May 24, 2010

There has been a lot of squawking about industrial wind turbines in Monterey Township. They've been called anything from "monstrous" by their detractors, to "majestic" by their proponents. After having been present for just about every argument made for or against these things, my impression is that those opposing these turbines seem a lot more credible than the ones telling us how good they are.

There aren't any people I've met that support industrial wind turbines coming to Monterey Township that don't already have or are in negotiations for contracts with the energy companies. All the opponents have just been concerned citizens that aren't in this for financial gain.

The proponents have made what seem to be a lot of misleading statements and even some that seem to me like outright lies. Some of the misleading stuff has been that these turbines compliment the landscape rather than detract from it, and that there are going to be all these jobs created by them. From what I've learned, the few jobs that will be created last for about six months during the turbine construction and then it only takes perhaps one person for maintenance after that. That sort of job creation doesn't impress me and to tout it as a reason to bring these to Monterey isn't very persuasive when you look beneath the surface of the rhetoric.

One clear falsity I heard came from a letter by Monterey Planning Commission member Karen Knobloch, who is in a contract with the energy company. She said that she had "no idea" who would qualify to get the turbines on their property, and ultimately this meant money from the energy companies for them. Depending on how this ordinance turns out, it is definitely calculable who will be able to fit these things on their property, and that is something she already knew. This leads me to believe that her saying she had "no idea" was an outright lie, made perhaps because the corrupted board members were already trying to cover their tracks. Another tough to believe statement, which was on News 8 recently, was the Township Supervisor Chris Reinart saying that he hadn't read his contract and didn't realize that it said he had to act as an agent for the wind company he had signed up with. Apparently he just did that on his own. I would think that after months of people bringing up this conflict of interest, recall procedures being initiated, and getting interviewed by News 8, Reinart would have read his approximately 30-page contract just to see what the fuss was about. I don't believe that he hasn't because he's been asked point blank about it in the past and given a clear answer that his contract didn't say that, which turned out to be untrue.

On the other side of the approximately 30 large land owners who stand to make millions, there are approximately 1,970 residents of Monterey who aren't in this for financial gain. Most of those people that I've talked to only want to see a safe ordinance that places the whole of Monterey Township in higher priority than the handful of people trying to get rich, potentially at the expense of everyone's health. Not only does their cause seem nobler, the facts they share seem a lot more accurate.

Nevin Cooper-Keel
Monterey Township

In Michigan, commercial wind companies are trying to move in quickly to lakeshore and rural communities, often catching them off guard and totally unaware of what they really are about. There is not enough time for the citizens in these targeted areas to become educated about wind turbines, or make knowledgeable decisions about whether they should support commercial wind or not. Wind ordinances may be poorly written or adopted hastily. Notification to the taxpayers by their townships and county boards are non-existent. Here in Monterey Township, our so called "Model Wind Ordinances" were developed by people who openly support and are funded by the wind industry. Obviously, these ordinances support commercial wind, and they do not support the people living close to, or in the community where these wind turbines will potentially be located.

We, the Citizens for Responsible Green Energy, are taking the position that we still have a township board that will represent the health, safety and welfare of ALL THE PEOPLE in our township, not just the few who will benefit by bribery payments from the wind developers. We also expect that our elected officials will be listening to the people who may not want turbines in our township. There are many taxpayers who do not want them. There are many health and safety issues that must be discussed. And so far, no discussions about these issues have taken place. All of the printed material and DVDs given to the board members has resulted in no board member contacting any of our members for any discussion or investigation of our health and safety concerns.

Citizens for Responsible Green Energy are putting what we believe in writing. We publish educational materials, we publish actual complaints of real people having major problems with their local governments ramming these developments into the communities with little or no oversight. We publish testimonials of people having health problems in every one of the wind turbine developments sited near housing world-wide. We have many links on our website here for even the township board members to see.

The commercial wind developers and the government are using public relation firms to present "Wind Turbines" to the public as something "GREEN". And if you just took a second to think about it, it's just BIG CORPORATE COMPANIES WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN "GREEN" IN THE PAST, COMING INTO YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY AND USING TV AND PRINT ADS, PAID FOR COLLEGE PROFFESSORS, AND YOUR UNINFORMED LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO SUPPORT A NONSENSICAL SCAM OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTIONS ON AND INTO OUR COMMUNITIES.

You will never see these people in person. They rely on your beliefs that it is the Green thing to do. It is the right thing to do for jobs. It is the right thing to do for the planet. It is the right thing to do to get off foreign oil. There are no side effects. This is all good.

Wake up people in Monterey. Wind turbines are not green, if so they would have a meter on the turbines to show IF they actually produce more ELECTRICITY than they use. NOT GREEN!

All the jobs are imported into the community, who do you know locally that can put up a 410 foot anything. NO JOBS.

About the planet. You live in Monterey, not on the entire planet, what China is doing is not of your immediate concern, just ask the township supervisor if he gives a thought to what China is doing. VOTE YOUR MONTEREY TOWNSHIP CONCERNS.

Getting off foreign oil. To those who say that, then I SAY: stop buying any gas or oil NOW as all our gas and oil is just pumped into big reservoir TANKS and mixed together. WE WILL NOT GET OFF FOREIGN OIL IN OUR OR YOUR CHILDREN'S LIFETIME. You do not produce or buy wholesale oil, someone else does. You just use it. Wind turbines will not get us off oil, they will get us looking at worthless wind turbines for 30 years that will make money for people who don't live in our back yard, and make our electricity rates triple.

There will many side effects from Wind Turbines coming into our township. They have been listed in our site and in the Wind Turbine Syndrome by Dr. Nina Pierpont. All you have to do is watch any video about neighbors of any of the wind development sites and see to what they have been subjected; from noise, health complaints, rude treatment from construction workers and from the developer as well. Just look at how much information we have received from our township so far. NOTHING! If the township says they got the Wind Outreach Team in here, they didn't, the American Wind Alliance did. Your favorite lobbyist group came to town. And you still have nothing in writing from them.

And if you think that massive industrial wind turbine development is all good, do some research, or have someone do it for you. You cannot stay ignorant when so much information is out there. The wind turbine people now are looking at Central and South America to foist their scams on next.

Are we being treated like we are a third world country?

Are we a third world country, now?

Fred Patrick
Citizens for Responsible Green Energy

My grandmother, Agnes lived in Monterey Township at the turn of the 20th century. Her favorite saying was, "a place for everything and everything in its place." What do you think she would say of the placement of gigantic wind turbines on the hillsides and in the fields of her beautiful Monterey? Given the fact that in today's society, wind energy is touted as a renewable resource that can cut carbon emissions would she say, "Go for it, it's progress and it is for the good of the country"? No, I don't believe that she would and here is why:
Corporations involved in installing wind turbines rely on public tax dollar subsidies. This means higher electric prices on the backs of homeowners. (Notice your next Consumers bill renewable energy surcharge)

My grandmother would ask, "if wind power is so wonderful, why does it need a government subsidy in the first place?"

Wind turbines do not produce affordable electricity because they only work when the wind blows. Their erratic behavior relies on coal and nuclear power plants to be on continuous notice to fire-up. This actually creates more carbon emissions.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook in 2006, wind power supplied just 0.4% of U.S. energy requirements. The study concludes that by 2030 wind power will supply no more than 1.2% of U.S. energy and only if the "current incentive and subsidies remain in place." This corresponds to billions more in taxes that are yet to be collected.

Grandma would question, if this is true, then why is our country moving in this direction?

The corporate lobbyists have spent billions of dollars courting the politicians. Money and greed and plenty of both. The campaign to woe the public has worked. Don't most of you envision turbines as an environmentally sound, "green" way of producing energy? The campaign that the wind turbines industry has waged has been extremely effective.

But, Grandma's concern for the installation of wind turbines would have gone well beyond the billions of wasted tax dollars. She would have concerns about the economic impact on the community. What would happen to the value of her family farm and all the other properties nearby? Oh, she knows what she has heard from the wind farm people...but the fact is, in other areas the land values have decreased significantly; by 37% or more.

Why such a decrease in land values? After all, many people think they look "cool" from a distance. But to the people who must live nearby (less than 1.25 miles) they are ugly, noisy structures that pose serious health and safety issues. The health issues caused from the noise or physical sensations of pulsation or pressure include: sleep disturbances, headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritability, problems concentrating and learning, depression and tinnitus.

The safety concerns include ice throws (chunks of ice that build up on blades and can be thrown several yards),oil leaks (the wind turbines need oil to circulate in their rotors), blade failure (pieces of blades thrown threw roofs and buildings), turbine fires and accidents from structural failure. There is also shadow flicker, which is caused when the blades turn during certain times of the year when the sun hits them at a certain angle. This can be very annoying as well as seizure inducing to those with certain forms of epilepsy.

Grandma would worry about all of the hunters in the area because the environment is impacted adversely also. It is well documented that thousands of birds are killed annually by turbine blades. The low frequency sound that is generated from turbines has detrimental effects on wild life and that could mean fewer deer in the area.

Grandma knows that the wind industry refers to these places where the turbines are placed as "farms", but she would say that she never has known of any "farm" that could do that much harm to their neighbors. Not even the pig farm next door nor the chicken farm two acres over.

All this would matter to grandma, but what she would really hate is how it has divided her Monterey. The landowners who have signed on to lease their land and make a small profit from the wind turbine companies versus the people who must live nearby and be forced to lose money and health because of it.

Grandma would know that the place for turbines, does not appear to be anywhere. But until the country's wind turbine bubble bursts, they are going to have to go somewhere. That being the case, leave them out of places where there are people. Unfortunately once they gain a foothold in Monterey they will be spreading to all of Allegan County and beyond. Let's not let them put turbines in our Great Lakes either to destroy our tourism industry and the aquatic life. Keep them in desolate areas where they have the least amount of negative impact.

This letter is dedicated to my grandmother and to everyone who has lived in or enjoyed the hills of Monterey or any place else where quiet beauty abounds.

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