October 12th, 2007
View As Web PageThis morning’s breakfast meeting was like old home week for me because I was with a number of Blair County employees and officials for the annual legislative breakfast. I met a lady from the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts and had heard an informative presentation from Judge Jolene Kopriva on prison overcrowding and Blair County’s drug court program. I made a trip up to Blue Knob today, in response to a constituent complaint to hear and see the new wind turbines located along the mountain top. I went to the home of the complainant then found the road to the wind turbines and went back to see them up close. Although I have been given a lot of information about these things, I was startled at their size. It was a windy day and the blades were really moving. The complaint we received was about how disruptive the noise was. I agree after going to the site myself that the noise is disturbing and certainly carried to the home of the people who contacted me. I was also surprised at the ground area needed to facilitate the turbines, which includes a wide road cut into the woods. There needs to be more discussion on the placement of these structures and their effect not only on the environment but on the people who live close by. I’m sure the property values of this immediate area have been negatively effected. This hour long excursion in the middle of my jammed up day was worth the time. Until you see this up close, you don’t understand the impact these turbines are having.
- John
This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 12th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
John,
Thank you for taking the time to go see these monstrosities for yourself. For all the more impact they have on the environment, we really should take a second look at whether or not we should be encouraging these things.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
John, thank you for realizing that the placement of structures of this magnitude have a gross impact well beyond private property rights.
October 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
This kind of concern for the environment - especially if it leads to action in Harrisburg - is why I voted for you, and will vote for you again, despite my generally liberal views. Thanks.
Great to see you blogging, too, by the way.
October 17th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Thanks so much for your efforts to investigate and write about your constituent’s concerns regarding noise emitted by industrial wind turbines. You may be interested to know that since 2003 the wind turbine noise issue has been researched and written about in Europe - see brief article in Living Knowledge Journal by Dr. Fritz van den Berg concerning complaints and research into noise from huge wind turbines in Germany (in: http://www.scienceshops.org/new%20web-content/content/documents/Journal/LK1-Nov03.pdf ). The wind industry would rather ignore or dismiss concerns about wind turbine noise, but it is a real and potentially health-impacting concern for those who are unfortunate enough to be living close to them - see: http://www.ninapierpont.com/?s=wind .
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 pm
John,
Thank you for taking the time to check out the wind turbines on Blue Knob. It is so disheartening seeing more and more of these go up in our Commonwealth. My heart sinks every time I look up at the mountain from I-99 or Logan Town Centre in Altoona and see them. Not only are these inefficient monsters a danger to the environment, to migrating birds and area wildlife, they are known to produce an unhealthy, stressful, annoying noise pollution, have a negative impact on property values, and are a great eyesore. Considering these negative factors alone, how has Gamesa got this far? Why isn’t Gamesa being stopped in their tracks and being required to dismantle every one of them? Why are our taxes being used via government grants and special funding to help build them? Pennsylvanians should be screaming! John, next time you travel west, take a quick trip on Route 30 from Bedford - you will be shocked at the sight you see in the Stoystown area. Harrisburg needs to wake up and put an end to this destruction now! Hopefully you are taking a stand to stop this atrocity! Thanks again! http://www.shaffermountain.com, http://www.windaction.org, http://www.wind-watch.org
October 24th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Senator,
Thank you for your visit to Blue Knob and your honest assessment of the impact of industrial wind turbines on Pa. citizens. There seems to have been little concern on the part of the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection. I wonder if Ms. McGinty has ever visited and whether she would prefer to live under one of these “farms”. Are there any records of what these “farms” are actually producing? The bottom line is that the citizens of Pa. need better protection from this development and that protection is not being supplied by the township supervisors. They are not equipped to deal with developers with deep pockets. There must absolutly be action on the state level for uniform siting regulations for these machines. Without it, the landscape of rural Pa. will be devastated and the quality of life for citizens in rural areas will be negatively affected. The loss of property value is undeniable. Please take a stand to stop this exploitation of rural Pa. Thanks.