March 24, 2012
Ireland

1,200 sign petition

Dundalk Democrat, www.dundalkdemocrat.ie 23 March 2012

Over 1,200 local residents who are concerned about the proposed wind farm at Rockmarshall have signed a petition against the development.

According to the Protect Rockmarshall Mountain Group, “the size of the turbines and their impact is now beginning to be fully appreciated”.

“The Protect Rockmarshall Mountain Group are not opposed in principal to wind farm development and understand that wind energy generation is part of national and local development policy,” said a spokesperson for the group.

“However, this does not create a “carte blanche” for developers to construct wind farms in a particular area of their choosing, solely for their commercial gain, irrespective of its impact on the area or on the local people who would be left with little recourse once they are erected.”

The Protect Rockmarshall Mountain Group is calling on Louth County Council to refuse the planning application.

“The proposed wind farm is located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; it is not in an area ”preferred” for wind turbines by Louth County Council,” she said.

“The wind turbines would be too close to a large number of houses and would have a serious negative impact on the lives of the people living in them.”

The group would like the turbine height and scale independently verified by carrying out a test, which would involve raising a 10ft diameter helium balloon to the full height of the turbines in their proposed location.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/24/1200-sign-petition/