To the Editor:

When I heard about the wind company coming to the area, I thought, “Awesome, that should help lower our taxes and help bring jobs to the area.” It didn’t take long for pros and cons to come up.

People said they would cause flicker from sunlight reflecting off the blades. Having adequate setbacks would solve that problem, but as folks who are prone to motion sickness or epilepsy can attest; having a constant flicker in your house for a few hours every day would be pure misery. The question is, how far is far enough.

Then I found out that the wind company wants a PILOT. When the hydro dams were put in they paid most of the towns taxes for many years. Every taxpayer benefitted. A PILOT given to the wind company would ensure it that all of us would live with the wind turbines, but only a few would benefit in any meaningful way.

Then I found out that in areas such as ours, wind turbines are very inefficient and often do not make enough electric in their lifetimes to even pay for themselves. A huge amount of taxpayer money goes to pay for them, money that goes to foreign companies, never to return. It’s starting to feel like not only are the wind turbines not “green,” they’re also un-American.

Then I also learned that due to the inconsistency of the wind, coal power plants have to be maintained and ready to operate when the wind doesn’t blow. Due to sitting idle much of the time they don’t produce enough electric to pay for themselves. Taxpayer subsidies and higher electric bills are needed to keep them going.

Most of our hydropower leaves this area. The problem is that our transmission lines are already maxed out even without having our hydro dams at full capacity. Every time the wind blows the hydro dams have to scale back to avoid over burdening the transmission lines. Wait, why are we even considering putting in “green” wind turbines if it means scaling back already existing forms of the most green power production we have?

What at first seemed to be a wonderful idea now seems like a huge foreign company milking our tax dollars and taking advantage of us in many ways. At best it’s a very poorly thought out idea and at worst it’s simply a legalized scam.

Emily Hall

Parishville