Won't live under Berkshire turbines
Bershire Eagle|Michael Deliso, Hull (MA)|June 27, 2006
These pristine rural regions are sacred, irreplaceable, and vital to our cultural identity as New Englanders. Do not let them be destroyed, using our tax dollars, for another's short-term profit.
These pristine rural regions are sacred, irreplaceable, and vital to our cultural identity as New Englanders. Do not let them be destroyed, using our tax dollars, for another's short-term profit.
I may be the first of many people to cross the northwest Berkshires off the list of places to relocate to or visit. Why? I've already experienced the reality of living beneath an industrial wind development, and I hope I never have to again.
My desire to move to the Berkshires, a pastoral region that has long been celebrated as an example of preserved natural beauty, was in no small part precipitated by the construction of a 400-foot-tall wind turbine near my home in Hull, Mass. After living in the midst of rampant residential over-development beneath the flight path of Logan Airport, I concluded that I don't want to live beneath a noisy industrial development too. And, as is common with wind developments, once one turbine went up, …
I may be the first of many people to cross the northwest Berkshires off the list of places to relocate to or visit. Why? I've already experienced the reality of living beneath an industrial wind development, and I hope I never have to again.
My desire to move to the Berkshires, a pastoral region that has long been celebrated as an example of preserved natural beauty, was in no small part precipitated by the construction of a 400-foot-tall wind turbine near my home in Hull, Mass. After living in the midst of rampant residential over-development beneath the flight path of Logan Airport, I concluded that I don't want to live beneath a noisy industrial development too. And, as is common with wind developments, once one turbine went up, another went up also. Now the town is moving forward with plans for several more of these mammoth structures along the gorgeous, ecologically-sensitive shoreline.
Enough is enough, I decided; time to move the family to the northwest Berkshires where we can enjoy the sanctity of nature undisturbed. The plans were set, the houses to visit were picked. We were ready to move.
Needless to say, I was shocked and disappointed to learn of the developments planned for Williamstown, Hancock, Florida, and Savoy. But when I researched the economic and environmental realities of wind developments, I was disgusted. I've spoken with people on both sides of the issue, including environmental experts at an Ivy League university, to see if I was being naive. The experts confirmed what I suspected: the benefits of wind developments are outweighed by their impact. If once cares about the environment, they told me, conservation is the only answer.
Having lived in the shadow of a wind turbine, I can safely say, the impact on residents' lives will be significantly negative. Beyond the obvious (noise, flicker, flashing lights, dead birds, clear-cut ridgelines), wind developments will be a detriment to the economic development of the region. How many more people like me — and far wealthier than me — will decide that they'd rather not spend their money to be surrounded by a sharp-bladed forest of steel towers? Who will buy homes when rusting, noisy power generators tower over them? Who will take a vacation to see more examples of reckless development?
These pristine rural regions are sacred, irreplaceable, and vital to our cultural identity as New Englanders. Do not let them be destroyed, using our tax dollars, for another's short-term profit.