Public needs to be educated on wind power

After reading Tom Jolliff's recent letter (Nov. 6), I couldn't help thinking how he is intoxicated with greed. Those impending payments from the wind developer are clouding his mind. Mr. Jolliff writes as though education on this subject is wrong.

Consider the analogy of cigarette smoking. When I started smoking 50 years ago, smoking was not considered much of a health issue. Most of my friends thought it was cool to smoke. Then, the U.S. surgeon general released a report warning that smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to your health. Most smokers, myself included, ignored the warning. We were enjoying our habit.

Research reports continued to be published that proclaimed the dangers of smoking. I finally quit smoking when a relative died of lung cancer. In spite of all of the warnings, the laws prohibiting smoking in public places, my brother continued to smoke. He recently died of lung cancer.

Would Mr. Jolliff call all of those warnings about cigarette smoking exaggeration, fear-mongering, misinformation, rhetoric, etc.? As we learn more and more about wind turbines, we are discovering warning signs. For example, there is the issue of noise pollution. Dr. Nina Pierpont has recently written a book about the impacts of noise on humans.

Does that mean everyone will be impacted the same way? Of course not. Just as not all cigarette smokers will develop lung cancer. This issue and others must be understood and mitigated for the benefit of all citizens of this community before the turbines are erected.

My biggest concern is the economics of this form of energy. Our politicians have stated that the state of New York should be producing 20 percent of our electricity by renewable energy sources. In order to accomplish this goal, it will be necessary to build thousands of turbines, all of which will be operating at 30 percent efficiency. Seventy percent of the time, they will be sitting idle. Is that rhetoric or is that fact, Mr. Jolliff?

All of these turbines will be subsidized by us taxpayers. These subsidies and profits will be flowing offshore to foreign companies. How is this any different than money flowing to petroleum-producing countries?

Of course, we are told of the necessity for all of these turbines by the same government he was so critical of in his letter. To quote him, "The picture is not unlike the Vietnam disaster and the illicit Iraq invasion." It is the taxpayers' responsibility to become educated on all aspects of this issue.

Tom Gormel

Cape Vincent