Vote no to industrial wind turbines
Manitoulin Expositor, www.manitoulin.ca 23 February 2011
I’m writing to urge you to fight against industrial wind turbines in Wainfleet Township and in the province of Ontario.
Industrial wind turbines are not green.
Industrial wind turbines do not cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Industrial wind turbines do not produce very much power, and the energy that is produced is not reliable, effectively stored, or consistent—it fluctuates constantly.
Do you realize how much concrete and rebar goes into the foundation of an industrial wind turbine? The foundations can be the size of two Olympic-sized swimming pools! Contemplate how much carbon dioxide is being emitted through the production, transportation, and construction work involved with the concrete and the steel for the foundation alone.
The industrial wind turbines can only operate under wind conditions within a very constrained range. If the wind speed is too low or too strong, the industrial wind turbine will not function. Yes, the blades may spin freely, but no energy is being harnessed or produced.
Wind energy does require fossil fuel backup, for when does the wind blow consistently in your municipality, or anywhere for that matter?
To keep our electrical grid balanced, there always has to be a reliable source of energy ramped up to jump in at a moment’s notice to balance out any sudden drops or increases in the supply.
The usual fossil fuel of choice, 70 to 75 percent of the time, is gas. So any energy produced from industrial wind turbines in no way would eliminate coal plants. The slowdown with the coal plants is more a case of the severe drop in the economy as opposed to energy produced by industrial wind turbines.
Industrial wind turbines are being investigated for what appears to be a prevalence of health concerns among people who live near industrial wind turbines all around the world.
What is more important than our health?
We have nothing without our health.
Don’t believe what you might have heard about industrial wind energy in other countries.
In a number of European countries, they have clued into the highly subsidized wind scam and are getting out of the technology now.
In Germany, every so-called green job came at the expense of 2.2 jobs in other sectors of the economy.
Industrial wind turbines and wind energy do not create permanent, full-time jobs. At Wolfe Island, after the construction workers were gone, there were fewer than five people maintaining the 86 industrial wind turbines.
The Assessment Review Board dropped the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessment on a home by more than 50 percent due to the fact that a sub-station transformer servicing nearby industrial wind turbines was located close to the residence in question.
Can Wainfleet Township manage with a substantial number of residences in your municipality also having their assessment chopped in half?
There have been no epidemiological studies done in Ontario. The literature review by the chief medical officer of health for Ontario, released in May of 2010, clearly stated that there was no scientific proof available to date. Times have changed, and now there are studies in place to show that people have been and continue to have their health jeopardized by industrial wind turbines.
I’m not a resident of Wainfleet Township, but I do live in Ontario.
In the municipality of Asphodel-Norwood, where I live, our council has called for a moratorium on industrial wind turbines until the proper epidemiological studies have been completed, so that the health and welfare of our residents is in the forefront of any industrial wind turbine development here.
Another major concern is the issue of liability.
If the wind-energy proponent eventually walks away, who is left holding the bag? Is it the local council? The landowner? The ratepayers? Who will clean up the mess and pay the piper?
When the upcoming vote on wind energy takes place at the Wainfleet council table, save your community. Vote no to industrial wind turbines.
Debbie Lynch
Norwood, Ont.
This letter has been sent to the members of the Wainfleet Township (south of Niagara Falls) municipal council and has been reprinted in The Manitoulin Expositor at the author’s request.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/02/23/vote-no-to-industrial-wind-turbines/