Is electricity more important than human health and safety? The state seems to be saying that by pushing wind farms on communities that don ‘t want them.
They tell us it is safe for a 40-story machine with a spinning blade spanning the width of a jet airliner to be placed 1,000 feet from our doors. Studies show otherwise.
The town of Union ‘s large wind turbine study committee made an open records request to the state and found that there wasn ‘t a single scientific or medical document that supported the 1,000-foot setback. Most of the Wisconsin wind ordinance seems to have been written by wind lobbyists and a Florida power company (see betterplan.squarespace.com).
Wind turbines are 30 percent efficient at best and rely on electrical power plants to operate. They don ‘t reduce dependence on foreign oil. Their impact on greenhouse gas is being seriously questioned. There are renewable energy options for Wisconsin that solve problems instead of create them.
Manure digesters, for example, generate electricity and biomass, and keep nitrates out of our waterways, and they don ‘t tear up farmland or bring misery to communities. They should have the same tax breaks the wind farms get.
— Lynda Kawula, Better Plan for Rock County, Footville
5 March 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/03/05/wind-turbine-safety-savings-questioned/