Safe setbacks are needed to protect people
www.saukvalley.com 3 January 2012
How do industrial wind turbines affect agriculture – an industry to be protected in Lee County?
GPS and VRT fertilizer applications work intermittently (in other words, you can’t use it), cellphones for business as well as emergencies won’t be reliable, and crop dusting will not be done safely within a mile of a turbine, so this will affect the ability to get specialty crop contracts.
Wind turbine companies recently have been trespassing on non-participating properties, and farmers’ ability to use LifeLine emergency helicopters to come to the scene of their accident may be jeopardized.
A farmer in Wisconsin who could not be transported had the emergency crew land in his farmyard to save his life; he was told they would not have landed in the next county that has wind turbines because of the danger for the crew.
Experts, as well as our own residents living within the turbines in the county, have testified to the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals that industrial turbines need to be at least 1 mile to 2 miles away for residents to be safe from health issues, property value decline, noise, TV reception interruption, and shadow flicker.
The wind company’s way to solve problems is to offer money. Money doesn’t solve those problems. Only safe setbacks will.
Why not protect the current taxpayer, residents and our precious land by making rules that will really protect them and then let the industry work within those guidelines?
Sandra Kruse, Harmon
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/05/safe-setbacks-are-needed-to-protect-people/