July 27, 2011
California

Wind farms don’t benefit Basin

Hi-Desert Star, www.hidesertstar.com 27 July 2011

Is it the revenge of Green Path? The erection of meteorological towers on Black Lava Butte north of Pipes Canyon Toad and west of Old Woman Springs Road are the warning shot across the bow of our community. This prelude to a huge wind-power project has been quietly processed by the Bureau of Land Management since 2007 and could result in the permanent loss of the pristine viewshed shared by thousands of residents from Pioneertown, to Yucca Valley, to Flamingo Heights and beyond.

The flat-topped lava formations in our area are unique and signature land features. I feel that placing giant wind turbines on any of them is a desecration of something we hold dear around here. Unfortunately, the companies who wish to siphon off dollars from our landscape aren’t from our community; they’re blind to their destruction.

There’s more wrong with wind-farming our buttes than just ruining the scenery. Where’s this power going and how will it get there? Power produced in our community should be for our community and if it was, I bet most would vote for less obtrusive renewable energy projects like the solar field off of Sunfair in Joshua Tree, or individual households just putting up roof-top solar.

Please tell Senator Feinstein and the BLM what you think about this project. I also want to thank the people at saveourdesert.com for info and advice on how to help.

Brad Berger
Yucca Valley

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/07/27/wind-farms-dont-benefit-basin/