I would like to respond to a letter published in the Picton Gazette on April 1, which was written by Mark Russell who was responding to a letter the previous week written by Elizabeth Dacombe.
The horrendous noise Elizabeth is relating to in her letter comes from turbine bases and turbine towers being smashed, ripped , hammered, crushed and dragged on sites 8 , 9 , and 10 of the cancelled White Pines Wind project.These sites are approximately five kilometres from the Dacombe residence, and even from that distance the noise is nerve wracking.
Mr. Russell lives in Wellington, so he has no idea what is going on in Milford. It’s unlikely he has ever taken the time to come and look at the wind farm when it was being built, or after the turbines were erected because if he had he would have known how long the project took to create.
This wind farm project was a decade in the making and there was certainly nothing “rushed ” during the long process. All rules and regulations were followed and respected by wpd, despite the relentless backlash and fighting from the dozen or so anti-wind activists. There was never anything done “”illegally”” by anyone in any way connected to the privately owned company.
Whether Mr. Russell was against the wpd project or not, the fact that tearing down a wind farm that was already constructed and ready to produce clean , green renewable energy before it produced a single kilowatt of power is idiotic , wasteful and an environmental disgrace. Not to mention the first time in history that this has ever happened.
The damage being done today, and for the next couple of years while this destruction continues is harming the land, air, wildlife, and the local neighbourhood with all the diesel pollution and noise pollution that begins each day at seven a.m. and continues until 7 p.m.
Since the environment is obviously of no concern to Mr. Russell despite the fact that we are experiencing the effects of climate change brought on by human impact, or that solar and wind energy are becoming the fastest growing and cheapest form of energy, and is being encouraged by countries around the world as we transition away from fossil fuels, then maybe it will bother him to know that this wind farm tear down has already cost him and his fellow Ontarians more than $141 Million.
That wasted money could have built a pretty nice hospital here in the County, or helped with dozens of other worthy causes. Everyone has a right to their own personal opinion on whether they support wind energy or not, but no one should have the right to support this wasteful and extensive damage to our shared environment being witnessed in Athol and South Marysburgh today.
Jen Ackerman
Athol