Mahone Bay cell tower complaint stirs up Ellershouse resident 

I wish to comment on an article published in the provincial media in July entitled Mahone Bay residents: Iconic view at risk.

I thought the Hants Journal would be interested in my comments as it relates to the wind farm issues that your readers have been following.

I am a resident of a small hamlet outside of Windsor, called Ellershouse. Most of you will have no idea where this is.

We are a very small community steeped in history and our own iconic views; quite unlike Mahone Bay. We have high hills, farmland, bountiful wildlife, historic houses, a beautiful river and multiple lakes. Ellershouse is a wonderful place to live and raise children.

That was until a group of people from other parts of Nova Scotia (Mahone Bay included) decided that our hill was the perfect spot for their eyesore windmill farm. They quietly did their so-called research over an eight-year period without our knowledge.

When all was complete and they were guaranteed that there was no way for the residents to stop the project, they created the community liaison committee (CLC); just a formality to meet the requirements for the project development.

Oh, you say “they are creating renewable energy to power Nova Scotia. You must be against green energy, old school, stuck in your ways.”

Actually, we are more green than most people; we compost our kitchen waste, conserve our water, sort our garbage. A lot of us have kitchen gardens, chickens, some have cows, bees, rabbits, and blueberry crops.

Also, most homes are heated, in part or whole, with wood, which is a renewable source.

What we are against is being bullied into having a project erected that will have detrimental impacts on our small peaceful community – environmental impacts to our water and possibly our health; loss of land use and revenue from farming; habitat lost for our native creatures, some of whom are close to being endangered; property devaluation; and the loss of our iconic views.

All this in the name of money, not green energy for Nova Scotia. The power produced will be loaded on the grid and sold to the United States according to Berwick town council. The carbon credits received from this production will be sold to the highest bidder for profit.

The industries that pollute the most will pay top dollar for these, because, you see, it is all really just a shell game. They meet their carbon credit requirements by buying them; this affords them the opportunity to continue to operate as they always have without doing what is required to reduce emissions.

Did I mention that we will have seven of these monstrosities that are over 300 feet (90 metres) high?

The residents of Mahone Bay are complaining about one tower that is 196.85 feet (60 metres) tall. Perhaps the people of Mahone Bay should invest some of their profits into producing cheese to go with their whine.

I would like to suggest that they take back their windmills and we will take the communication tower. Problem solved.

Helen Tufts,

Ellershouse