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| This pretty much started the flap in Newport (click here) |
Aquidneck
Island has plenty of wind to make renewable energy, but, unfortunately, it also
produces a lot of hot air.
Newport
officials recently became the latest wind bags to add to the island’s growing
cover of hot air. City Council and Planning Board members didn’t want the Bruce
Long-led Middletown Town Council to be the only ones sounding the alarm about
the dangers of wind turbines. These three-armed beasts, they fear, will put the
health of neighbors at risk, deafen the island’s inhabitants, and ruin the
fossil fuel-inspired views of telephone poles, power lines, blinking neon signs
and traffic congestion.
And
don’t mention gearboxes. They’re scared to death all wind turbines come with
one of these faulty contraptions that will throw them all off a fiscal cliff.
To avoid the many pitfalls of renewable energy, the Newport City Council earlier this month quickly and quietly voted to ban wind turbines from most of the city. The Planning Board had recommended banning all shapes and sizes of these spinning devices that don’t belch pollution from 80 percent of the city. The fearful City Council, however, thought 91 percent was a far safer number.
They
were particularly concerned about property owners erecting small wind turbines
to produce electricity anywhere in the city’s historic sections. Council
members must consider power lines that connect the old homes in these
neighborhoods to utility poles historic. Is the SUV parked in the driveway considered
historic?
The
council also made sure the entire southern portion of Newport defined by Ocean
Drive couldn’t be infiltrated by wind turbines. After all, earlier this year a
privately funded initiative removed 36 overhead utility poles along Ocean Drive
by burying nearly a mile of power line. Out of sight, out of mind. My
electricity comes from magic produced far beneath the surface.
As
for the private individual who would like to mount a small wind turbine to his
or her home, Newport officials don’t believe you have the right to produce your
own electricity. But a roof-mounted DISH Network satellite is OK.
The
Middletown Town Council passed
an ordinance in mid-September
that restricts wind turbines to farms, limits their height to 120 feet,
tolerates zero shadow flicker and caps the noise they are allowed to make at 30
decibels. On the scale of environmental loudness, 30 dB comes immediately after
0 dB. A normal conversation is between 60 and 65 dB.
But
in the words of council member Long, wind turbines need to be overly restricted
to protect “public health and risk.” He explained that, “The decision we make
must be ones that protect the people from their neighbors, not to protect
people from themselves. The only way to do that is to put in strict
guidelines.”
A
few months later, Newport Mayor Henry Winthrop closed the council’s meeting
that severely restricted wind turbines — a meeting that featured little
discussion about the need for such an over-the-top ordinance — by blustering,
“I don’t expect to see many people lining up outside to secure permits to build
wind turbines.”
Just
what Aquidneck Island needed from its alleged leadership — more hot air.
Perhaps one day we will replace boastful talk with meaningful discussion.
