Letter: Industrial wind farming will affect many

To the Editor:

Farmers have the right to harvest the wind that blows across their land and profit from it. No one is questioning their right to do so.

What is being questioned is the whether an industrial wind project is the correct way to harvest the wind in an area as densely populated as Goodhue County.

Industrial wind farming is not agriculture: it’s an industrial facility built surrounding the homes of citizens. It should only be done with the consent of all who could be affected. People who own small acreages and the farmers who don’t wish to see this done have rights too.

Everyone is in favor of saving the planet. But will industrial wind do anything but serve as a token attempt by large utilities to meet renewable energy standards? The actual service life of turbines might be as little as 12 years. It will take more than 15 years to offset the carbon emissions from construction.

When you learn that a project is coming to where you live, you will be concerned about the minimum setbacks that are only two times the total height of turbines. Chances are your neighbors may have been contacted already and promised lots of money.

Wind developers like to keep a low profile, why? Perhaps because when people look into it they are horrified at how big and how close these turbines are. Even one turbine close to your home could be a problem.

Wind developers plan to place hundreds of them all around the homes of non-participants.

Perhaps they won’t bother you. Perhaps after a while you won’t even notice they are there. Or perhaps you will not be able to live in your home any longer. Nothing is certain. That is why caution should be exercised.

The one thing that is certain is if you find out a wind farm is coming and decide you would rather move, you must disclose the fact that your property is under threat of industrial wind energy development to any potential buyers.

Why must you do this if industrial wind projects don’t, as wind energy developers claim, affect property values?

Rick Conrad

Goodhue

Tags: wind development, wind energy, opinion, letters, goodhue