PLEASE UPGRADE YOUR BROWSER NOW. INTERNET EXPLORER 6 IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. 
Lawsuit over windmills in County
Posted 9 months ago
Tue, Aug 7th, '12 - 9:49 am
A group of Prince Edward County residents who live nearby a proposed wind farm development have filed a lawsuit against the wind company and over 20 landowners it has agreements with.
Our newsroom has learned that a 14 million dollar civil suit, involving 20 plaintiffs, was filed in Picton court on Thursday.
The Statement of Claim alleges that the property values of property near the proposed 29 turbine wind farm will go down because of the development.
The company, White Pines wind farm, has plans to build in South Marysburg ward.
The company says it will defend the lawsuit, adding that several studies show that wind farms have little effect on property values.
property values please give me a break
hope their wells run dry, hows that for property values.
either they accept change of face consequences into the future.
but in Europe being near a wind mill increases property value. you are less distance from a power grid contributor. which means less transmission line fees and less change of power outage.
no wind mills likely means more chance of a nuclear plant close by in 20 or 30 years. Hows that a legacy for your grand kin in the future. Hows them property values then.
stop being scared and learn to accept.
Let’s bet that “just a dude” expects to make money by leasing his land for turbines, or is being paid by a wind energy company, or is a paid lobbyist for the industry.
Wind turbines are not going to reduce carbon emissions from coal, and will in fact add to carbon pollution from the production of tons of cement needed to plant these turbines into our land.
As for our wells running dry, can Mr. J.A.D. be certain that massive excavations for turbines will not affect water supply for our farms and families?
Future generations will see that too many of us were cheated and fooled by a greedy wind industry putting turbines too close to homes, farms, and wildlife.
Dude your out of touch. Why should an adjacent landowner have the right to infringe on my property enjoyment for such a misguided industrialization of our countryside by industrial wind turbines.
Your statement about rural Europe is pure fiction. There is zero compensation to electrical users in Europe based on proximity to generation by industrial wind turbines. Furthermore the distance recommended by the World Health Organization is 1.5 to 2 km away from residence not the meager 500m imposed by the McGuinty government on unwilling rural residents. And even with these greater distances properties in europe adjacent to turbines do suffer value loss and in many cases are unsold after years on the market..
Regards your nuclear propaganda. How many Canadian Candu incidences have resulted in death or harm to man or environment. The answer is zero. There is no threat or iminient harm associated with Candu reactors. It is a safe clean technology that occupies a hundred acres of land to provide terawatts of power compared to bird choping industrial wind turbines that would have to disrupt millions of acres to achieve the same power levels.
Stop being scared and learn to accept ? Seriously dude ? These things are raising your electrical rates and resulting in industry / jobs starting to leave Ontario for jurisdictions with cheaper power. I don’t think we should have to accept our economic suicide because of unwanted, unneeded green energy fraud. Besides we have a surplus of energy according to Minister of Energy so why build any more of them. Just telling you the way it is Dude ?
chances are Just A Dude is under 40 and has spent most of his life being spoon fed some form of “green energy” propaganda…..do not trust yet another policy for “our own good” which is being implemented by a government with it’s own agenda, that quite likely has more to do with buying votes than saving our environment.
I believe Just a Dude needs to do his own thinking and research or just vote for McGuinty….
all right then you said country side
how would your property value fair if a pig farm was put in place next door to you. and being that the land is zoned as farm land how does that work out for you.
YOU WHINERS ALL LIVE IN FEAR
Excavating for windmills, hahaha 80% of the county is limestone with in 5 feet of the surface. That just shows how much you know.
FEAR! you are scared of change
wind and solar are the future less cost less risk less man power. passive energy recovery. the energy is already there just need to harness it.
Progressive cities like Kingston are sprinting into the future, and quinte area is simply stumbling along. Kingston has ten folded it’s commercial, industrial base since 2000. developments like the wind farm on wolfe island have contributed to the cities growth and increased it’s tourism. The county is not what it once was it is turning into real estate owned by out of county folk, (toranna people) who are looking for their piece of solitude from the city and who are trying to turn the county into theirs, by taking hard stances against change from what they think the county was when they bought into the county. Eventually as before the county will have no choice but to change, and like the farmers before you will be invaded by invasive species, and the demographic of the county will change again, perhaps with people that area less fixated on the value of their property and more concerned about the future of society as a whole.
Farmers never think selfishly as to what they want they think about what society needs, farming wind is no different, land owners are thinking of what people need.
there will be a point in the future where the 401 from brockville to toronto will be the main street of a super sized metropolis. and that metropolis will need more electricity than can ever be provided by simply throwing up nuclear plants at $1 Billion a pop.
Cost effective energy harvesting is the future. don’t be scared. Just accept it.
Gases Sum (tonnes) Sum (tonnes CO2e)
CO2 120,058.30 120,058
CH4 22.40 470
N2O 2.85 884
HFCs
PFCs
SF6
Total: 121,412 emissions
federal data for Lennox generating station 2010 data.
Back up supply generating station for when power demand is high and is switched on when supply does not meet demand, this is the largest gas/oil generating station in ontario. supplying enough power for 225,000 homes for a year.
windmill and solar emissions for yearly operation 0
One moment you live next to an agricultural property need thing you know it could turn industrial.
I support this legal action.
Bird chopping..might as well tear down all high rise glass buildings, ground airplanes etc etc. Solar and windmills are the way to go to reduce carbon emissions..if done correctly. As to 500m away from my property..yea I would be pissed off too. I’m all for renewable energy but the government shouldn’t be installing that close.
I can’t believe there are people who feel that windmills won’t affect property values. These people are out of touch with reality. I was, and was is the operative word, looking for a property in the County, but I sure wouldn’t buy one now, not at least until this issue is resolved. If windmills are allowed I will not be purchasing a home in the County. Just picture a beatiful old farm situated on a quiet acreage. Now picture it surrounded by windmills. My guess is the value would drop immensely. Why ruin a lovely rural farm area and turn it into what will look like a futuristic set for Bladerunner.
Dude you are wrong the electricity from an IWT has to go through transmission
lines to a substation before it comes out on your line
Amazing how many people think that reading politically biased newspapers constitutes some sort of research and informed judgement. just a dude lives up to his name in that his opinions are shallow, ill informed and wrong. Ontario Power is buying solar energy at more than TEN TIMES the cost of HYDRO, which, just a due, you should know is a GREEN energy and has ALWAYS formed a huge portion of the energy produced within this province. Industrial turbines (calling them “windmills” is like calling airplanes “motoroized birds”) do not close down ANY traditional electrical generating plants, are costly to install and maintain, are mostly built OUTSIDE of Canada and do pose health threats to all animal and bird life. Property devaluation is a given, just talk to the Wolfe Island people.
If Ontario wants to get serious about green energy, they should invest more in hydro electricity or buy it from Quebec, who has lots. Putting Ontario Power into FURTHER debt with this lame brained concepts of unproductive green energy is wrong. This Ontario policy is driving manufacturing out of this province, downgrading our credit rating and turning us into another maritime province. Just a dude may be happy his kids will move to Alberta or B.C. or Saskatchewan for jobs in a few years, but I think it is a shame that Ontario is being brought to its knees by policies that ignore common sense and the will of the people.
I think the windmills look kind of cool. They can put one in my backyard if they want. I guess I live in the 21st century, embrace new technology that is accepted worldwide by people with open minds, and that I’m not stuck in the 1950′s like the many people who have swarmed this topic and filed a lawsuit.
Bird chopping? ahahahahaha. How fast do you people think they spin? Do you expect they go at a speed similar to an electric fan? ahahahahaha.
I would say I would much rather have a nuclear power plant near me than a coal fired plant. I won’t talk about how much cleaner it is, that’s a given. But I will point out that you will receive a higher dose of radiation just by eating a single banana than you would receive while living within 50km of a modern nuclear power plant for a year. Matter of fact, you will receive a higher dose of radiation by living within 50km of a COAL Power plant for a year compared to a nuclear power plant.
And by the way. I’m over 40. But that doesn’t mean my mind closes up and rejects anything new. That’s what happened to my Dad, not me.
I am from the younger generation, and I have no problems living near a wind turbine. Older generations have completely messed up and destroyed so much of our ecosystems, but now when we try to fix it, everyone talks the talk but no one wants to walk the walk. If wind turbines bother you so much, how about stop complaining and coming up with another reliable green source of energy? How about solar energy? Oh right, I forgot WE have to pay for that and not everyone has an extra 30k sitting in their banks. Alright then how about a different location for these turbines? Oh right again, no matter where you put it someone will always complain… For once I would like to see someone just accept change and move on, or not accept change but come up with a good, alternative solution.
Vee has a point, change is certainly hard come by. Some folks like their yesteryear and the way things are. The problem here is not, do we build wind farms but where. Not near people would be a big start. Big wind corporations do not like to spend their own money, after all, they are in the business of making money. In order to do that you want to place the IWTs not only where there is wind but where most of the infrastructure is in place. So PEC has the existing roads and hydro transmission lines in place, (The property owner of PEC paid for that) IWT companies need only upgrading and that is cheaper than building an industrial wind farm on a windy area away from people. So the logic is sell governments on GE, let government neutralize the community by taking away it’s ability to decide if it wants IWTs. When a municipality has no say, it’s Democratic Rights have been neutralized and the next stage can take place. Make sure that all problems that may slow or prevent the project form fruition is removed. That said government in order to give projects the green light wave the rights of people, wildlife and habitat approving permits by holding ingenuous Meetings, Reviews, Environmental Assessments and Health Studies. Hired professionals give their scientific/qualified/professional opinions for handsome financial reward . . . why do you think it always ends in favour of the IWT corporations? The Show and Tell process, in order to appear as being concerned for the victims, is government requirement in order to appear official. You will note that at this stage the IWT companies lay down the REAL facts and therefore do not need any input from the proposed victims. Next stage, the government neutralized Environmental/Wildlife agencies give a Green Light to the Green Wind Project. And we have Wolfe Island. Remember it is always better to side with caution rather than diving head-long into an abyss one cannot climb out of. Damn the Torpedos, full speed ahead gets you in a fix like the Charge of the Light Brigade! The society of Tomorrow will reap the fruit of YOUR decision of Yes to All Green Energy government backed or No. The fact that IWTs married to Government have such great power is that they are able to Divide and Conquer We the People. Let us all stop the diatribe and get on with the discussion considering the realities that are inherent with the decision to be made.
Folks; if you want to know what is happening to our future, I suggest you read : By Stealth And Deception USA TRANSFORMATION and its parallel to the EUROPEAN UNION – AUTHOR: Orlean Koehle
you too, “dude”
It’s tragic that citizens must sue wind developers to protect and defend private property rights. My husband is a real estate Broker and has determined that a wind turbine would adversely impact property value. He asked a builder with whom he works if the builder would agree to a disclaimer, a wind turbine could be constructed nearby was the thrust of this disclaimer. The builder agreed to do this immediately because he summers in Falmouth, MA, and knows about abandoned homes, and inability to sell homes located near wind turbines, noise and health complaints, and staggering costs of the wind turbines, multi-millions, to the towns because they were partially shut-down due to complaints.
A potential buyer refused to get out of her car to view the same property, because she, too, is wind educated.
Wind energy is a scam that’s environmental and economically damaging.
In all the years I’ve commented on wind, 8, I’ve never been this certain that there are wind energy trolls in a forum. Without the facts to support their wares, they digress with the strategy to divide and conquer, just like the rent seeking wind developers.
I agree with Just a Dude…and Vee says it right too. The fact of the matter is that the industrial revolution, while brining many benefits to us as a whole, is now catching up to us. We have made this bed – we have to lie in it. For all those opposed to wind energy, there is never an alternative suggested. Nothing is benign – nothing. So all you anti’s – what is your solution? Right now, it is as if all the younger folk are looking at things and realizing that we have to make some changes and sacrifices – they accept that – the old folks whose selfish ways that have causes all of our problems in the first place, are now getting in the way of those of us who actually want to try to resolve the problem. Has anyone looked at their lawns lately this summer? Seen that Greenland has melted by over 90% in less than a week this summer? Massive species migration, depleting coral reefs and rain forests – this isn’t something out of an HG Wells novel folks – this is here, this is now. This is our future – thanks for all your help up until now, but frankly, the biggest help you can offer now is stop getting in our way of fixing your mess. And by the way, let’s ask it again? WHAT IS YOUR ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION? Don’t put all your eggs in the nuke basket either – Fukushima showed us the result of that….and hydro – great – in small doses – but as our water issues continue to grow, hydro will certainly continue to shrink….WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION?
It is funny I never heard all this complaining when Nuclear and coal plants were being built.
Do you have any idea how much noise and polution we get from those choices.
I think it is time for the armchair critics to wake up.
We have survived with wind mills for thousands of years.
Everyonje complains about noise
have you ever stood beside a motercycle, big diesel truck or train or near an airport. Windmills make less than 40 DB!
Most of the above are more than double 40 DB
If you are going to complain find something useful to complain about.
I have worked in coal plants and nuclear plants and they are indead disgusting.
Lets reduce the dirty coal and nuclear!
Robin Hughes
Over 50 and so in favour of windmills. Unless you are going to go off grid then just shut up about windmills. Would you rather live next door to a coal fired generator plant, a nuclear power plant or a windmill? Power comes from some place it does not magically appear at the outlet in the wall. Unless we are willing to put up with the source of it next door then you should not use it. So unplug and yes I am off grid with solar panels and a windmill!
Heh. I never realized there are wind power deniers. I learn something new every day.
I guess we better get Kramp, Norlock, Smith, and Milligan to talk to their buddies and see if they’ll invest in wind power. With those outstanding citizens on board, only THEN the deniers will see the benefits of it! Just look at all the jobs it creates! And the trickle down economics are actually happening!
Seriously now. I still can’t believe their are people who deny clean energy. I realize that in this case, however, it’s just a NIMBY issue. And people generally will say and do anything, fact or fiction, to protect their own backyard. So I understand.
Well said Over 50! How about it folks? Anyone else for going off the grid? Anyone? If not – and if you aren’t prepared to make deep changes in your energy habits, then speak now, or forever hold your peace.
And before anyone asks me – yes – I am also off the grid. We need more folks like Over 50 around. There are some good folks in PEC, trying to do good things. Let’s not get in their way….
What is the “Real Cost” of Hydro?
The CEO of General Electric came out last week and declared that Nuclear Power is uneconomical when compared to the powerful combination of Wind, Solar & Natural Gas.
Seeing that Dalton is planning to spend $40Billion to fix Darlington Nuclear starting in 2014 perhaps we need to think twice when someone says nuclear is cheap.
Is it right for neighbours to sue neighbours over proposed wind farms? I wish they had asked this question instead : Is it right for people to sue property owners who live miles away from proposed wind farms – in Toronto or wherever, and who signed leases with WPD Canada Corp knowing they would never be living there anyway? Is it right to sue property owners who will never have to worry about the consequences of living near industrial wind turbines because they live in Toronto and will never have to?
Four other cases have already been thrown out of Ontario’s courts for lack of evidence. Stop wasting court dollars! My taxes are paying for these wastes!
If you tell a potential buyer that you hate something that’s happening near your home (wind project or otherwise), then stats have shown that opportunist buyers will start underbidding to take advantage of disgruntled sellers. Studies are clearly showing that property values in Ontario go up after the wind project is done (especially if you signed a lease and have extra income), regardless of what happens during construction. Don’t sell during construction, and you’ll be fine. If you panic and tell the realtors that you want to sell because you hate wind or development or a new highway that’s coming or anything else, then be warned: opportunists will offer to buy your property while you’re upset about construction, and they’ll sell it again after the project is built and they’ll make a profit. If you stick it out and don’t panic, then you will not lose any value at all.
Barbara, I respect your views as educated by your husband the realtor, but have you ever read http://www.mi-group.ca/faq? This is a list of a lot of well researched and grounded answers to common complaints against wind energy. You suggest that wind is bad for the environment, but you don’t offer an explanation why. If you believe that to be true, then please justify your claim. Wind is surely better than coal or nuclear or natural gas, so why do you believe it to be bad for the environment? And wind is much cheaper than nuclear, and creates 12-14 times as many local jobs, so why do you believe it to be bad for the economy? I’ve been researching the energy industry a long time, and there are many people who complain about wind and solar but cannot produce facts to support their arguements. I have been a Conservative for a long time, but the PC white paper on energy is based on claims which directly contradict two papers published by the Ontario Energy Board in the same week, so I left the PC party after all their lies. They could have at least checked what the real stats were, but they didn’t. We the public are being deceived, but not by the wind or solar industry.
I’m 48 and in favour of using any and all forms of renewable energy to get us off coal and oil. I moved back to Canada in 2010 after spending 4 years in Germany, and my flat was right beside 12 turbines. It took a while to get used to them (I’m from northern Ontario and was used to seeing 5 kms of untouched forest out of my windows)….but they are truly beautiful, especially when compared to fossil/nuclear power plants. And until the people who are whining about wind are ready to downgrade to a 1000-sq-ft home with one small television, no dishwasher, 100% LED lights, minimum R2000 build, no cars, etc etc etc, then I’ll take their input into Ontario’s energy strategy. Otherwise, join the peasants in their sabots and join the Luddite Party. Actually….if they even offered FACTS and DATA to support their claims, I’d listen. For those who offer me “I know someone who knew someone that had a cousin that had a dog that suffered from insomnia and a ruptured spleen due to turbines”, I’ve got some cigarettes to sell you.
Dear Stu…
Industrial Wind Turbine blades spin at about 200+/- MPH at the tip. Birds get chopped. Wind developers hire ppl to pick up the chopped birds and bats so their kill numbers are lower. Birds see the blades, but most likely misjudge the speed of the blade above. JUST LIKE YOU.
someone is upset that their neighbour is getting a land lease payment to host a wind mill. It does not give them the right to try and seek compensation after the fact from that neighbour by suing.
I suspect those suing are the same ones saying “Government Backoff”.
Okay Zee. I stand corrected. I learned something else today. I based my comment on how lazily they seem to spin, whenever I happen to see them. I never thought about the sheer size of the blades and how fast they actually spin at the tip.
I’d like to point out however, in the interest of being complete and accurate, it’s 200 feet/second at the tip, which is about 130 MPH.
It still doesn’t change my opinion of wind power though. I fully support any technology that reduces the number of those damn seagulls and Mourning Doves.
There are several problems with wind power — the demand curve for Ontario peaks in the summer and mid-day. The province wide wind patterns peak in the winter, early and late in the day. SO the power is generated when it is not needed, but contractually it must be bought — so is sold at a deep loss elsewhere. Until someone develops a way to store this power and release it when it is needed, this pattern of loss will continue forever, growing as more turbines are added to the power surplus. So our power rates keep going up. And since wind can stop abruptly, OPG has made a huge investment in gas turbines that run all the time to backstop wind. Sure, wind per se generates no GHG but the turbines sure do — more than when we burnt coal.
SO nice idea but the reality cheque is definitely in the mail. And since the wind companies can ride roughshod over the locals and only need to lease a small amount of the total footprint they cover, this is land theft in the best colonial tradition.
If I wanted to put in a pig farm, there are rules that include the views of the adjacent property owners. But with wind, like with some of the posters comments, the views of others are at best irrelevant.
But the real tragedy, besides laying waste to world class bird areas, is that the money we are all forced to contribute is wasted. Most of the power that is created is sold at a loss because it simply cannot be used. Where is the sound governance in this?
Dear Zee, re. Your Dear Stu note….
Blade tip speed is irrelevant. Rotor rotation is 17 – 20 rpm – also irrelevant….but why did you not quote that? Avian mortality varies within a margin, based on actual mortality studies conducted wi regulator oversight of about 4 birds per turbine, per year, with some outliers on both ends. Operators of wind farms have spent millions both prior to and after construction, and work cooperatively with the MNR and other regulators to monitor and mitigate impacts. The fossil fuel industry isn’t even required to conduct such studies…the fact is, they can’t even wrap their heads around how to measure the mortality of birds caused by their industry, because there are so many sources of mortality, ranging from resource extraction, loss of habitat, emissions at all points of their life cycle, and the big one – climate change. The data for wind energy and avian mortality is widely published and transparent….USFWS, MNR and the very public avian mortality database administered through Bird Studies Canada. This industry continues to work with all levels of government to improve an already excellent record…why not at least stick to the facts when you make arguments? It is mind boggling the distortions that are getting thrown around….meanwhile, in the Athabasca river, far from your backyards, the government is finally listening to calls for Monitoring impacts to the water from tar sands….just monitoring….nothing more….just monitoring….get your heads out of the tar sands, and stop being so blind to the truth….just open your eyes people, and start thinking critically for yourselves, because the media will not do it for you!
Please refer to these as industrial wind turbines not wind mills. Huge difference !!
My, my, this is an emotional topic. There is so much misinformation posted here that it boggles the mind.
First, no one should not be able to sue anyone over what may, or may not happen in the future. Smells like US litigation practises to me.
Realtor based studies done in the Eastern US point to no long term impact on property values. A dip during construction and then a return to “normal” values.
If someone in Europe is having a hard time selling their home I would look to the dismal European economy first. No different then the current US housing market.
Virtually no study has found a direct correlation between wind turbines and “turbine syndrome”. However they almost unanimously point to stress induced factors based on how someone feels about them. There have been at least four epidemiological studies that I’m aware of, all point to emotionally driven stress factors, not the turbines themselves.
Stray voltage is a possible product of any electrical installation. Yes it can come from wind farms, but is not a result of the turbines themselves. One area farmer noted a stray current issue after installing a new phone line, no turbine involved.
Bird mortalities are grossly over exaggerated. According to recent studies mortalities average 2 birds per turbine per year. My bay window has killed more birds this year.
Nuclear sites do not use “a couple hundred acres”. The Bruce nuclear site is 2900 acres.
Wind turbines have not caused your energy bills to go up. The final cost of the Darlington nuclear site (1993) was $14.4 billion. And have a look at the $8 billion in retrofitting Bruce nuclear, with other sites in need of repairs also.
We have been paying off our nuclear debt (debt retirement charge) for almost a decade, and will continue to until 2015-2018. This debt was created long before turbines showed up.
Currently the two most offending coal plants in Ontario are running at half capacity, thanks in part to wind energy.
If you want a wider look at these issues visit http://rationalnrg.blogspot.ca/ all links are at the bottom.
On a final note, fracking is coming to Ontario shortly with Chatham/Kent being the test bed. If there was ever a technology that scared you, this should be it. Unfortunately everyone seems to be looking at wind instead. Makes you wonder.
My disclaimer, I do not, now have I ever been employed in the IWT industry.
If you’re truly “worried” about the birds than i guess you better stop driving your cars, or owning a cat, or putting windows in your house, or building sky risers because they kill far more birds than a turbine ever will. Birds aren’t stupid, they change their migration patterns.
I suppose we better stop driving on/ building roads and houses as they use cement too. Ridiculous.
As we know, more CO2 is building up in our atmosphere and guess what…it’s OUR fault. So it’s our job to fix it. If you were really concerned about the environment you would be looking into greener options.
It is so glaringly obvious to those of us who have studied the murky depths of the wind industry that so many of you are uneducated on the topic! My personal fav: “I would love to have a wind turbine in my backyard!” I wish you would investigate turbines as though that were to be the case! Maybe actually speak with someone who has one 550m from their family! The McGuinty government is brainwashing you! Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!
I’m just wondering how many people who have made comments on here are Actually Qualified to talk about the affects and hazards of windmills. People are continually saying that wind energy isn’t efficient or it’s hazardous to our health. What are you credentials and what exactly is harmful about them? Please somebody explain this to me!
Darb, Sometimes when things are so blatently obvious you don’t need to obtain an expert or someone with ‘credentials’ to see the truth. Just open your eyes and use your mind. These wind turbines are expensive and noisy. 40 db is only for one turbine at 500metres, not several thumping away with the accompaning beat frequencies at the audible level let alone the lower frequencies. Also, they are really expensive which can be seen by your hydro bill which is now in excess of 20cents per kilowatt hour. The most expensive Candu energy is making power at about 7 cents and this nets a tidy profit for the owners and the province. The Bruce complex paid for itself many years ago and also helped pay down the Darlington debt which was due mainly to delays caused by government interference and the high interest rates at the time. Solar electric is crazy too, to the point where anyone with a solar panel connected to the grid is really just a thief. As far as the wind turbine representative saying that only 4 birds a year are killed by wind turbines, well let’s think about that. Fly a model airplane back and forth between the blades and see how long it takes before it’s struck. Or try russian roulette. The odds aren’t very good. And that doesn’t include bat deaths which are very high since they don’t even need to contact the blades(their lungs collapse). Talk to a technician that works on those things and ask how many dead bats they find on each visit. Several, that’s how many. With wind, there is no upside. We should be saying to heck with gas and upgrading coal plants with scrubbers too. Let’s save this newly found cheap gas for heating homes 100 years from now, shall we? Or, let’s just use it up now compensating for wind and perfectly good coal plants with scrubbers (which are already paid for by the way). It won’t matter soon with no industry left to make power for since both you and I will be out of work and moving to another province.
If the landowners organized themselves and created a co-operative, then the developer would not be able to divide and conquer, they would be negotiating with all of the landowners as a group, whether they host a turbine or not. The beauty of a co-op is that member-owners each get one vote. A landowner who lives with the turbines but isn’t hosting one could still earn a profit, if it was negotiated. I bet this would cure the NIMBY and wind turbine syndrome pretty quickly — creating renewable energy and profiting from it at the same time.
Just A Dude is not obviously considering the infrastructure from a wind project. Everyone thinks that windmills are “green” but they forget about how that power gets to the grid. We are staring down a proposed wind project that would place a high powered line coming from turbines to the grid as close as 30′ from our house. We have 3 children under 5 living here. Do some reading on high powered lines and their effects on human health (especially small children). Some studies have shown a 300-400% increase risk of childhood lieukemia. Get educated-these things are not that much better than any other method of power generation (and obviously just as poorly thought out). Thinking they are green is naive! Let me know your contact info and I’ll pass it onto the wind proponent in our area-maybe you can get one erected right in your backyard? Maybe then you’ll think differently about the whole concept? I’m sure it won’t affect your property value too much and leave you lots of equity money for your estate to leave to your kids someday.