Impact of windmills not about safety

Editor:

Once again the knives are drawn over wind turbines in our backyard. As reported, the closest turbine is proposed at 3.1 km from the Collingwood Airport flight path. Out of curiosity, I checked the distance between the CN Tower and the island airport, which has the airline industry in knots over cancelling expansion for jet traffic. As it turns out, the tower is about one kilometre from the flight approach path and is over twice the height. A wall of condos along the harbour is even closer.

It doesn’t take much of a stretch to conclude that the impact of the proposed WPD wind turbines on the success of the airline business park has little to do with safety. Perhaps a sense of owning the view or the unwelcome reception of Liberal green policies in the Simcoe-Grey stronghold might be more accurate.

It might be time to pick up a newspaper and catch up on climate change and the range of technologies available to help. Wind turbines are just one, and yes they are all more expensive, but pretending that we needn’t do everything possible isn’t an option. Coincidentally, an energy storage system of compressed air in Lake Ontario by the airport is showing promise for when the wind isn’t blowing.  As for their visual impact, I for one think they are iconic and elegant. In time they might even be a symbol that this community contributes to the solution.

Save your airport business park consulting dollars Clearview, we all realize that the message in that report is predetermined.

Eternally optimistic,

John Hillier,

Creemore.