To the Editor,
I have no clue who Mr. Russell is or where he was educated , but there are some errors in his
letter to the editor that need to be corrected.
Over 20 years ago, I attended a meeting in Cherry Valley about the prospect of a wind farm coming to the County, specifically in the Athol area. I went to offer my land, free, in support of wind energy, not knowing a landowner could actually get paid for such a worthwhile cause.
A decade later I was approached by a wind developer about my land being used to erect wind turbines for a potential wind farm. Of course I said yes. There was never a dollar amount mentioned, but I was informed that the land would be leased and a payment calculated for each participating landowner’s individual parcel of land depending on acreage and number of turbines, etc.
A final amount would eventually be calculated from the energy production generated by the functioning turbine. This, as we all know, never had the opportunity to happen.
The contract would have been for twenty years, not twenty-five as Mr. Russell states. The calculated yearly payment amount was considerably less than what I receive for renting my farmhouse out to tenants each year.
Certainly not enough to retire off of, and not a “lottery win” as Mr. Russell so accusingly declares.
I don’t recall ever seeing Mr. Russell at any of the many council meetings where I spoke to the mayor and councillors, but if he had been in attendance he would have heard me offer my entire windfarm payout, every last penny of it, to the County to be used for environmental protection purposes, tree planting, conservation and protection of our wetlands and green spaces. (I received no response to this offer.)
As far as driving an electric vehicle goes, since the letter mentions it, I ordered a Tesla Cyber Truck three years ago — still waiting for it though.
The letter asks what we, the wind supporters, are doing to help the climate crisis? I can’t speak for everyone. Myself? I have joined the 50-million-trees program and planted close to 4,500 trees on my farm; applied to the Farm Land Trust to protect my farm land from future developers; purchased 23 acres of woodland and coastal property to protect from developers in Cape Breton; had solar panels installed at the Milford farm; and sold my little house in the County and gave away half of my possessions. I moved to Nova Scotia and live in a trailer with no cell service, no hydro, no running water, no internet and no drama.
We can all criticize and point fingers, but it baffles me how a person who does not know me at all, and hasn’t a clue about how I live or how “rich” I am, can have so much anger because I support green clean wind energy anywhere, especially in the County on my own land.
Jen Ackerman
Livin’ the dream in Cape Breton
