We lived a mile from the [Washington] DC beltway and traffic noise was horrible, 24/7, but after midnight the motorcycles raced for that added high-pitched whine for an hour or so. That’s one of the reasons when we moved here, we planted 12,000 native trees on our perimeters with the greatest depth of trees on the Highway 62 side of this farm.
We hoped that many trees would deaden highway noise, which it didn’t. Our most aggravating nighttime noise is the insistent loud hum from the electric substation by the 62 bridge where Osage Creek runs into the Kings River.
See the negative impacts of windmills on DuckDuckGo. Most towers appear to be 150 feet plus high, not the 600 or so high towers that are needed on the Green Forest/Berryville ridgeline. Before the Berryville dog-and-pony show from the installers, I drove to their proposed site and found it to resemble the area of Western Maryland around Cumberland that I was familiar with. Same topography and same divisions of opinions about the wind turbines.
I found a YouTube video of a young couple losing all the value in the home they built, and their property, because of the effects of the wind turbines on real estate values in their now wind turbine area. Before that happened there was the noise 24/7, the flickering lights and the ground vibrations. They couldn’t get a good night’s sleep and their nerves were on edge constantly.
At the Quorum Court meeting about the wind turbines, it appeared that like the surprise SWEPCO invasion here in 2013 – some local politicians knew about this wind turbine plan in 2019 and revealed it in 2023. And since the company is from outside the state, they don’t need reviews or permissions to move ahead?
It also appeared that only two justices of the peace did any research, and one female justice went as far as Kansas to see for herself the installations and talk to the people. I think she said that one resident told her that if he had it to do over again, he would not approve windmills/turbines.
Justice of the Peace Harrie Farrell proposed that the Court “consider” requiring permitting for major projects that would give all of those who may be affected or have questions about these proposals an opportunity to do some research before the project gets started.
We need to have our electric utilities, sell, install, and maintain solar installations like they do in DC and many other areas of our country. These utilities do these installations because they get the free kilowatts that represent the differences between what you capture and what you use. Not to mention that our meager set-up with 48 panels has saved Planet Earth almost 100 tons of carbon emissions to date.
Wind turbines are more popular now because of the subsidies and generous tax breaks they offer investors.
Thank you again… and again… for being so readable, concise and fact driven.
Your Big Fan, Mike Shah
Mr. Shah is spot on. We really need a permitting process for major developments. Wind energy may be fine in some areas, but I really question its application on this pristine hillside area. We won’t understand the potential impacts without a permitting process.