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The negative side effects of wind power
Credit: Brattleboro Reformer | February 21, 2013 | www.reformer.com ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
Editor of the Reformer:
Mr. Wilson’s column (“Commercial-scale wind power,” Feb. 12) is very disappointing and indicates a quite shallow understanding of the issues involved with industrial wind. The major flaw is what is left out. Yes, such installations can bring revenue to a town, just like Vermont Yankee; and, yes, wind power seems like an obvious way you avoid fossil fuels. But just a modicum of research would have led him to an extensive list of prohibitively negative consequences of installing such towers.
They are horrendously and permanently invasive as they are built and after they are installed. We can recover eventually from erosion caused by the sheep industry; the forest will repair itself after ruinous logging practices; but another creation must pass this way before the leveled mountain tops are with us again. Just take a look at West Virginia. The removal of the soil and bed rock will make future storm water events far worse.
The technology is such that the very construction of the machinery to harness the wind costs more in carbon creation than anything they will save. They would not exist without deep U.S. subsidies, yet the companies building these towers are all foreign – the money is going abroad. Remember, Breen Mountain Power is a Quebec company, and the group hoping to build in Grafton/Windham is Iberdola, a huge Spanish energy
conglomerate.
The animal impact studies sent to me by Iberdola (I am a neighbor to the planned site) are company generated studies done in the far west and have nothing to do with the New England eco-region.
Bats and raptors are usually not killed by being hit by the blades; they are killed by just being near the blades, which create a vacuum-induced vortex which blows the blood vessels open.
The range of noise disturbance is far greater than companies will admit – up to three miles, 24 hours a day.
Because of quickly changing demographics, a small town like Grafton is in trouble – 50 houses are listed for sale on a local website and most have been there for several years – noisy and ugly wind towers will not keep Grafton in its place on the list 10 most beautiful towns in America.
It is wise to look into something carefully before jumping on the band wagon.
Richard A. Warren,
Grafton, Feb. 13
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