Turbine’s arc reaches farther than most realize
Independent, independent.gmnews.com 17 February 2011Independent, independent.gmnews.com 17 February 2011
Independent, independent.gmnews.com 17 February 2011Independent, independent.gmnews.com 17 February 2011
I cannot fault the Holmdel [Township Committee] for wanting to hear the BRSA side of the story on the proposed industrial wind turbine (IWT).
I caution the board, however, to keep certain facts in mind. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) states that only properly licensed assessors can officially evaluate property values. Papers submitted by such assessors in the Midwest states have stated emphatically, under oath, that IWT installations have a serious 20-45 percent negative impact on property values up to two miles away from same. All homes in Union Beach area are within a two-mile arc of the site, and there are approximately 200 homes within a 2,000-foot arc of the proposed installation. In some cases, the property could not find a buyer, and it was abandoned. The twomile arc even includes homes in Keyport and Hazlet.
An elected member of the Board of Freeholders, herself a licensed Realtor, also has stated openly that property values are, in fact, negatively impacted.
The BRSA, given their day in court, made a very slick presentation to the freeholders that did not change the mind of even one freeholder who had voted unanimously to pass the anti-turbine resolution.
Over the past three years or so, especially in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and some places in the U.S., more and more medical data has come to the forefront as to the negative impact of IWT on public health/quality of life. Flicker effect, audible sound, and especially the sound we cannot hear, and which is not required to be measured by wind developers as part of their applications, are the basis for these findings.
Hundreds of pages of information have been provided to the BRSA at public meetings dealing with all of the above problems and more, and, I believe, on purpose, have not been made a matter of record. As a matter of fact, the chairman himself once stated at an open meeting something to the effect, Where do you find all of this stuff, when an attendee brought some pertinent information to the forefront at that meeting. There is also tons of technical data available to the public reflecting the fact that wind power per se is not anywhere near as green as the wind power industry would lead the public and its elected officials to believe.
Do the people of Holmdel, through their elected officials, really want to see the social and financial fibers of the borough of Union Beach literally destroyed for what, the BRSA has deliberately overstated, amounts to approximately an $18 per annum per customer savings in electrical costs to the BRSA? Further, like it or not, obtaining that savings is being accomplished by use of millions of your taxpayer dollars. This is even truer when one considers that only about 50 percent of Holmdel homes are, in fact, users of the BRSAsystem. I even wonder why Holmdel’s appointed representative should even be allowed to serve in the role of chairman under such circumstances.
If the Holmdel board and the citizens of Holmdel want the real truth of what I consider to be a totally immoral, and possibly fraudulent, action on the part of the BRSA, it would behoove all to go to the www.noturbine.com website. Also, take some time and Google Earth the BRSAsite, place your distance wand at the top righthand corner of the facility, and start swinging some distance arcs. Very enlightening. Would you want this type of 400-foot-high IWT as part of your open spaces, maybe as part of the Lucent property redevelopment, or, just maybe, 1,100 feet from your home?
Charles E. Hoffman Jr. Hazlet
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/17/turbines-arc-reaches-farther-than-most-realize/