Excellent guest column in the Ithaca Journal today from Marguerite Wells:
http://ithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070924/OPINION02/709240315
Most Tompkins County residents have heard there is a proposed 10-turbine wind
farm in the Town of Enfield. The great majority of Tompkins County residents
and Enfield residents are in favor of it for many reasons, but do not turn up
at Enfield town meetings to speak their minds. There are a small handful of
Enfield residents who are opposed to the wind farm project, who turn up at
every town meeting to voice their opinions, and the rest of us, who are not
such squeaky wheels, are in danger of losing the opportunity to have a wind
farm because of our complacency.
The issue of concern at the moment is the wind ordinance the town is
discussing. This local ordinance would govern the placement of the towers, and
as such is an important piece of legislation to have in place to make the wind
farm go forward. However, there is one-line item in the proposed law that is
very problematic — it requires a 600-foot setback from any property line or
road. Such a setback may be important for physical infrastructure such as
houses, but property lines are invisible, and criss-cross the rural landscape
with no relation to residences or roads. There is no safety-related reason for
this property setback, and it effectively prohibits the wind farm from being
developed, because almost no landowner, even those with hundreds of acres, has
a parcel large enough and windy enough to allow a 600-foot setback from all
boundaries. The setback from roads is equally arbitrary; there is no safety
reason for this either. Many wind farms have
turbines near roads, with no problems. If the town intends to prevent the wind
development, then it should do so straightforwardly and because it is unwanted.
It should not backhandedly prevent it through setback restrictions. If,
instead, the town would like to reasonably regulate the wind development, as it
should, while allowing it to go forward, it should remove the property line and
road setbacks altogether, or minimize them to something like 50 feet so that
landowners with parcels of all sizes and shapes can equitably choose to allow a
turbine on their land if they want one. A turbine will pay a landowner several
thousand dollars a year in rent, and if only very large landowners can have
one, this regulation heavily favors them over those of more moderate means.
The Town of Enfield should welcome the proposed wind farm. It could send
much-needed revenue into the town coffers, to improve the school, roads, and
services, while reducing town taxes to residents.
It would put Enfield on the map, generating jobs, building a wind energy
education center, and being an example of community-owned energy generation for
the whole state. Opponents of the project seem primarily opposed to change in
principle.
They voice concern over declining property values, although studies show only
increased or steady values near wind farms. If they're honestly concerned about
birds, keep house cats inside and stop driving so much, cats and cars kill many
more birds than turbines. Health and safety concerns, both for humans and
wildlife, are hype, not based on fact. Modern turbines are very quiet, and do
not cause any health problems or disturbance to neighbors. Would densely
populated Europe allow thousands of them in their midst if they did?
Enfield town meetings happen on the second Wednesday of the month, and Oct. 10
is the next one, at 7 p.m. in the community building. Mark your calendars, and
be the squeaky wheel that helps move this project forward. Otherwise, Tompkins
County's best hope for green local energy will be squashed at the hands of the
only five citizens who are exercising democracy.
Letters of support can be sent to the Town of Enfield Board, Enfield Town Hall
168 Enfield Main Road, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
Marguerite Wells lives in Enfield.
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