Tararua wind farms ‘a cancer’
Wind turbines are like “a cancer” spreading along the Tararua Ranges, Palmerston North city councillor Michael Feyen has told a board of inquiry.
Yesterday he called for the rejection of Mighty River Power’s Turitea Wind Farm proposal, arguing the public had not been adequately informed. He opposed wind-farm development south of the Pahiatua Track because “the ranges, to me, were looking like a wind turbine junk yard”.
Mr Feyen, hurried along by the board about a dozen times, also said the city’s drinking water was at risk from sediment caused by the project.
Two other city councillors, Chris Teo-Sherrell and Bruce Wilson, presented their views on Tuesday.
Mr Teo-Sherrell detailed to the board his efforts to cut his personal carbon footprint, before arguing the Turitea proposal should not go ahead. Climate change was not yet so serious that it warranted degrading “special places”. Residents near the proposed farm should not be unwilling participants in an experiment, he said.
Mr Wilson was worried about the cumulative visual effect of “yet another wind farm”. He conceded the Tararua Ranges were not as outstanding as other landscapes in New Zealand, but they were “our outstanding landscape”.
Mr Wilson said that he was “ashamed” of various turbine styles and sizes on the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges.
Palmerston North could be the “sacrificial lamb” that prompted councils throughout the country to tighten up the guidance issued in district plans, he said.
Manawatu Standard
15 October 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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