Pro-environment and anti-wind farm
www.roanoke.com 13 September 2011
Bent Mountain residents lately have been called a small group of fanatics, anti-environmentalists or, worst, NIMBYs.
I take issue with this quote from a March 24 Roanoke Times news story (“FAA decides turbines don’t threaten planes”): “sentiment about the proposed wind farm has fallen into two basic camps: supporters who cite the need for renewable energy to reduce … dependence on coal, and opponents – many of whom live on the mountain – who fear the turbines will produce noise … and an eyesore to scenic surroundings.”
Do you think Bent Mountain residents don’t support alternative energy? That we love mountaintop removal and carbon emissions? That we are against these turbines only because we live here and they are ugly? I favored a wind farm – before I researched and learned that a wind farm of the size and placement proposed for Poor Mountain will do more harm than good to our environment and community.
Most residents of Bent Mountain moved here because of a love of nature. Of course we support reducing dependence on fossil fuels. But how can putting gigantic, inefficient industrial turbines in a densely populated area while destroying the mountain’s ecosystem be a good solution?
KATY GERHOLD
BENT MOUNTAIN
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/13/pro-environment-and-anti-wind-farm/