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Points out flaws of wind energy opposition theory

To the editor:

As I was going through the Sentinel, I happened across a letter to the editor directed at me for my response to a letter by a gentleman from Reedsville. Now, while it was a toss-up to respond to this letter or the religious gentleman who don’t like the idea of gay marriage because of a fairytale he believes in, I chose this letter. This letter was written by Mary Hayes.

First I would like to say that in my letter I was not calling Mr. Deibert a Republican as much as I was saying his views were of the Republican nature. Second, I am not a Rhodes scholar any more than I imagine you are. I don’t consider anyone inferior to me. I actually don’t think I’m the brightest crayon in the pack. I’m not sure what makes me sound like an elitist with no common sense because common sense does not involve jumping on the NIMBY bandwagon every time something you don’t want comes around.

Boy, I can’t get away from this bird nonsense. It is a fact that bats and birds are killed by wind turbines, I will give you that much. The point I was trying to make was that birds and bats are killed in much larger numbers by lots of other things in our world and the fact that you attach your need to protect these birds and bats from just wind turbines is ridiculous. I don’t want to add anything to the destruction of a species but we all are guilty of enjoying things that devastate their environments. I don’t see this same outrage from anyone in this area when we put up another cell tower or when we build another tall building or when we put another car on the road or when we destroy a forest to build a manufacturing plant. So the birds and bats that are killed by these things must be expendable.

I was wrong about the government subsidies not being applied to wind energy. Here is what I don’t understand though: big oil companies are being subsidized about the same as wind energy now. Even though these big oil and coal companies make billions of dollars and have been subsidized for a long time they still have not put any of that money into clean energy or carbon capture devices. I would rather see subsidies go to clean and renewable energy. Do you really think that we can continue to draw limitless fossil fuels from our planet? And wind energy will be an uphill battle for profitability, when everyone stands in the way of it and does nothing on the research and development side of the issue. Wind energy will get better as new technology is implemented. Contrary to the myths propagated by the conservative media, wind power is safe, increasingly affordable, and has the potential to significantly reduce pollution and U.S. reliance on fossil fuels.

I have tried to find a scientist that isn’t associated with oil and coal that has said our planet is cooling and guess what? I am having a hard time finding any that says anything remotely close to that. The vast majority of scientists know the earth is warming. Some of our brightest scientists work at NASA and even these fine men know that the Earth is warming rapidly since the Industrial Revolution. I would like to know who you are talking about when you say many scientists believe the planet is cooling. I’m sure you’ve done your research.

I know that most of you stand against these turbines because of how they look and how they will make your pretty mountains look ugly. You say in your letter you don’t see the need to tear down the top of a mountain. Did you know that mountainsides are more commonly destroyed for mining purposes? Coal and shale fracturing are the worst of the worst when it comes to mountainside devastation.

Contrary to what you believe Mary, I don’t try and sell myself as a environmentalist but more of a realist. I know realistically we cannot continue to push aside the fact that we need clean energy, and while building turbines on Jack’s Mountain isn’t a popular idea with some residents, the truth of the matter is that we need to grow as a nation and start thinking ahead. Will we take over as the clean energy innovators or continue to let other countries lead as we follow centuries later?

Jason Lynn Sr.

Burnham

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