Sir: Industrial strength wind turbines are making a lot of people worried.
Installing those turbines means pile-driving massive steel beams into the bedrock.
The problem is that the bedrock is made of Kettle Point black shale and is known to contain uranium and arsenic. Vibration from the pile driving breaks up this toxic shale below the groundwater and contaminates it. Area residents can’t drink, bathe, or wash their clothes because of this. Water wells are being poisoned as the government continues to allow the pile driving.
Having visited farms and spoken with affected residents where the water is bad, I have seen the effects first hand. A jar of well water sits on my desk at Queen’s Park right now. A thick layer of black particles is clearly visible.
Last year, concerned citizens formed the group Water Wells First. They were determined to find out what was going on. They were granted a hearing before the Environmental Review Tribunal, but the government has taken little action. Construction of wind turbines continues even though scientific tests at several farms show that well water has been contaminated.
Now, I understand that wind turbines are supposed to help the environment. I have my doubts about wind energy, but in principle I agree that we should avoid harming the environment.
This is why contaminating our groundwater is so upsetting.
Government inaction on this matter is sad.
The Wynne government always claim to care about the environment. It justifies exorbitant hydro rates because we’re no longer burning coal and polluting the air.
Is the government trying to tell us that wind farms are worth whatever financial and environmental cost we have to pay? If so, that just isn’t right.
It also seems more than a little hypocritical.
You can bet that, if an oil company were somehow polluting groundwater, the uproar would be deafening.
If animal species were harmed by a quarry, a mine, or a pipeline, we’d never hear the end of it.
Well, in this case clean energy technology is contaminating farmers’ wells, and the main animal species affected is the human species. Will the government do the right thing, find out what is going on, stop the contamination of our groundwater?
Will the government put a moratorium on turbine development until scientific evidence disproves the claim that industrial wind turbines are polluting the environment?
Rick Nicholls, MPP
Chatham-Kent-Essex
