EDITOR:
For the past 20 years, I have divided my life between East Point, P.E.I. and a small, rural town in upstate New York. I am invested in both communities. I call both communities home.
Like many Americans, I was drawn to P.E.I. by the beauty of its land and sea. I am grateful for a community that respects and cares for its natural resources. I came, also, to escape the pipelines, fracking, power plants and wind turbines. My small rural community has seen its magnificent Hudson River polluted, mountain vistas marred, farm lands ravaged, wells polluted, wetlands and animal habitats destroyed.
And so I ask you: Is the proposed wind farm in the best interests of East Point? Does it only benefit P.E.I. Energy Corp., who stands to make a huge profit at the expense of our community? We are once again being asked to bear the impacts and costs for urban needs. A dozen wind farms in New York State have driven up the cost of electricity. They have yet to produce one per cent of the state demand. All we actually have is an industrial wasteland.
Wind turbine development can change drainage patterns, diminish water quality by silting up creeks, wetlands and even polluting wells - as evidenced in Ontario. Transmission lines fragment habitat and divert wildlife. Visual and noise impacts diminish property values setting off gains to the host town by decreasing property tax base. The character of the community changes.
The existing turbines are 125 metres tall. The proposed turbines are 175 metres tall. That’s around 60-storeys high! You are wrong if you think they will not dominate the landscape, which was once proposed as a national park.
My American government does not care that my farmland will be lost to monster transmission lines. I am hoping the Canadian government will listen to its people and learn from the mistakes made in the U.S. and Europe. I am hoping East Point will not be sacrificed in the name of Big Money.
Pamela Kline,
East Point
