...AND THEY COULD BLOW YOUR MIND!

         The remains of the windmill (left) allegedly destroyed by a tentacled UFO

Of all the negative effects for which the wind turbines are responsible, I just discovered one I hadn't even thought of.  It seems that they have the ability to make you stark raving mad.  I've come to this conclusion after reading some articles about a windmill in Conisholme UK.

This windmill has the dubious honour of being the first windmill (that we know of) destroyed by a UFO.  This out of this world event happened on Jan 4, 2009. A 20 metre blade mysteriously fell off a turbine at Conisholme wind farm.  Not only did the one blade fall off, but another was badly damaged.  The residents of Conisholme claim that they saw strange flashing tentacle shaped lights above the wind farm the night it happened.

One gentleman recalls looking out the his window and seeing a massive ball of light with tentacles going right down to the ground over the wind farm. He thought it strange, but mistook it for a hole where the moon was shining through, that is, until he saw the tentacles. "It looked just like an octopus", he said.

Perhaps people who live in Conisholme are used to this sort of thing, but I have a few reservations about the whole thing.  First of all, if I looked outside and saw giant tentacles coming out of the sky, I'd be hightailing my ass out of there.  Secondly, if something like this happened to a windmill in our area, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing, but I wouldn't be telling reporters that I thought it was a UFO. When you say stuff like that, people start to think you're nuts. But since the windmill loving people of Conisholme don't seem to be worried about this, I think it's a done deal.  Living in the proximity of windmills makes you nuts.  Stark raving mad.

A QUICK UPDATE

Just a quick addendum to the previous entry...It is Thursday January 29, 1:08 p.m. The 12:00 boat has just left the island. YYYYAAAAAARRRRR!

WIND PIRATES YAAARRRR!!

Wolfe Islander III, the lifeline to residents of the island

    

I guess I never really believed they would appear, let alone stay.  Yet each day there are more. No longer can people pretend to ignore them; no longer can people who live across the river in Kingston fool themselves into thinking they won't be affected by them; no longer can local politicians and businesses involved in 'greed energy' pretend they won't scar the fabric of the environment.  The wind turbines, about 30 so far--slightly more than one third of the total, are commanding the horizon of our small island.

As the turbines increase, so does the arrogance of those in charge.  They know they've won this battle, and they are no longer kowtowing and bending over backwards to appease the fears of the residents who were never comfortable with the project.  They are changing the very fiber of the community, and doing it in ways never thought imaginable.

For example, our lifeline to the mainland is a 55 car ferry, The Wolfe Islander III.  She takes us to work each morning and brings us back safely at night.  The boat is sometimes the only constant in the lives of islanders, getting us to work, to school, to appointments on time.  Throughout the ice storm in 1998, the ferry never missed a trip, even though we had no electricity for a week. The boat carries the ambulance over to Kingston when islanders are in need of emergency treatment--cancer patients, accident victims, newborn babies.  The Wolfe Island Ferry is our link to the outside world.  

Each winter, when the lake freezes over, the ferry goes to an alternate dock, three miles outside the village of Marysville.  It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but it is reliable.  This year, the winter dock is being used by CREC, the company that is in charge of the turbine project.  There is a bubble system going from Kingston to the winter dock to keep the channel open until the spring thaw.  Since it has been a cold winter this year, we normally would be utilizing the alternate dock, but no.  CREC has made a deal with the devil, or maybe the town council, to continue to use the winter dock, while our ferry continues to crash through the ice without the aid of a bubble system.  With the exuberance of Micky Rooney declaring that he's putting on a show, CREC hollered, "We'll pay for it!"

CREC has magnanimously promised us the use of a tug boat to help clear the ice, but the only time I have seen this tug was when it was accompanying the CREC barge.  Our boat bangs and crashes and tears through the ever thickening ice, and you know that can't be good.  CREC has managed somehow to take over our boat and hold it hostage.  Each morning, the boat arrives later and later.  Residents, tax-paying residents of course, are arriving later and later at their jobs.  Why are we putting up with this?  Why don't people stand up and say "Enough is enough".  Are people so naive (out of politeness I won't use the term I really want)  that they don't know when they are are being used? Give us back our boat, our island, our lives.

CREC likes to be called C-REC.  Sea Wreck.  Now I know why.

Cap'n Mike of the Sea Wreck. Yaaaarrr!

WHAT TO EXPECT

Congratulations!  Your community has been chosen to be the recipient of a vast number of wind turbines!  What can you expect to happen?

Number one.  Don't expect to have any say in the matter if you are not on the side of those who want to turn your community into an industrial electricity-producing wind farm.  The people who want the turbines will collect free money for renting their property to the turbine  company, in our case CREC or Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation.  If you protest too much, you may be arrested or you may merely get a cease and desist order.  Don't use the environment as an excuse, dead wildlife is considered collateral damage.

Number two. Divide and conquer.  It's a war tactic that has worked for centuries and still does. Your neighbourhood will split like an overcooked frankfurter. Families will turn against one another, friends will be at each others throats.  The turbine company loves when this happens.

Number Three.  You will be lied to.  They will hire sweet talkers who will tell you what you want to hear, but when it comes right down to it, they will do as they please.

Number Four.  You will not be able to get gravel for your home improvement projects.  Entities like gravel will be contracted out to the turbine company and no one else will be able to access certain raw materials.

Number Five.  Your town will be inundated with workers.  Your town will be like Times Square on New Year's Eve, and people will benefit from this. These people will need somewhere to stay. People with restaurants, bed and breakfasts, rooms to rent, empty cottages, trailers, will all think they have died and gone to heaven.  

Number Six. These people will be driving large equipment.  Very large equipment that will tear up your roads, stir up dust and dirt, and create potholes the size of a 1951 Mercury.  

Number Seven.  They will fix your roads.  Someday.  Not today, not tomorrow, but when ever this expensive, gigantic project is finished.  Whenever that will be.

Number Eight.  You will lose some of your friends because they will move.Oh sure, you say you'll keep in touch but you won't.  But maybe your friend was wise to get out when s/he did, because what are your property values going to be like when this is all over?

Number Nine.  The Oops factor.  Oops, we accidently spilled a whole bunch of diesel in your water.  Ooops, we didn't mean to cut down quite so many trees.  Oops, we didn't mean to (fill in the blank).  Because there's a lot of Oops factors that you'll never find out.  Isn't Oops a great word!

Number Ten. Don't expect to get a deal on your electricity bill.  If your council is as bright and foresightful as ours is, you will get nothing personally out of the deal.  Sure there will be tax money, but they'll use that on the roads, and sure the landowners will make out like bandits, but they'll all be wintering in Florida.  Never mind that you are doomed to forever look at gigantic turbines every time you look out the window, or that you went through two sets of tires because of the massive pot holes you are forced to drive through every day.  You will still pay premium prices for electricity unless someone makes a deal to keep one of the windmills for the exclusive use of your community.

Once again, congratulations.  Now that you know a few things to expect, (there are many many others) you can make the right choice--do I pack up the family and go now while the going is good, or do I wait and see the community I once loved turned into an electrical plant.

21 AND COUNTING

As of today, there are 21 windmills on Wolfe Island--a mere 65 to go.  They are interesting creatures, they standout in the sunshine as light bounces off the blades, but on a cloudy day, they disappear into the mist, appearing invisible to those who do not know they are there.  Because I go to work when it is still dark and return home in the dark, I have not had to look at them.

But a few days ago, I was returning home in the daylight, and forced myself to look towards the windfarm.  Twenty-one turbines overpowering the horizon, I was a bit overwhelmed.  And yet none of the other commuters mentioned them.  It was like looking at someone's dirty laundry--we all know it's there, but it's to embarassing to talk about. No one commented or even acknowledged the existence of these behemoths. They glanced at them, then looked away.  

There are many who stand up for the building of the windfarm. The mayor of Frontenac Islands is one of them.  He wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper stating that almost everyone is on board with the project,  discounting anyone who has an opinion to the contrary.  It shows how out of  touch he is with his constituents, he does not mingle with those who disagree with him. Hopefully this arrogance will prevent him from becoming mayor for another term. I know I won't vote for him! 

But no matter who is mayor or who isn't mayor, and no matter who is on the side of green energy and who is on the side of greed energy, the fact remains that the windmills are here to stay, at least for the next twenty years according to the binding legal contract. How are the two sides going to reconcile their differences?  Will neighbours ever again acknowledge one another?  Will the feelings of anger and hatred ever go away?  

Many of us are concerned about our health, our property values, and the survival of the island as a community and not just an industrial park.  But unfortunately, no one can predict the future.  We will continue to stick up for our beliefs, and question those who think they can take advantage of those less gifted than themselves.  And remember, those who do not standup for their convictions, have no convictions.

DIRTY UNDERHANDED TACTICS WIN THE WAR

I was very distressed the other night after our windmill meeting.  Unlike the other liaison meetings of past months. it seemed that there was an inordinate number of windmill supporters in the  house.  "How can that be", I thought to myself, "when I know some of them are too lazy to leave their homes".  My first clue was seeing the chairs stacked in neat rows as if someone was expecting a crowd.  Previously we grabbed our own chairs and set them about in random order.  And on prior occasions, I was one of the first people there, and this time, the hall was almost full even though there was twenty minutes to go until the meeting started.  It was as if they were giving away free beer.

When instead of the concerns that we usually deal with, people started giving props to the corporation that started it all, and I knew something was amiss when they all started clapping their hands for the turbine that was erected that day.

Today, I discovered that the secretary or glorified secretary that works for CREC, took it upon herself, and, company slave that she is, phoned as many supporters of the turbine construction project that she could before breaking a nail.  I guess I consider that stacking that deck. 

What it has probably done, is to alienate even more people on the island and further the toxicity of the social environment.  Way to go Trudy!

#19

It's up.  Number 19, the first in a series of 86 turbines on Wolfe Island was erected today.  It is 16 days behind schedule, thanks to the winds we've had in the past two weeks--the winds that I pray for each night just to screw up the project.  

The towering monolith is between 5th and 4th Line Road, and although it isn't as close to the road as it could be, it still towers above all.  And for those with an interest in all things mechanical, it is rather fascinating, but for those with concerns about health and the environment, it represents much, much more.  I am curious to investigate the health issues of islanders before, during and after the construction.  Certainly the construction process has taken its toll on the health of those closest to the current sites.  I wonder if people whose eyes have been burning lately realize it is probably because of aggregate dust.  Or those who have a persistent cough or lung congestion; have they linked it to the air they breathe or do they mistakenly believe it is a lingering fall cold?

In our small community, many people are afraid to admit they have concerns about the turbines, afraid it will cause social problems with their friends and neighbors.  They are afraid of creating "Toxic Neighbors".  So they keep quiet, they put up, and they don't attend or speak out at meetings where they might be in the minority.  They let others take the brunt of being troublemakers and radicals, or people who just want to cause trouble.  It's frustrating, and I've been to such a meeting tonight.

It has made me realize that so many people are uneducated, ignorant, close-minded, and just plain mean.  They fail to see, or are unable to see the big picture, thinking only of themselves and the $7,500 per year they will receive for prostituting their land.  I have lost a lot of respect for some of my fellow islanders tonight, and I bloody well despise some of the other ones.  Do they feel the same way about me?  Maybe, but I don't care, because that's how toxic neighborhoods work.

There is a Toyota commercial that sums up the way I feel about the environment, and frankly I don't understand why others are unable to see it this way too:

"The best way to have an impact on the environment is to have no impact at all".