Letters to the Editor – 1/23/17

opinions

January 23, 2017 - 12:00 AM

Lately I have found myself giving little pep talks to the Canada geese I see making the winter rounds among local farm ponds. 
I have been looking at the stars. 
I have been taking photos of the sky surrounding our family’s farm near Moran. My daughters silhouetted against the horizon on the hill where my husband and I were married. Clouds bouncing above the home we built 20 years ago.  Storms rolling over trees we planted as saplings that now soar into the sky. Like the trees I am a transplant.  But I am well-rooted here now.  This is my home.
And I don’t want to live on a wind farm.
I understand the upside. An annual payment to the county, 12-15 jobs, trade during construction.  “We have plenty of wind,” a neighbor reminded me when EDP Renewables first contacted landowners in 2014 about building a wind farm in northeastern Allen County.  “We need money now and we will probably be dead by the time the windmills are built.” I took to heart early that lease payments were attractive to some landowners.  I respect that.
EDP  (the “P” stands for Portugal) touts widespread landowner support for its proposal.
However, EDP has secured leases for around 12,000 acres and seeks 20,000.  That means the owners of over one-third of the acreage sought have not signed after over two years of negotiations. Even if quiet, that is significant landowner opposition.
A wind farm dominates the land for miles around.  By all indications up to 100 turbines will tower 500 feet or higher.  Combine that with movement. Turbines create flicker and a strobe effect. They produce droning noise and have been said to cause homes to vibrate.  One hundred red lights blink at night.  Folks nearby complain of sleep disturbances, headaches, memory loss. 
Are Allen Countians ready for how that will look and feel?  How this will negatively re-brand our communities?
All of this could be overlooked if wind energy was our salvation. Check out online an editorial by Dane Hicks in the Aug. 4, 2015 issue of The Ottawa Herald discussing the wind farm at Waverly.  Hicks points out that, “Wind power only works when the wind blows.”  EDP hasn’t yet secured a utility buyer for the power. 
In addition, this is an era of cheap, plentiful natural gas.  I do not look forward to being shaken awake by earthquakes probably related to fracking, even as wind turbines wreck my enjoyment of my home.
I urge county officials to deny any request allowing the construction of wind turbines in Allen County. 
I understand the County’s fiscal challenges and the financial realities for landowners.  However, we as a county have something precious to lose.  I firmly believe that a wind farm would be so intrusive to our lives, indeed to our identity as a community, that it cannot possibly be a good long term proposition for Allen County.
Well-meaning people have told me to sacrifice for what they say is the greater good.  I take that to heart. I have been quiet this long. If we happen to visit about this issue, please don’t assure me that if a wind farm is built — if 100 500’ turbines dominate my sky, rumble on my summer nights, shake my home — that I’ll get used to it.
I will live with it if I must, but I will never get used to it.
Patti Miklos Boyd,
Moran, Kan.

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