This letter is in response to a letter to the editor as of August 29th 2009 titled "Wind farm protesters should keep to themselves" by Laurie Karn of Chesley. Well Ms. Karn, I'm here to tell you and all of the surrounding counties I will not keep to myself as it is all too easy to condemn wind farm protesters when they are not in your own backyard.

To begin I'm all for green renewable energy but not when it harms the well being of people. So let's cut this green charade and get to the nitty-gritty.

Nextera Energy is the company proposing a six-turbine wind farm near Formosa, Paisley, Tara and Durham. The newly appointed Green Energy Act takes the planning decisions of such developments out of the hands of Bruce County council. This means we now have no say in the matter and it only gets worse.

Apart from the fact that wind energy is impractical and unreliable, the cost of creating these wind farms is also outrageous (ie. service roads, police escorts, labour, new substations and transmission lines). High demand is also placing too much strain on the mills. As a result, they often malfunction. None of this compares though to the story of Barbara Ashbee-Lormand and her husband Dennis Lormand of Shelburne, Ontario.

The couple lives in amongst the wind mill farm outside of Shelburne. The closest windmill to their property is 457 metres behind their house. This was to be their retirement home until the minister of environment gave the okay to put up a number of mills. Barbara's letter to the minister of environment can be read online and I have copied a portion for your reading pleasure:

"Come to my house Mr. Gerretson, stay here for at least a week, so you may experience the full array of noise and vibration level we have to live with. The sound changes with wind speed, blade direction and atmosphere. Ranging from a low hum/vibration to a never ceasing jet flying overhead. To sounding like the house is being dumped into a running washing machine. Try to function with minimal sleep, so disturbed you work in a mental fog. Please don't tell me the solution is to move either. No one is going to buy this house now."

Try telling Barbara Ashbee-Lormand that there is no proof of her allegations. Many of us in this area know that cattle are herding animals. They are always together. Drive out to the wind mill farms and watch the cattle run amuck, completely exhausted and no where near one another. If cattle are being affected, so will the surrounding wildlife too.

Where was the disclosure of these persistent problems by the energy company to the Lormands? Nowhere. Where will the disclosure of these problems be for the residents of Aaron-Elderslie by Nextera Energy? Instead of focussing on a sustainable future for our children, lets focus on being able to function day-to-day instead of living in a mental fog.