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Don't industrialize wind power
Credit: Erie Times-News, www.goerie.com 14 June 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
I oppose industrialization of the Great Lakes by industrial wind energy. The Great Lakes are the largest fresh water source in the U.S. and provide drinking water for millions.
Industrial wind energy is not clean. Turbines require 200-plus gallons of oil and other lubricants each. Oil must be changed periodically and disposed of; there are oil leaks and it is released into the environment when there is a collapse and explosion (the major causes of turbine failure).
Industrial wind turbines (IWT) require neodymium, a rare earth mineral, in their strong magnets. Neodymium is mined primarily in China, where human rights are disregarded because the process for extracting it from the Earth is toxic, like hydrofracking.
Turbines last 20 years or less; once they have failed or are decommissioned, they become a filthy, rusting metal junkyard, as has been witnessed in Hawaii.
Industrial wind energy cannot be sustained on its own, relies heavily on government subsidies and tax incentives, passes added electricity costs on to ratepayers and taxpayers and is three to four times more costly to transmit than traditional power sources. As a supplemental source of energy, it is unreliable, intermittent, and unpredictable. Coal-fired and other sources of traditional energy are never shut down.
Previously dumped toxins in Lake Erie, including PCBs, dioxin, arsenic, and multiple others, are thought to be buried deeply enough below the lake floor as to be safe. Excavating the lake bottom could recirculate toxins. Is this worth the risk? Turbines are worldwide killers of millions of migratory birds and bats, including endangered species.
I am a member of Great Lakes Wind Truth, Great Lakes Concerned Citizens and Save the Eagles International.
Suzanne Albright|Rochester, N.Y.
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