Don't allow turbines next to homes

I would like to update residents of the Town of Alabama and nearby homeowners on the proceedings at the Town Council meeting on April 13. A petition was presented to town Supervisor Guy Hinkson and the council. The petition contained almost 300 signatures of Alabama residents who oppose the siting of industrial wind turbines within the town of Alabama. It was noted that the majority of the signatures were from residents who live within the build area of Horizon's proposed industrial wind turbine area.

There were no significant discussions of the wind turbines at this meeting other than the warning lights for a MET tower were not working due to a failure of a solar powered lighting system.

Several residents spoke in opposition to the wind turbines. I offered the following comments along with recent photographs of flocks of Canada geese in the proposed turbine areas near Townline and Macomber Roads.

My comments to the council:

There is only one good reason to allow Horizon to ruin our town with wind turbines and that is money.

Green energy and saving the earth are all debatable. There are many good reasons not to allow turbines in the town. A recent letter by a Bliss, N.Y., resident proves that turbines do interfere with the new digital TV signals as far away as 3 miles. This means that residents, including Oakfield, may not get good TV reception due to the turbines. This is a major wildlife area. Thousands of geese are all over the area, not just in the swamps. Year after year they fill the skies that will soon be filled with turbines. There are health concerns from sound and flicker. There are concerns with loss of ground water, using contaminated slag. There are concerns with changing the plans without town approval. Turbine land owners are now getting liens on their property from bankrupt or bad wind companies. Property values will go down.

However, the safety of the residents living near all the turbines should be your No. 1 concern. There will be over 200 homes within 4,000 feet of the turbines. Some turbines may be 1,200 feet from the homes of non-consenting residents. There are about 20 road intersections within or near the project area. Some are quite heavily traveled, especially Townline, Ledge, and Route 77. Many homes on Townline Road will be surrounded by turbines, nine turbines within about a half mile. This is just plain stupid, careless, negligent.

The average number of homes per square mile in Alabama is 16. The number of homes around turbine T-56 alone will be 24 homes per square mile. Where are your brains?

Horizon's own documents state that there are dangers and risks with this project. Their liability will be covered, they made it known, although they do not advertise the dangers and risks. The advertising we get in the mail or papers says nothing of the dangers and risks involved. Horizon forms limited liability corporations for each wind farm to protect their parent company from lawsuits because they know there will be problems. If landowners and the town think they are protected from lawsuits, they are wrong.

A recent turbine collapse in New York state proves that even high-tech wind turbines can and do go out of control and self destruct. As the elected town council, you must terminate the project or insist on the removal of all turbines that are creating dangerous and unsafe conditions. You must put safety first. End of comments to the council.

Under section 1104 of the Town of Alabama Zoning Law concerning incentive zoning (the special deals made to avoid paying regular taxes) it states: "In order to approve an amenity/incentive proposal, the Town Board shall determine that the proposed amenity provides sufficient public benefit to provide the requested incentive. In no circumstances, however, shall the Town Board be compelled to approve any amenity/incentive proposal and it may deny any such proposal in its sole and absolute discretion. The Town Board may also impose such conditions upon its approval as it may deem appropriate to promote the health, safety and welfare of the community."

Forty-story industrial wind turbines with blades moving almost 200 mph do not belong close to groups of homes. Wind developments may be OK for Texas or remote hilltops but not in areas with so many homes.

I hope the Alabama Council members are wise enough to see the potential risk and dangers before it is too late.