ENVIRONMENTAL concerns for our communities
Are these Turbine Plants right for our LOCAL environment?
Environment can described in quite a few different ways other than whether or not something is "green".
Whether an environment is a good place to live, for people and animals-and whether the character of an environment changes for the better or worse over time are a couple of ways to think about our local environment.
Northeast Texas-which we call home-isn't a desert like the Sweetwater, Texas area in the picture>>.
- We live here in greater densities than are common for a Turbine Plant, but it is still country.
- Like Sweetwater *was*, it's quiet and peaceful here-especially at night.
- We have more birds, and sit in a major Migratory Flyway. Bald Eagles nest here.
- Ducks and dove are abundant-and will explode with two new lakes. But not with a 100 Turbines to fly through.
- Our land is appreciating in value, and more people are moving here for the chance to escape the cities.
- We haven't ever allowed a wholesale change to our landscape, and environment, like this one.
It may surprise you to know that one of the reasons that Texas has seen huge numbers of Industrial Turbines sited here is that there is little in the way of regulation or law to provide for our environment. I find it hard to believe that our Fish and Wildlife service and other agencies state and Federal have no responsibility for permitting or approving projects like this one. So we are left with the assurances that this won't harm our wildlife-or at least not too much. Likewise we are told that living near these Plants wont harm our health. Even if we were willing to accept these statements as fact, we don't believe that our local environment improves with this change. And we certainly don't believe that a change that affects all of us should be allowed without involving us in a process.
What can you do? Contact your Department of Fish and Wildlife, Texas Parks and Wildlife, state and local lawmakers and ask them why a developer can sneak a huge footprint of Industrial Wind equipment into our backyards without so much as a public notice or permitting process. You cannot get a septic tank on your property or build a house without a permit-how come we don't require a permit to build 10's of 1000's of acres of power generators?
