Wind Turbine Letters to the Ed. (LFPress)

Wind Letter Misses the Point

In his letter, “Wind Trumps Nuclear”, Gideon Forman shows that he doesn’t understand the anger that has been directed against wind turbines in this province. None of the protest groups has ever claimed that wind power is worse for your health than coal or nuclear. But because wind is safer, Forman seems to think Ontarians should happily allow industries to put windmills wherever they wish, to let the provincial government continue to trample on individual and municipal rights, to ignore declining property values due to nearby windmills, and to ignore any possible link between windmills and repeated cases of ill health.

I find it apalling that an association of physicians is willing to allow the health risks that seem to follow windmills. Doctors in Ontario, the US and Europe have all recommended that windmills be set back far more than Ontario’s 550 meters. The French Academy of Medicine recommends 1500 meters, and some American doctors recommend 2000 meters or more. Given the correlation between windmills and stories of poor health, even if there is not yet a proven direct link, any group of physicians worthy of the name should at least be pushing for more than 550 meters between windmills and houses. It is unacceptable that the best the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment can do is to advocate that we let people suffer for the common good.

Adam Shirley, London
December 28, 2011

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Wind energy can kill you

In response to the letter by Gideon Forman, Wind trumps nuclear (Dec. 26): Forman mention’s “the new study,” but gives no indication of what the study is or who conducted it. He goes on to say: “Windmills produce no smog, no acid rain, no toxic ash, no radioactive waste, no cancer.”

I wonder if Forman has ever looked into how these structures are produced and from what they are produced, what their longevity is and what happens to them when they fail. His letter is about as far from accurate as one could get.

Many of Ontario’s residents are reporting health problems they claim are caused by wind-turbine syndrome, but letters such as Forman’s suggest they are all liars or possibly, it’s in their heads. There are way too many persons claiming ill effects by wind turbines, so dismissing them all is not credible.

Green energy? Hogwash.

The only thing green about wind-generated electricity is all the extra green each Ontarian has to pay for this “green energy.” Wind is notoriously unreliable, blowing when not needed and needed when not blowing – which means if the so-called non-green production is cut too much, we’ll not have the capacity needed to heat or cool our homes during severe periods of weather, resulting in the death of vulnerable people when the power fails.

Ian Tuck, Exeter
December 29, 2011