Turbines part of industry intrusion
Ocean City Today | Apr 20, 2017 | www.oceancitytoday.net
There is only one word to describe the proposed line of wind turbines on the ocean horizon: eyesore.
Yet there are far more profound reasons for every one of us to rise up in protest and voice our opposition. Like so many others, we come to the ocean’s edge to escape the pressures and stress of the world; to imagine an endless horizon; to take peace and joy in this awesome gift of nature.
The proposed line of wind turbines will not only mar the horizon, they will be a constant, indelible reminder of the ever-encroaching threat of industry and the innumerable ways that we have ransomed this planet.
The horizon is nature’s gift – and our responsibility to preserve. The decision before this community – now and in future proposals – will have far-reaching, enduring, and unpredictable effects. How will this series of wind turbines affect the marine life that inhabit the sea or pass along the shore?
Will children still see a playful parade of dolphins, swimming and leaping just beyond the waves? Will sea gulls still dive for fish? Or will our waters become sterile with sea life, large and small, affected by the construction, 24/7 operation, and incessant “whrrr” of these turbines?
“A wind farm” – an invented phrase, a euphemism, designed to sound so natural, so green. But ‘green’ is nature and there is nothing more natural, more inspiring than the endless, unbroken horizon we are privileged to view from land’s edge. The Ocean City community is the steward of that horizon – an awesome responsibility for ourselves and generations to come.
For the thousands of children who play on the beach each summer; for their parents seeking a moment’s escape at the shore; for fishermen dependent on the bounty of the ocean; for seniors who visit or retire here, pausing on the benches that line the Boardwalk; for all those memorialized on those benches – for the shop owners, restaurant owners, hotel owners and workers whose livelihoods depend on the remarkable gift of nature that has drawn people to the ocean’s edge since time immemorial.
And as we all realize, that draw is not a line of wind turbines on the horizon.
Bernadette Engelstad
Berlin/Kensington, Maryland
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/04/21/turbines-part-of-industry-intrusion/