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Wind farms dangerous for American eagles, says Potsdam man

Posted 2/27/14

To the Editor Back in the formative days of this republic, there was considerable debate about what would be our national symbol, with particular emphasis on the Great Seal of the United States. For …

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Wind farms dangerous for American eagles, says Potsdam man

Posted

To the Editor

Back in the formative days of this republic, there was considerable debate about what would be our national symbol, with particular emphasis on the Great Seal of the United States.

For instance, Benjamin Franklin reportedly wanted the wild turkey as part of the emblem; others wanted this or that; but they finally settled on the bald eagle with its fierce visage; wide wingspread; arrows in one claw to depict power, but in the other an olive branch to depict peace.

That symbol has remained to this day. When presidents speak, the Great Seal is on the front of the speaker’s rostrum. When any of us pick up a dollar bill and look on the reverse side, our American eagle is right there.

Over the past two hundred plus years, we have nurtured both that symbol and the eagle, which we even brought back from the brink of pesticide extinction. Now we have given “wind farm” developers permission to destroy them for the next 30 years if they get in the way of all those 260’ towers and their whirling blades. It is not exactly an even contest.

I often agree with the Obama Administration, but here I must draw the line. They have a terrible environmental record that has included the indiscriminate killing of wolves to curry favor with some western ranchers; and now they have ruled that we can also kill both our national emblem and its cousin, the golden eagle, all to please our corporate energy developers.

In addition, those abominable windmills scar vast acres of our beautiful countryside. Don’t believe it? Take a “field trip” on Rt.11 East to Malone and from there to Chateaugay, beyond which you will see scores of ugly windmills. Want to see that in the St. Lawrence Valley?

Stand by -it is on its way unless we stop it by public protest. If we fail, we are all guilty- the developers win, we lose, and it will be forever added to President Obama’s already poor record.

But back to Benjamin Franklin and his desire to make the turkey part of our national emblem. Not to fear, Ben, we seem to have many of them in the nation’s capitol today, and they roost at our expense in beautiful buildings at each end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Dick Hutchinson

Potsdam