Why it’s time to halt the surge in wind farms
Belfast Telegraph | 18 December 2013 | www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Belfast Telegraph | 18 December 2013 | www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
I wish to commend Linda Stewart’s article (News, December 12) that dealt with the proliferation of wind farms.
Living in Slaughtmanus in Co Londonderry, we face the erection of seven 125-metre turbines: each equal to a 40-storey tower block.
They’ll not be sited on a remote glen to diminish visual impact; they’ll be placed in a community of 80-90 homes with an excellent view of this eyesore.
The nearest home is approximately 800 metres from a turbine.
The site is near an Area of Special Scientific Interest, with rare, protected species, including a very rare bat. It will require the bridging of a tributary of the Faughan River, the second most-important salmon river in Ireland.
The NIEA consultation considered this project illegal. The proposal is still being considered.
Companies developing wind farms want us to believe they are ‘greenies’. They’re the worst kind of capitalists, racing to pick the low-hanging fruit of a heavily subsidised industry and damn the consequences.
I fear that, as these installations become more cost-intensive, they will be sold on to offshore corporations and then default on decommissioning.
No bonds were required from developers, leaving us to pay for tidying up derelict, rusting hulks scattered across our landscape.
Will Westminster be as keen to clear these things up as they were to install them?
KEN FRANCIS
Slaughtmanus, Co Londonderry
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/12/18/why-its-time-to-halt-the-surge-in-wind-farms/