Turbines being abandoned
The Sun Times, www.owensoundsuntimes.com 18 January 2011
I am writing in response to a letter published on Jan. 5th entitled: “Wind turbines will not be abandoned”. If wind turbines will not be abandoned, why do five abandoned wind sites mar the Hawaiian Islands, and why have 14,000 turbines been abandoned in California in some of the best wind spots on earth? (Wind Energy’s Ghosts, American Thinker) If wind turbines will not be abandoned, why do wind farm developers steadfastly refuse to post bonds to cover decommissioning costs – bonds that would only be called upon if the turbines were in fact abandoned?
The statement that every public health organization in the world disagrees with claims that wind turbines affect health is absolutely untrue. Our own medical officer of health, Dr. Hazel Lynn, supported by the Grey-Bruce Board of Health and Grey County Council, wants to see proper health studies conducted. The recent international symposium on health effects of wind turbines, held in Picton Ont., brought together American, British and Canadian physicians, medical researchers, physicists, and acousticians all of whom beg to differ. Japan has placed a four-year moratorium on new wind farm development pending independent health studies. One must bear in mind that Ontario’s medical officer of health is a government appointee who must say what the Liberal Party tells her to say.
Meaford has a particularly beautiful landscape and many beautiful homes because of that landscape. To suggest that property values in an area like this would not be negatively impacted defies common sense and is a gross misrepresentation. If this were true, why do wind developers refuse to give property value guarantees as some local governments have requested? There are numerous reports from accredited real estate appraisers to back up the negative impact on property values.
To the best of my knowledge, no one has said that “gas turbines need to run full throttle to compensate for fluctuations in wind and solar power.” The fact is that wind is intermittent and unreliable and must be paired with fossil fuel generation 24/7. The net effect is that wind turbines do not reduce CO2 emissions and when one considers the tons of steel and concrete that go into their construction, and the roads and transmission lines that have to be built, the net effect on the environment is a negative one. Each concrete pad is 25 metres wide by 10 metres deep and is never removed.
Hydro Quebec recently completed a 1,250 MW hydro line to the Ontario border. It makes much more sense for Ontario to use this cheap, clean energy than to despoil our beautiful places, divide communities, and add further to our $220-billion dollar provincial debt ($16,612. for every man, woman and child in Ontario) which is larger than all the other provinces combined. Why has Ontario not done this – because we don’t need it!
According to energy expert Tom Adams, the province is paying sky high rates for power it doesn’t need so we can have wind turbines marching on and on to the horizon, just like Denmark does. Power demand has been dropping since 2005. In fact we have so much excess supply that, from time to time, it threatens to crash the system. Because of this we are paying our neighbours to the south to take excess power off our hands.
Mr. Hamilton is from Toronto, not Meaford. In my opinion his letter is an example of what the wind industry promised us in the “Sussex Report”: To confuse the issue in the media, to diffuse attention away from the huge pending increases in hydro rates, and to utilize a rainbow coalition of validators and messengers in its government relations and public relations campaign.
Jim Brunow
Municipality of Meaford
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/18/turbines-being-abandoned/