Opposed to proposed wind turbines
The following is an open letter to the mayors and municipal councils in Renfrew County and the warden and council of Renfrew County.
Re: Proposals for the erection of wind turbines within and along the Mount St. Patrick escarpment from Dacre to Barry’s Bay
Ladies and Gentlemen:
At first, please allow me to state why I chose the Ottawa Valley as my second home, immediately upon having immigrated to Canada in 1960.
Besides the acceptance by all the friendly “Valley” people, what attracted me most were the beautiful scenery of hills crowned with magnificent forests, the many lakes and rivers with unpolluted water, and the relative abundance of harvestable and non-harvestable wildlife species.
These are the attributes which make Renfrew County so attractive to people who were born and raised here, to retirees from large metropolitan areas, cottage owners, tourists, and post-war immigrants like myself.
Besides, I am also a hunter and fisherman and I volunteered with hands-on conservation projects by a club I joined in 1964, too many to remember since, in order to rehabilitate, maintain and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, including nonharvestable species as well.
Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of seeing numerous wind turbine sites in Germany, where many exist and where a massive protest movement attempts to stop more of them being erected.
More horrifying, however, was a more recent reportage on Deutsche Welle (Germany’s world-wide TV broadcast) depicting a wind turbine site in its construction phase. It was utter destruction of habitat and biotope, by bulldozing roadways wider than ‘King’s Highways’ to bring the large parts on site, plus the bulldozing and clearcutting for transmission line corridors.
While praised as “green” energy projects … the vicinity of these sites aren’t green any more!
After it’s all over, whether singular or in clusters, none of the proposed wind turbines make existing reliable electric energy sources obsolete, eg. hydro generating, nuclear and coal/natural gas-fired generators.
Even during those wind turbines limited peak-performance periods, the traditional power plants keep operating; they are not and cannot be shut down.
This, then, raises the question: What is the real purpose of crowning the Mount St. Patrick escarpment with wind turbines, between Dacre and Barry’s Bay?
They surely won’t keep the landscape “green” nor will they stop climate change.
They would, however, satisfy the Ontario government’s frenzy and obsession to be seen as “green,” besides enriching the bank accounts of wind turbine proponents who enjoy tax grants and multi-year government guarantees of revenues from kilowatt-hour rates more than double the current kilowatt-hour rate, when selling their product to Hydro- One. What a sweetheart deal.
To safeguard against the wanton destruction of natural habitats through the construction of wind turbines and their accompanying transmission line corridors, I wish to register my strong opposition to initiate the necessary zoning changes, and the issuance of building permits by the municipalities of Bonnechere Valley and Madawaska Valley, as well as approval being granted by Renfrew County council, until such time when the following prerequisites are met:
* A full environmental assessment for each proposed wind turbine site;
* An independent comprehensive scientific-defendable review of the potential impact by these proposed wind turbines on fish and wildlife in the vicinity of their sites;
* An independent scientific study of their potential impact on human health to people living in their vicinity;
* An independent evaluation on neighbouring property values.
In closing, I want to assure you that unless viewed through “green-coloured” glasses, that hill landscape between Dacre and Barry’s Bay won’t look very green any longer!
Yours, in conservation Alfred Beck,
RR3, Pembroke, ON
11 October 2008
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Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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