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Kincardine man walks out of Friends of Wind meeting in Port Albert By Liz Dadson |
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 Friends of Wind banner is covered with signatures of support and is to be presented to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa | |||||
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After arguing for 20 minutes with a group of people at a Friends of Wind meeting in Port Albert Thursday night, a Kincardine man walked out, stating the group is misinformed. Organized by Jutta Splettstoesser, president of Friends of Wind, the meeting was meant to be an information session to help people realize what can happen if a community works together in support of wind energy. "We need to understand the social impacts and work together to make good wind projects," she told about 20 people at the meeting. She urged everyone to speak up in support of renewable energy projects, including wind, solar, biomass, etc. Grassroots support is necessary, she added. Splettstoesser said that she and her husband, Ralph, are farmers in Kincardine and have been involved in wind power discussions since April. "I became tired of seeing all the anti-wind signs everywhere," she said. "When I made a presentation at a Kincardine council meeting, there were a lot of wind energy supporters there, and that surprised the anti-wind people." She said the pro-wind side must have a voice and not let the vocal minority decide everything. "I believe the biggest concern is the side effects of the anti-wind campaign." Since July 4, she has been travelling across Canada, all the way to Vancouver, and obtaining signatures from those who support the benefits of wind power for their communities. "We need to educate people, and have better communication with the anti-wind people, the municipalities and the community," she said. Some people at the meeting were wind supporters who have optioned land for turbines, while others were just curious about wind energy. Mark MacAuley of the Port Albert Inn, said the problem with wind energy is that the wealth has to be spread around a bit. "The investors are out there and want to put money into these projects. The wind turbines are coming. It's just a matter of where they go and who benefits. Wind-friendly communities will get the investment." Steve Johnson of Kincardine said that the nuclear industry has to cut back on generation when the wind blows, but he noted that nuclear is the cheapest form of energy generation. Splettstoesser replied that his comment about nuclear costing only five cents/kWh is not accurate. It does not include numerous other cost factors, such as insurance, in order to properly compare with wind and solar. She urged Johnson to take some information which he refused.
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 Jutta Splettstoesser (C) welcomes guests to the meeting in Port Albert Moments later, he left the meeting, saying, "You people are misinformed. The reason our hydro bills are going up is because of wind and solar." Mike Snobelen, who has two wind turbines on his property in Ripley and two in Kingsbridge and welcomes more, said the opposition to wind has to be boiled down to three categories: nuclear workers who believe "it's nuclear or nothing"; people who didn't get turbines on their property; and those who are simply jealous. Both he and Bill Hayden, who also spoke in support of wind energy, said they have no problem with wind turbines. Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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