Doubts must be resolved before turbines are built
Asbury Park Press, www.app.com 16 February 2011
The 396-foot-high industrial wind turbine being built by the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority in Union Beach is precedent-setting.
A debate between wind industry and independent experts over whether alleged benefits outweigh the suspected risks needs to be conducted by the state Senate and Assembly before any approvals are given.
The preponderance of information currently reaching legislators and local governing bodies as well as turbine project sponsors such as the BRSA commission and its chairman, John Colligas, is generated by wind industry lobbyists.
There have been no written or verbal guarantees of liability and accountability offered by the BRSA and the wind industry to substantiate their claims that no negative impacts exist. They have provided no assurance that environmental benefits and financial savings will be realized and eventually passed along to ratepayers. For that reason, serious doubts based on sound scientific, non-industry, independent research persist.
In view of these doubts, the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance believes it’s fair to expect any reasonable person to concede that until these doubts are resolved, via expert debate and codified by legislators, the only responsible action when the health, safety, and welfare of the public are involved is to invoke the “precautionary principle”: If we must err, let us err on the side of caution.
The turbines should not be built unless and until guarantees are provided that will protect the residents of Union Beach, the Bayshore and the entire state. To that end, we urge support of Senate and Assembly Turbine Setback Bills S-2374 and A-3473.
John M. Curran III
PRESIDENT, HAZLET AREA QUALITY OF LIFE ALLIANCE
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/02/16/doubts-must-be-resolved-before-turbines-are-built/