December 7, 2019
Missouri

We need to educate ourselves on wind farms

Your letters Dec . 7, 2019 | St. Joseph News-Press | www.newspressnow.com

I’m writing in regard to the Nov. 16 editorial “Call their bluff on wind buffers.” I agree, the two sides may never see eye to eye on the issues. In my opinion, this is due to one side being very well funded and experienced with presenting information that favors their agenda; while the other side is made up of individuals with no information to start with and limited time and funding to gather information. It is a David and Goliath situation.

I have felt, for some time, that the solution is an unbiased third party that would gather, evaluate and make available all the pertinent information on wind energy. Then the public and their elected officials would have solid facts on which to base their decisions. There is an overwhelming amount of information based on decades of experience from Europe, Australia and other countries. These are studies from the U.S. concerning land values, noise, health impacts, etc. However, it seems our decisions focus on the mighty dollar and ignore the many costs!

The state of Missouri does not have any statutes or regulations regarding wind energy. About three years ago, several local residents talked to a group of legislators about our concerns.

One representative, in the final months, of his last term, agreed to sponsor a bill that would form a task force to study the issue and report to the legislature for action. The bill was passed out of committee (with a favorable vote) but died for lack of further action. Since then, no one has seen fit to address the issue. Consequently, we continue to see communities, like those in Buchanan and DeKalb counties, fighting the same issues over and over!

We talk a lot about the importance of educating our children, but fail to see the importance of educating ourselves about issues before making decisions!

Ivan Kanak

Maysville, Missouri

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/12/07/we-need-to-educate-ourselves-on-wind-farms/