Study the turbines already installed
Kokomo Tribune | June 25, 2013 | kokomotribune.com
An important early lesson you should learn is divide by 10 anything heard from a salesman, whose one purpose is to sell you something. But if you fail to investigate the drawbacks, you will make some awful decisions.
Yet for some reason, our county commissioners consider the company salesmen for industrial wind turbines (IWTs) more credible than people now living among them who simply report their experiences.
Evidence is readily available about the problems caused by IWTs. Just one example in a peer-reviewed publication, Canadian Family Physician, from May 2013: “A 2006 National Academy of Medicine working group report notes that noise is the most frequent complaint. The noise is described as piercing, preoccupying, and continually surprising, as it is irregular in intensity. The noise includes grating and incongruous sounds that distract the attention or disturb rest. The spontaneous recurrence of these noises disturbs the sleep, suddenly awakening the subject when the wind rises and preventing the subject from going back to sleep.”
Beyond the health issues, there is good evidence real estate values for those living near IWTs will drop, a further kick in the rear. We residents of eastern Howard County were told during the June 17 meeting of our county commissioners that our inconvenience is necessary for the greater benefit of the county. A few farmers will get something like $12,000 a year for each turbine they allow in their fields, and we could each lose more than that in the value of our homes. Does this make us “collateral damage?”
Ask yourself, is “wind power,” which depends on large government subsidies, a thriving business? In fact, the cost per kilowatt-hour of generating electricity by conventional methods is about 4 cents, whereas the subsidies alone for wind power are 5.6 cents. With this country trillions of dollars in debt, it is for certain these subsidies must end. When this happens, who will be left holding the bag?
The excuse for locating the IWTs here is that our area needs economic development. Creating six to eight jobs is hardly significant. In fact, we are sitting on some of the most productive agricultural land in the world, and we already know what industry makes the best use of this resource. It’s called farming, and we are quite happy with it.
Those of us living in eastern Howard County have been suggesting for some time that, since this wind project was passed by the commissioners with virtually no public input, a moratorium on their coming here is needed to allow a more complete look at the impact of the turbines already installed. Please inform yourself by looking at our website, easternhowardwind.com, which has been set up by Howard County Concerned Citizens, and plan to join us at the next commissioners’ meeting July 1.
Tom Cornell
Greentown
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/06/25/study-the-turbines-already-installed/