
Looking forward to seeing you and learning more about preventing wind turbines from setting up shop
Diane
Fabulous letter Ash!
Does this have anything to do with the post below- the farm for sale?
I hope your article gets printed! It was very well written.
It all comes back to the politically-promoted idea that power has to be big and centralized in order to be viable, despite the fact that most energy experts and researchers agree that small, decentralized, locally run systems are better for emissions reduction and communities.
Tricia – yes.
Meaghan – you nailed it!
DDB – it’s 550 with the Green Energy Act, but apparently there are sound loopholes they can duck through to make them closer. Time will tell…
Hey,
Late comment but I was just having an argument with someone from Kincardine who basically without having researched them at all, believes that wind turbines are an environmentally sustainable alternative to nuclear power generation.
I was unconcerned about them until a friend of mine told me that her mother has been living in a hotel for months and is unable to return to her home of over 20 years due to wind turbine sickness. When I started reading your blog I became much more educated about wind power and have read a few of the links you have provided and investigated further.
Regardless, I’m commenting because I quoted you to this girl (in the presence of an Enbridge employee!) that the power being generated was not being used (that there was no way to move it) and the Enbridge guy told me I was wrong and that it was transmitted directly onto the grid. Do you have an article or something that I could use to back up my statement?? Where did you get that info from?