ISSUES
Property Values:
- Potential huge loss in property values as a result of industrial wind turbines in the vicinity.
- Potentially unmarketable properties.
Health and Safety:
- Noise, shadows, and strobing effects from industrial wind turbines are common complaints that can lead to a wide variety of serious health problems.
- Concerns with stray voltage.
- Chatham-Kent’s draft zoning bylaws will allow huge turbines to be placed much too close to residences, public roadways and property lines which will threaten the community's safety.
Future Economic Development:
- The presence of industrial wind turbines will deter future tourism, and preclude lifestyle residential and commercial developments.
Impact on Wildlife:
- Migrating birds, bats, and Monarch butterflies are at risk from industrial wind turbines. One of the largest migratory pathways in North America flows through Chatham-Kent.
- The Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie shorelines, marshes and agricultural fields are designated as some of the largest, most important and “sensitive” bird and fowl areas in Ontario.
Green Energy?:
- Industrial wind turbines produce only 20% (approximately) of their rated capacity.
- No wind means no electricity produced. Conventional power plants are made less efficient because they must run on standby to accommodate the intermittent wind power. Carbon and pollution are still being emitted from the power plants in order to maintain a back-up for the wind turbines.
Overwhelming Size:
- The wind turbines planned for Chatham-Kent will be 40 stories tall (400 feet or 122 metres) and have blades that will sweep 1.5 acres (.6 hectare) of air space. There are no structures in our Municipality that are remotely this massive. The wind turbines will completely overshadow everything in our landscape and airspace.
- Future upgrades could increase the wind turbine height to 700 feet (213 metres).
- Aircraft warning lights installed on top of the huge structures will ensure their dominance on the Chatham-Kent viewscape, even at night.