Originally Posted by limin
Windmills are a farce. They don’t supply consistent power. I own almost 100 acres in Groton. The natural beauty of the area was its attraction before the windmills started. Now, it's destroyed for our lifetime. My property abuts the Cockermouth State Forest, in which you can hike to Bald Knob and Mount Crosby and view the surrounding mountains and Newfound Lake. Now when you hike to the summit, you look at windmills on Fletcher and Tenney Ridge. Some of the windmills are located on land leased from Green Acres Land Company. Jane Difley, president of the Society For The Protection Of NH Forests worked on an easement funded through the state of NH and the Forest Society to secure 3.6 million dollars in federal funding to buy a conservation easement on land owned by Green Acres Woodlands, a private timberland owner. She took no stance on the issue of windmills when it was being fought, even though the Cockermouth State Forest is a Society property, which abuts the Green Acres land, and the windmills directly impact the Cockermouth view shed. William Wadsworth, who donated this beloved 1003 acres to the Forest Society, is rolling in his grave. She is fighting Northern Pass tooth and nail and lobbied to protect the view shed surrounding Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey. She has no problem with 24 - 398 foot wind turbines, but is fighting 130 to 185 foot electrical poles. The Newfound Audubon Center has a sanctuary located on the northern end of Newfound Lake in Hebron, within a short distance from these turbines. Propellers chop birds.
I attended the final state Site Plan Review Meeting for the project in Concord last spring. The review committee spent most of the meeting questioning their lawyer to cover their butts and quizzing if any repercussions could be thrown back at them for approving the project. The only condition the committee upheld was a bird mitigation study. Only one Selectmen from Groton attended and he showed up late.
Iberdrola Renewables LLC is a division of parent company Iberdrola, SA, Spain’s #1 energy group, which received several million dollars from our government to construct this wind farm. They prey on small towns, with simple-minded officials, with small budgets. Just ask the residents of Fairfield, NY where the same company built the wind farm known as Hardscrabble Wind Farm. Windmills are literally in resident's back yards and they experience shadow flicker through their windows and interference with electronic devices. Iberdrola refused to pay a cement company they hired in construction due to issues with product quality. In turn, the cement company placed liens on property owners in Fairfield leasing land to Iberdrola for the windmills. Now, their real estate is frozen and they can't sell it.
It's a win win for Iberdrola at the expense of quality of life for humans. Groton didn’t need the tax revenue. We have little infrastructure. The supposed 20,000 homes this will supply power to don't care where their power comes from. Wind power can't be stored, so it's unreliable. After the wind farm was approved by the state, Iberdrola brought up doubt if the power lines were adequate enough to handle the load. That is why the very large poles are now being installed on Tenney Mountain Highway, much to people’s surprise. Not only are they large and imposing, there are two for every old one. The company plays games and hid this fact during the approval process.
There is a history of windmills causing severe fires. The roads to maintain the windmills are accessed from the Plymouth side, not Groton, so the burden of fire danger falls on the town of Plymouth. The land is rugged in the surrounding area and the potential for a devastating forest fire exists. I am worried about my property because I am so close.
Probably the largest tragedy of all is the visibility of these eyesores from pristine Newfound Lake. And now, I’m reading they can be viewed from Rattlesnake Island. Don't think it can't happen in your backyard. Consider lobbying your town to adopt an ordinance against windmills.
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