Why there are complaints 

I could not resist making a comment on the letter written by Darlene Leader and Wes Keller’s article on wind power production, both in the June 28th edition of your paper.

Why would anyone complain about “windfarming” is the question pondered by the letter writer. Why? Speaking on behalf of those who are “complaining”, I can tell you why. Because …

… they sometimes create noise that awakens my family in the middle of the night
… they create distracting noises that makes sitting outside in my garden to read a book far less enjoyable

… at times of the year the shadow from the blades penetrates my house.

… the flashing red lights and the large presence in the sky has destroyed my enjoyment of the nighttime sky.

… I worry about the value of my rural residential lot, and wonder who would want to buy it, choosing to live with the towers that have become my neighbours.

… I tried selling my house, but after 4 months of listing no one even came to look at it, and it is a nice house.

… the broad rural vistas and quiet country life that brought myself and my family to the township are now gone, dominated by towering, whirling machines, and more towers are planned.

… I wonder what kind of elected officials we have that would encourage this sort of wholesale change and wonder about my future in this township.

… I bought the land to build my retirement home on, but I don’t want to live in the middle of a “windfarm”, so I’m selling and going somewhere else.

… the wind plant does not deliver on the hype given it by the media, the government, the supporters. All this trouble for what?

Ms. Leader goes on to say that she is concerned about the possibility of a huge limestone mine in the township, that “we need to protect our prime farmland …”. I agree. We have the same goal, but have different viewpoints and standards. For I see the construction of huge whirling towers as destroying the countryside, and for her and many others doing this is all right. Right now “visually our countryside …” is looking “like we’ve been in a war …”: The War of the Worlds. And it is going to get worse.

The greatest threat to our future, in this and other issues to come, is in our complacency and our complicity in our rural area’s destruction. Ms Leader hopes “… when the time comes landowners and townsfolk can work together to preserve our country side in a responsible manner …”. Well, I think that the time is now, the divisions are deep, and you and I are on opposite sides of the fence.

Mr. Keller writes about surprise in “extent of the decline” in the production of the province’s four wind farms. There is no surprise among those who have studying the bigger industry picture and are not seduced by the exaggerated claims made by the industry and its supporters. Perhaps that surprise comes from the dawning realization that these turbines are not all that they have made out to be.

The Melancthon 67.5 Mw wind plant is really a “never 67.5 Mw, but sometimes, briefly, a 60 Mw, or a 27 Mw, or often even a 0 Mw (oh no!), but on average a 18.9 Mw” wind plant (that is given a capacity allowance by IESO planners of 6.75 Mw).

Wind generation is not even a partial solution to our energy needs, and climate concerns.

Dennis Sanford

Melancthon

Orangeville Citizen

5 July 2007