Accountability
The Gadsden Times | March 10, 2014 | www.gadsdentimes.com
Let’s talk about “unfair burdens” concerning wind turbines for a moment.
What about the unfair burden on our environment of 10-plus miles of pristine forest lands being cleared? What about the unfair burden on the thousands of hard-working, lower- and middle-class families who have saved all their lives to buy their dream homes, only to see their property values plummet and their way of life destroyed? What about the unfair burden of families forced to leave the area and abandon their homes because their livelihood was sacrificed for 2.2 permanent wind farm jobs and no wind energy? Where is the fairness?
Do you have the right to burden us with noise and vibrations 24 hours a day? Do you have the right to let your wind turbine flicker on our properties at sunset? When do your private property rights become more important than mine?
For argument sake, let’s throw the unfair burden of using federal tax subsidies to prop up the wind industry aside. Let’s put aside the unfair burden on the environment and the people. Let’s just focus on the one thing that really matters – wind. There is no wind for sustainable wind energy production in Northeast Alabama.
Pioneer Green has spent lots of money on lobbyists in Montgomery and Washington D.C., on a PR firm, on getting the environmental community in Birmingham involved, on economic studies and on giving cash to the community and schools. Yet the one thing it has not spent any effort on is proving there is wind in Alabama for sustainable wind energy production.
Hence, the biggest reason we need regulations like SB12 – wind turbine developers need guidelines and accountability if they are going to do business in Alabama. Wind turbine regulations will keep Pioneer Green Energy from being an ever present burden on Alabamians.
Residents can get the facts about wind developments in Alabama at www.NoWindAL.com.
Mitzi Gibbs Eaker
Coates Bend
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/03/11/accountability/