Dear editor,
Having seen an article in the Pipestone Flyer on a proposed wind farm being built in the Winfield area prompted me to write this article.
It seems that all but one of county councillors were in favor of this project going ahead. In my opinion this proposal should be studied a little more.
Every place in the world that these wind farms have been set up is now in the process of shutting them down. If it wasn’t for the governments of these countries subsidizing them in the first place they would not have been built. If the NDP government of Alberta did not support this stupid idea it would not be built either.
They are using borrowed money to subsidize a project that our grandchildren’s children will be paying for.
We can learn from what is happening in Germany. Germany has some 29,000 wind turbines, almost all of which have been benefiting from a 20-year subsidy program that began in 2000.
Starting in 2020, when most of the subsidies run out for some 5,700 wind turbines, thousands of them each year will lose government support, making the continued operation of most of them uneconomic based on current market prices. To make matters worse many of the turbines are failing and becoming uneconomic to maintain. They represent an environmental liability and pose the possibility of abandonment. No funds have been set aside to dispose of the blades which are non recyclable or to remove the turbines’ 3,000-tonne concrete steel reinforced base which can reach depths of 20 metres making them a hazard to the water aquifers they pierce.
The cost to the German economy of its transition to renewables is estimated to reach 2 to 3 trillion euros by 2050.
There are documents of people in Ontario getting sick from the sound of these wind turbines and if they affect people then they will also affect animals too. Its is well documented on the number of birds that are killed by the turbines.
The landowners who own the property that the turbines will be built on should stop and think this over very careful because there are many things to consider before giving permission to build a turbine on your property. I would say that if you have one of these turbines on your property you have devalued your place by a lot. The amount you will be paid will not make up for the amount that you will lose when you sell your farm. In fact there are places in Ontario that they are unable to sell because they have turbines on them.
You only have to go on the internet and look up wind farms to check the experiences of other people that have signed contracts and let these turbines be built on their property.
When I drive along the highway by Winfield and look off to the west to see the mountains on a clear day, I do not want that view spoiled by a bunch of wind turbines.
James Cook, Westerose
Editor’s note: County of Wetaskiwin council noted during their discussion the municipality has no control over wind farm applications, which go exclusively through the provincial government.