ND becoming ‘windmill commons’
The Bismarck Tribune | bismarcktribune.com
Do you remember the proposal that North Dakota become a Buffalo Commons? Not a worry. But Windmill Commons? A very likely possibility.
Look up ND wind farms on the internet and click on the Wikipedia site. We are moving toward being the wind capital of the U.S. But do we want this any more than the Buffalo Commons? Do we want no clear corridors where we do not see windmills and where birds cannot fly or animals have habitat? The latest Ruso project before the PSC has 600 foot blades and covers 16,000 acres.
Driving from Benedict, ND to Medora we passed 5 wind-farms interrupting some beautiful ND scenery. In our area, we are soon to see the wind-farm south of Minot almost connected with the Ruso Wind Farm and the Butte Wind Farm. When a bird is dead on the first attempt, there is no learning curve.
If you have had enough after reading the statistics, be sure to show up at your county commission meetings where wind-farms are being approved. As a citizen of your county, you have every right to object. You will be protecting your heritage along with the wildlife and birds in your area. And counties listen. If the project gets to the PSC, there is no one to speak for us.
I see fewer water birds in our area this year. Granted, the sloughs are drying up in this dry cycle. But we are allowing more and more of our ground to be covered with wind turbines. This further shrinks the habitat. And if, like Ruso Wind Project out of Georgia, they can throw $500,000 at the ND Game and Fish Department, that is quite a distraction. Let’s speak up, North Dakotans.
Marie Pozarnsky, Benedict
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/07/17/nd-becoming-windmill-commons/