Opposition to wind power
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While much of the opposition came from people who were genuinely (although usually needlessly) concerned about wind power developments, a great deal also came from people and organisations with financial links to the fossil fuel industry. Obviously wind power in particular, and renewable energy in general, is a great threat to the fossil fuel industry. Of course there is big money in the fossil fuel industry and where there is big money there is often great dishonesty, consider the tobacco industry.
The justification for the opposition included:
- False claims of wind turbines causing ill-health including weird
claims of more than 200 symptoms in humans and animals blamed on wind farms;
- False claims of wind farms reducing
land values in the vicinity;
- Exaggerated claims of
wind turbine noise;
- Greatly exaggerated claims of the
adverse impact of wind farms on agriculture;
- False claims of increased
numbers of fires and difficulty of access for fire fighting aircraft;
- Weird claims:
- A 60,000 times exaggeration of the time it would take for a wind farm to make up for the CO2 released in the production of the concrete foundations of the turbines;
- "We know that these turbines can shift spray drift from one paddock to another and, if the spray is not compatible with that crop in the other paddock, it will kill it."
- "Woolworths will not buy meat from sheep that have been grazing under wind turbines."
- A 60,000 times exaggeration of the time it would take for a wind farm to make up for the CO2 released in the production of the concrete foundations of the turbines;
- Greatly exaggerated claims about sleep disturbance and wind turbines.
Wind farms reduce greenhouse emissions by displacing fossil fuelled power stations and they save lives by reducing the air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels that kills millions of people each year. So those who oppose a wind farm development are most likely prioritising their personal preferences over the welfare of the planet and of future generations.
There can be little doubt that quite a bit of opposition to wind power comes from those who see it as a threat to the profits that they are getting from the fossil fuel industry. The coal industry is facing terminal decline and this has caused panic among those who have invested millions of dollars in it.
I have argued elsewhere that dishonestly opposing renewable energy is a crime against humanity.
