Don’t buy wind company sales pitch
Berkshire Eagle | 10/30/2013 | www.berkshireeagle.com
Is destruction of habitat, bat slaughter and bird kills, forcing a group of residents facing health issues to move, and a lowering of property values worth saving one year’s worth of carbon emissions from 3,300 cars our reward? This is the amount of emissions we are promised to be saving in Peru for a five turbine wind farm producing energy for New York City on 17 acres? The place where the wind speed is excellent for wind power in Massachusetts is on the coast, yet the companies are aggressively developing and seeking development all over the Berkshires and in the hill towns.
Wind turbines kill 1.4 million birds and bats in America per year according to The Wild Life Society Bulletin. First destruction of habitat, then white nose syndrome, and now wind turbines! One bat can kill 600 mosquitoes in a day.
Peru has also been promised $150,000 in taxes per year for 20 years in exchange for development. Can a company which denies health and environmental effects be trusted to tell the truth and follow through on financial promises? Will there be other financial costs to the town involving infrastructure, or litigation?
By promising dreams of wind farm riches to land owners in unsuspecting communities, wind energy corporations divide communities. Those stuck being located 1,000 to 2,000 feet away from a turbine are for some reason more concerned than those far enough away, and others may be leasing land to the company. Some of those who end up as abutters may at first believe that because it’s renewable energy it’s a good idea. Upon doing some research or living with the turbines for a period many realize there are harmful health effects which affect their quality of life. Often, within a year, residents close to the turbines move yet are unable to sell their houses at a fair market price.
Although the wind turbine companies insist that there are no health issues, there are many complaints and studies proving the opposite, including some recently in Falmouth, Shelbourne and Florida, Ma. and also from Vermont. Health effects are caused by noise, including infrasound: a low frequency type of noise, and the flicker effect caused by light shining through the propellers. Some of the symptoms are vertigo, sleep loss, dizziness, and an inner ear condition dubbed “wind turbine syndrome” and symptoms leading to cardiovascular disease.
Studies done by corporations are usually biased and don’t include all the facts. Google wind turbines, health issues, and bats and birds and see what comes up.
LAURA MARSHALL
Peru
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/10/30/dont-buy-wind-company-sales-pitch/