I received a letter today from the CWE (Citizens for Wind Energy).

The letter is redundant. We’ve heard this same rhetoric over and over and yet CWE will not pay heed to the constant disclaimers from all over the world, let alone our local area where people are having problems; landowners with turbines claim it isn't as good as they were led to believe and already tax revenues are going to decrease.

They claim it has created an economic boom through job additions and energy independence. Think about it. The revenue aspect is sketchy at best with what Lansing is proposing through the elimination of personal property taxes.

The boom to the local businesses is temporary; once the construction is finalized, the labor crews are gone. Few locals were hired for permanent work from what I have heard. Has the town of Elkton had a growth spurt since Harvest Wind?

The energy independence is a real eye opener; our electrical power plants are our own, not foreign.

The nine signatures are all people who have leases and vested interests with the developers. One only has to attend a county meeting with wind on the agenda to see the potluck-like atmosphere between the developers and the CWE folks.

The testimonials are dated and some are hopes/dreams. McDonald Food - temporary; Theut Products - temporary; Greg Talaski - Dreamer; Franklin Inn - temporary; Thumb Hardware - temporary; IGA - temporary, Co-op Elevator - temporary; Pigeon Hardware - temporary; Thumb National “the economic benefits that could evolve” - hopes/dreams; Buchholz Transport - temporary (what happens when their contractors are gone?); and lastly United Title Agency - again, temporary.

What about the economic pitfalls that are bound to occur with depreciating home values, loss of tourism revenue when the initial "freakshow" wears off, increased electric bills for local and all Michigan consumers, decreasing new construction because people will not build new homes in the rural areas. Economics aside, what about the decreasing quality of life many local residents will experience on top of their economic loss? What happened to any sense of community? We have forgotten about taking care of our own for the sake of dollars floating in the wind.

Mrs. Bushey, Mr. Krohn and Mr. Elenbaum live along the shoreline where any impact to them from turbines will be the money lining their pockets. Mr. Leipprandt lives in an area where he will not have a wind turbine in his own backyard. It is easy for these people to advocate for something that will only bring them benefits.

Mrs. Bushey publicly stated that only 2 percent of Lake Township residents will be affected by wind turbines since the turbines should only be in the agricultural area.

When all is said and done and Huron County along with the Thumb area is the "wind capital" of Michigan with huge power line structures crossing farm fields, hundreds of giant turbines visible for miles by day and even farther by night as their red lights flash on an off, there will be no one to blame other than CWE, the developers and the officials they purchased.

Gerald Pobanz

Port Austin