What is sadly lacking in the wind turbine debate is hard facts and figures – from both sides.

Clare Northern Argus
March 5, 2010
Opinion: David Clarke.

The opponents tell us that people can't sleep because of the noise. Can we have the names of some of these people so that this can be verified, and exactly how far are their homes from the nearest turbines? Opponents claim that land is devalued by being close to turbines; I have not been able to find any verifiable evidence for this – can they provide any?

From the other side, the wind farmers tell us that they generate lots of power, but, so far as I have been able to find out, not one is willing to regularly publish how much electricity each wind farm is generating month-by-month and year-by-year. There have been statements from opponents that a huge amount of water is used in wind farm construction; I have requested figures from two wind farm companies, but have received nothing.

I suggest that opponents drop the emotive statements (some bats are killed by wind turbines, therefore bats will become extinct and we will be inundated with mosquito-spread diseases) and put together a convincing and verifiable series of facts and figures to back their case against the wind farms; the ideal place for this would be on the Internet. And if the wind farmers want us to believe them, they should also provide us with the facts we need.

The Mount Bryan wind farm site seems particularly contentious. Perhaps a visit by all interested parties could be arranged so that everyone could see what native vegetation is going to be put at risk?

My email address is daveclarkecb@yahoo.com and phone number is 0400 256 125 if I can be of any assistance to either side in getting the facts known.