Lenox wind plan affects neighbors
The Berkshire Eagle, www.berkshireeagle.com 27 January 2012
To the Lenox Board of Selectman. We drive a 48 mpg vehicle, we believe in combating global warming and in alternative energy. We are Richmond residents who live within sight and sound of the proposed wind turbines.
These 400 foot structures require blasting enormous holes into Lenox Mountain. The potential to disrupt the water table and surrounding well water, and the paucity of wind at the proposed sites lead us to the conclusion that the environmental damage would be far greater than the environmental benefit. The turbines themselves are fraught with mechanical problems and maintenance issues and require large investments in infrastructure in order to store and send the energy they may produce. They have a limited life and then must be disposed of or replaced.
Compare all that to solar energy where the panels are, every day, getting more efficient, cheaper, are installed by local labor, can run on existing infrastructure, require no blasting, can be modified for small and large sites, and have no health concerns.
We can only hope that if the town of Lenox decides to proceed with this project, despite all the concerns, that the town will do its due diligence in the form of site studies examining the potential damage to the ecosystem, the water table, property values, and the true potential for wind energy production at these sites. The wind industry, which produced the only existing site study, seems intent on rushing the town into starting construction on this project before its true impact can be assessed. If the town decides to proceed, the potential impact on our family is significant, though not as much as many of our neighbors, and we cannot imagine the project proceeding without a great deal of litigation (since WESRA has been tabled for now).
As Richmond residents we have no vote on the construction of the turbines, and we hope you will consider the effects of Lenox’s decision on us and all of Lenox’s neighbors.
HANAN CAINE
REBECCA CAINE
Richmond
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/27/lenox-wind-plan-affects-neighbors/