Please add my name to those…

Please add my name to those who are troubled by the decision of the Ontario Conservative government to cancel support for initiatives aimed at dealing with carbon emissions and cli-mate change and to dismantle the White Pines Turbines in Prince Edward County.

Since moving to The County 6 years ago, I’ve heard every rationalization for not having wind turbines. The reality is, there is no benign source of energy. While we have excess capacity for electrical generation now, we won’t if electrically powered vehicles finally take off. And unless we find a way of getting away from internal combustion engines, we will never get on top of climate change. The easy options that we didn’t take 20 years ago are past us. The longer we delay, the more painful and troublesome the solutions will be. In the bigger scheme of things, the problems of wind turbines, carbon taxes, and carbon pricing will seem puny if we don’t take real and meaningful action now.

After many years of economic struggle, Prince Edward County is now enjoying something of a renaissance, in large part due to tourism. This comes at a cost of thousands of folks driving back and forth from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal emitting carbon with every kilometre. What can we do to compensate for this good fortune? Some wind turbines are up now in The County and yes they may be visually imposing to some, but to me they are symbols of hope. However if they are silenced and made inoperational, they will be a testament to my failure to speak up and act

Could we possibly let the turbines be operational? Until the Province formulates an alternative approach to reducing carbon emissions and compensating for the lost opportunity offered by wind turbines is presented, I suggest we hold off on the dismantling project. Much of the nega-tive impact of construction has already occurred and the dismantling will likely add to the local-ized disruption of habitat. So much disruption for no positive outcome in the long run seems imprudent.

I’m eagerly awaiting the provincial announcement to deal with carbon emissions as well as plans for local initiatives. In the meantime, reconsider the decision to dismantle the White Pines Project