July 18, 2010
Letters, Virginia

When subsidies come to an end, wind farms fail

The Roanoke Times, www.roanoke.com 18 July 2010

I ask anyone in favor of the Poor Mountain windmill farm to do a simple search of “abandoned wind mills” with their favorite search engine and offer any explanation that makes sense. If it were not for huge federal subsidies that add to the $13 trillion debt, not one of these monstrosities would be built. You will find abandoned solar farms, as well.

One of the many problems with government simply throwing money at any issue is that once the new construction and accompanying hoopla is over, there is never any money for maintenance, and eventually these projects have to survive on their true economic viability. Hence, they are abandoned.

The current (no pun intended) opponents of the project rightfully focus on environmental issues, airplane flight patterns, noise, impact on the natural beauty of the valley and other issues. Also consider 15 to 20 years into the future, when these albatrosses will be abandoned, rusted reminders of bureaucratic boondoggles. All you have to do today is trace the flow of federal dollars to the proponents of these projects. End of discussion.
M.J. SMITH
ROANOKE


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/07/18/when-subsidies-come-to-an-end-wind-farms-fail/