Wind plans are a lot of hot air
By RALPH BURKE | Observer Today | December 21, 2014 | observertoday.com
By RALPH BURKE | Observer Today | December 21, 2014 | observertoday.com
Do you know what an anomaly is … or anachronism? It’s something irregular, out of place, out of time. These two words define wind turbines.
For the last few years the Observer has printed articles regarding the construction of wind turbines in our county, mainly within the Arkwright area. The Nov. 22 edition holds a possible construction date of sometime in 2017. According to the project manager of EDP Renewables – the developer or planner of these turbines – the initial number of 50 of these machines planned has been reduced to 30 or 40.
One would surmise that in this day and age, where minimization and compactness have arrived side-by-side with progress – look at the world held in your cell phone -that an energy renewable source would not require scores of massive landscape displacing, noise making, bird killing, scenery destroying behemoths as wind turbines. These monstrosities remind me of something found in a pulp, sci-fi magazine.
But, as my Uncle Al would say, look for the vigorish. The vigorish is bread, moolah, jack, dough, cash – or in the parlance of those old broadcast music shows whose hosts got money for playing certain songs – payola.
Maybe I’m being a little overly dramatic, but who would want these eyesores if there wasn’t money involved.
Perhaps, they’re all right on some western desert with no one around but sidewinders and scorpions, using power to transfer water for irrigation and the like, but here, in the Western New York hills?
We get the drift from their promoters that the turbines will provide a sort of backup to coal and natural gas resources. I don’t buy that. If they were never constructed, would the area be devastated? Go under? It hasn’t yet and it never will.
Constructing these gigantic absurdities among the beautiful hills of Arkwright does nature a gross disservice.
Ralph Burke is a Dunkirk resident.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/12/21/wind-plans-are-a-lot-of-hot-air/