Wind farm concern widespread
Credit: Owen Sound Sun Times, owensoundsuntimes.com 10 March 2010
Open letter to the voters of Ontario:
I live in rural Ontario.
I have been labeled by our premier and other politicians as a NIMBY and by others as “anti-green,” an “opponent,” a “detractor” to wind energy. Why? Because I am concerned about the risk to health of Ontario families.
These statements are lobbyist language and more suitable to a playground bully. It is unbecoming for a leader who was elected to look after the wellbeing of our democratic society to dismiss legitimate concerns of its citizens.
I’m sorry to have to say that I hear from a lot of people who have had the misfortune of becoming a victim of the McGuinty liberal government’s ‘green’ agenda to shove industrial wind turbines into our small communities. Too many are now suffering from some serious adverse health effects because turbines have been placed inside a tw0-kilometre radius of their homes and schools. See Wind- VOiCe, Wind Vigilance for Ontario Communities at www.windvigilance.com. Some have spent thousands of dollars they cannot spare for legal help to move away. Some have abandoned their homes in order to try to regain their health. Some have quietly moved without disclosing the noise and health issues they’ve tried to cope with. Some are so sick, they can hardly fight anymore. I know them. They are real people. They matter. They need help.
The current provincial government spouts statistics that are impossible to back up, using the shutdown of coal plants to justify the existence of wind turbines. Even if a percentage of the stats are so and even though coal plants are a small percentage of the total air quality problem, we need to work with our neighbours to the south since the overwhelming majority of pollution from coal plants comes from there to begin with.
The new natural gas plants planned for Ontario have to be built because wind turbines simply will not do the job, no matter how many of them smother the province. The particulate from gas plants is far worse than that of coal plants because it’s much finer and embeds deeply into your lungs. “In fact, many studies have found no safe limit for exposure to these substances.” (David Suzuki Foundation) And the gas plants will be a lot closer to you and I than a coal plant from the states. Many municipalities and families are asking for third party studies before building more wind turbine projects and to stop operations of existing turbines placed so closely to homes.
That doesn’t sound like a NIMBY to me.
Lorrie Gillis
Grey Highlands
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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