Re: Addington Highlands Wind Project

Mar 25, 2015

Thank you for your extensive report (Addington Highlands Council, Mar 19/15) and commentary (What it is about Wind, Editorial, Mar 19/15) on the possible wind energy project in North Frontenac and Addington Highlands. It is very important to have a full and informed discussion of this possibility, and you are helping to make sure that happens.
I hope we will all consider the proposal context of our love for this area - this part of Creation - and the gifts it offers us as human inhabitants. One of those gifts is the wind.

For myself, I wouldn't mind seeing turbines in the distance, as long as they're placed well away from homes, cottages and businesses, and as long as the infrastructure involved - access roads and power lines - is properly regulated so as to minimize effects on wildlife and the environment.

We already have plenty of power lines and communications towers, much closer to us than the turbines would be. Those lines and towers aren't pretty, and they can definitely have health effects on people nearby, but we accept them as providing things we feel we need. And we sure need to shift from fossil fuels to energy conservation and renewables, as the drastic weather events of recent years have shown us.

This question involves all of us - year-round and seasonal residents, Algonquins and settlers, local and provincial governments, as well as the company making the proposal. I don't much trust big companies, but some of them can play a role in enabling us to shift off oil to more sustainable energy sources, and at the same time contributing money and local jobs. I hope all of us will stay open to learning more, and will work with our Township Councils to develop the best ways for us to participate in that necessary shift.

Helen Forsey