Letter to the editor: Wind turbines – the other side?

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Since last November when those who are against the building of two wind turbines in the south end of Prospect stood in front of the Prospect Town Hall and asked drivers who were passing by to “honk against the turbines”, I have been following this situation closely.

My home is located on New Haven Road (Route 69) between Radio Tower Road and Cook Road. Will we be effected by the wind turbines? I am finding it hard to get a good answer to that question.

If one believes everything one hears from those who are against this project, then it sounds like the Town of Prospect will be forever damaged by letting BNE build the turbines anywhere near anyone.

Here are quotes from the last issue of the Citizen’s News.

(Town Council Chairman Tom Galvin) “Galvin said he visited several wind turbine sites. Some, like the one in Falmouth, Mass., were quite loud, while others, like one In Templeton, Mass., were essentially silent, he said. The latter was located in a school yard. “I can’t imagine that anyone would put one in a school yard unless they were somehow convinced they were safe, Galvin said.

(Mayor Robert Chatfield) About 50 people attended the Town Council Meeting including three representatives from BNE, according to Chatfield. Most of the people he’s heard from who support the turbines don’t live near the proposed site, he said. “It’s a neighborhood issue,” Chatfield said.

That brings to mind two of the most over used acronyms. NIMBY or Not In My Back yard and BANANA or Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody.

Recently, I sent an email to the “noiseyprospect” mail link which is attached to the SOSPROSPECT web site. I asked a lot of questions, but so far no one from the site has answered me.

In my email, I compared the side effects of the wind turbines to living on New Haven Road. The turbines are said to be loud (although according to Mr. Galvin not in the town of Templeton, MA where the turbine is located in a school yard) and so I compared that to just living with the traffic noise on Route 69 which can be so loud that we can’t even talk to each other in our front yard because the noise drowns out normal speech.

I wanted to know if those who are concerned with the noise of the turbines at night even have their windows open at night in the spring and summer months? Do these people have central air or even window units which will be running all night (using electricity that the turbines would produce) and not even hear the noise that some (and now according to Mr. Galvin not all) of the turbines are said to produce?

The turbines are said to throw ice and snow. The ST of CT DOT trucks race up and down Route 69 every winter throwing snow, ice and sand and not just at a few houses but at every house on the road. No one is safe from the DOT trucks, but do residents complain and ask that the State of Ct stop plowing the roads?

Residents are worried about injury from the turbines to wild life and to people. New Haven Road traffic kills a lot of wild life every year and also New Haven Road traffic has taken the lives of many people as well. In April of 2007 fourteen year old Matthew Kenney was killed by a driver who was going too fast and who was trying to pass too many cars on a typical foggy Prospect spring evening. Matthew fell off the hood of the car that David Weaving was driving and landed right at the end of my driveway. My neighbors and I stood helpless waiting for the ambulance to arrive. As most everyone knows, the EMTs couldn’t help and Matthew died. Will the wind turbines cause that kind of tragedy or emotional scaring?

New Haven Road is accepted as a necessary “evil”. We need the road and so while we might be upset by the effects of using it, we would never think of petitioning the State of Connecticut to close it. But the only income that the road generates comes from the speeding tickets given out by local and State Police and the only other profit from having this noisy and sometimes deadly asphalt snake in our midst goes to Buckmiller Brothers and other area funeral homes. Isn’t it true that the wind turbines will generate not only electric power but also beneficial tax revenue?

Right now I can’t decide if these turbines are good for Prospect or bad for the people who live close to them. I do know that Mayor Chatfield is right about this being a neighborhood issue and anyone can see that because there are plenty of signs on New Haven Road put up by those who are against the turbines but I have only seen one sign on Scott Road and no signs on any of the other roads in Prospect on which I regularly travel. The farther one gets from the proposed site, the less interest there seems to be in the matter.

My family are among those who live close to the proposed site. However, I know that when new things threaten to change the way we live, people panic. People are scared of what they don’t understand.

The huge pylons that carry our electrical power march endlessly through gashes in our forests. Thousands of trees have been cut over the past 100 years for electric companies to build these behemoths that carry power to our homes and businesses. We are so used to these metal monsters walking through our lands and crossing our property that we no longer ever notice them on a daily basis. We also don’t notice telephone poles or radio towers or microwave towers, but I would bet that, when these huge eyesores were first added to the landscape, they caused as much controversy as the wind turbines are causing today.

In an age where everyone is worried about the future and everyone is concerned about the “greening” of our communities and our country, how can a few maneuver to stop the progress that is beneficial to so many just because they don’t want to see the machines of that progress built in their back yard? It is my back yard, too, and I am still waiting for some good answers.

Patricia Smith Zappone
Prospect

1 COMMENT

  1. Patricia I would be honored to give you reasons to find this wind turbine issue a joke.I have been writing into this blog for some time now. Had you followed from day one you would of seen my challenge to those actualy involved. You would have seen the “lack of” an answer back. I am not against wind turbines per say. I am against stupidity with my money or yours or anyone else’s for that matter. They are using state and or federal money for this project correct? Patricia “Save Prospect” “Noisy Prospect” whatever to me isn’t answering the real questions. They are playing “nice and safe” ball with what I feel are fake baby kissing politicians who carefully look closely at the “political” atmosphere before a position is taken. I could go on for an hour how I felt Tim trying to explain Vicki Nardello’s warning of the “tone” and she was “concerned” about the protestors “mood”. I don’t have time for politicians lets get to the facts Patricia. We should ask those things that BNE doesn’t want you to ask (If you look back Pat you will find I never got a response back) #1 what is the proposed cost per killowatt? #2 Put in writing the tax revenue of a peice of “industrial equipment” that actualy can be so written down from lost revenue from lack of real power generation that the town would look like fools to count on any “real tangable” money from such a project that the American people are paying for.The unit will drop in assesment quickly just like your car Pat just like your car!After 4 years aint so bad eh? What do you think that these things are going be worth 8 years from now as they are being written down for loss generation time? Do to no wind many times? #3 What catergory is the wind they have so studied and make them post this in the center of town and have them explain the results and capabilitys with the catergory we actualy have here. I am quite sure its no where near a catergory 4!! These units many many times in summer and winter will sit there idol while taxpayers from here to California pay to subsidize these jokes of green groups in this country! Have them explain why even the “Deepwater project” has posted a doubling of the killowatt costs to generate power with wind.Thats right 18.7 I beleive was the cost! Pat would you like to next month please pay DOUBLE to CL&P that makes complete sence eh? # 4 if these infact do turn out as feared what will we do to sudden loss in tax revenue do to homes loss in value. (Pat for the record if my house drops 154k I’ll stop paying my taxes I can asuure you of that fact!)Force something down my throught watch how fast I get my neighbors on board and 50 homes hold there money to the town. Patricia I wouldn’t even have to hire a lawyer just sit in solidarity with 50-60 other home owners and watch how fast Prospect will be on the news! That alone could rack up an imeadiate town bond rating loss effect our co-payments into the school budgets etc. And Patricia I wouldn’t have to spend a dime! Just sit and watch the fallout around me! If we get railroaded on this I have a million things were going to do.Tim plays nice…I don’t. We have posibilitys in other energy generation units but they went for the cheap quick build with the fast track option. Patricia they are loud and sound travels farther at night when the air molecules are tightly banded together so I don’t even agree with the group on the distance of these things I feel they backed off and got soft on BNE. I can hear the train horn in Naugatuck going by Big Y at night so how are we going to avoid these things with a 75 plus decibel rating?!