July 22, 2013
Letters, Massachusetts

Try living near wind turbine before making baseless charges

Virginia Irvine | The Patriot Ledger | Posted Jul 22, 2013 | www.patriotledger.com

I read with astonishment Mark Beaton’s letter in which he compared the efforts of Wind Wise Massachusetts to billionaire Bill Koch’s opposition to Cape Wind. Actually, we’re a few billion dollars short of his outrageous claim.

Wind Wise Massachusetts is a 100 percent volunteer grassroots organization. We are a statewide alliance of individuals concerned about the negative health, environmental and economic impacts of poorly-sited wind turbines.

Contrary to Beaton’s false claim, we do not “intimidate politicians.” In fact, elected officials and many other people in our state have come to rely upon Wind Wise Massachusetts for researched-based, factual information related to the impacts of wind turbines in residential areas.

It is easy for someone like Beaton to dismiss the legitimate complaints from families who live near wind turbines in Kingston, Falmouth, Fairhaven, Scituate and other communities throughout the state.

However, his view would change if he lived near the turbines, couldn’t sleep and got up with headaches every morning, had to leave his home during the day because of the strobing effects of the turbines, and then saw the value of his home plummet by 20 to 40 percent.

Instead of making baseless charges, I recommend that Beaton and anyone really interested in the facts about wind turbines read the peer-reviewed medical studies and personal testimonies that can be found on our website.

Virginia Irvine is with Wind Wise Massachusetts.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/07/22/try-living-near-wind-turbine-before-making-baseless-charges/