Water and Light: September 2007: Letter of Matt Gaboda re: Wind Turbines

September 26th 2007 Evansville Water and Light Committee Meeting

My name is Matt Gaboda, I live at 552 South Sixth Street in Evansville. I am a former town of Union resident who still has family and friends who reside there. I have a lot of respect and admiration for the over 150 years of commitment to conservation and preservation that the town has displayed.

Thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight about the proposed Large Wind Turbine project in the town of Union. I want to make clear that my statements are not at all related to the towns Large Wind Turbine Ordinance process, that is a town issue. I am here tonight to discuss the proposed site, representation and questions and answers about WPPI’s Renewable Energy information that the city has been sending out to Evansville Water and Light customers.

First of all, the proposed area in which WPPI is seeking to erect 400 ft tall turbines is in Evansville Water and Lights service area in the town of Union. The residents of the town of Union who would be adjacent to the proposed turbine site pay there electric bills at the same place every city of Evansville resident does. The city of Evansville voted in July 2006 to become an owner/member of WPPI. The WPPI Board of Directors is composed of Owner/Member communities, of which the Town of Union is.

Who is the representative for the Water and Light Committee from the town of Union? What representation does the town of Union have on WPPI’s Board of Directors? What entity from the city of Evansville contacted the town of Union to “test the water” with the Large Turbine Proposal. Was any information collected from any and all landowners and residents in the general proposed area ahead of time?

I would personally be alarmed and ashamed to be a resident of a city that dictates policy to a neighboring member/owner township without there consent. I hate to pull out my fife and play Yankee Doodle, but this one belittles everything America was built on. I’m sure you’ll come up with some excuse or reasoning why things are the way they are, but how many adjacent residents and landowners to the proposed turbine project have you spoken to? They are the ones who will have to live with this committee and cities actions or lack there of. Visiting a Turbine site vs. living next to one are apples and oranges. I know of over Twenty town of Union landowners in the proposed area that are either strongly opposed or not fully supportive of this project. Read the July and August minutes from the Plan Commission and the Town Board of Union if you want some binding confirmation. Not one resident in the town of Union has spoken in favor of this turbine proposal at any public meeting. WPPI claims that nothing has been set in stone yet, “yet” is the imperative word. Hiring a development company to sneak into a township and secure land rights while inviting them to private catered meetings out of town for prospective landowners only, is not, “kicking the tires”, to me. Actions speak louder than words. If you think I am exaggerating, ask WPPI who the first three landowners they contacted in the proposed area were? Common sense would dictate that people who will benefit financially will be more likely to turn a blind eye versus those who just happened to draw a short straw and live extremely close to the proposed area. Adjacent landowners should have been contacted first, get there input, see what they think, once everyone is on the same page, then proceed with the easy part. Its all big business, it’s not about the “energy”. If WPPI had any morals or scruples they would have politely withdrew any interest in the town of Union based on an overwhelming lack of support from the community and its core government.

WPPI has a map of the proposed area; it shows setbacks from roads, residential dwellings and property lines. WPPI’s developer figures 500 ft setbacks from roads and property lines. I don’t know where WPPI’s developer came up with that number, but according to the recommended website by EcoEnergyLLC, Windustry. It states that a turbines wake is 8-11 times the rotor diameter, and for protection of neighboring wind rights a turbine should be erected no closer than 5 times the rotor diameter to an adjacent property line. Based on an 82 meter blade diameter I came up with 1345 ft. I am not a research scientist, and I may have overlooked something, so you can read this yourself and check my math.

You may think this has nothing to do with this committee. If so, you are mistaken. By owning controlling stake in WPPI, you are funding and aiding this unnecessary, irresponsible, bastardization of the town of Union. No one in this city has the class to ask Kendall Schneider what he has to say. I have requested many city officials to do so, including this committee. If I wanted to build a fence on your property, whom would seek input from whom. Give me a break; you treat the town of Union like a mushroom.

As for WPPI sending out misleading information at my expense is also embarrassing. Saying that wind energy is 100% emission free, is a flat out lie. Didn’t anybody tell WPPI that wind turbines need tons of power off the grid to get the blades spinning in hopes that the wind will maintain their rotation. They will be literally “Turned On” in hopes that the wind will keep them spinning. Where does that power come from? Coal or Natural Gas, that is where. When these turbines are “Turned On” there is a possibility of a brown out due to the massive amount of power they take to get the blades moving. If WPPI wants to put my money where there mouth is, they will have no problem with having every turbine they purchase power from be net metered. What I mean is, I want to see how much power goes in and how much comes out on the grid. If there is nothing to hide, maybe I should have done more research. It seems like people think that these 400 ft turbines sprout out of the ground from some magic beans and are 100% organic. These are massive Industrial machines. These machines are marginally efficient at best, and when I say at best, that means in areas that unlike Rock County have Level 4 average wind speed. The Dakotas, parts of Minnesota and Iowa.

WPPI is also using foreign oil as a scapegoat, Wisconsin generates around 1-2% of its electricity from oil, and that oil is not of a very high grade.

Wind turbines by there variable nature will only be a novelty supplement in the energy mix. If the government subsidies and incentives were to end, so would the turbine craze. Wind turbines in this area are like the bosses son at work who shows up a couple of days a week; you never know when he’s coming in or when he will leave. You want to make him feel wanted so you give him busy work to make him feel like he’s helping. In reality the core group of workers who are there every day 8-5 do all the heavy lifting with no accolades, but when junior comes in two days straight he makes the front page of the company newsletter.

If the Evansville Water and Light, the City of Evansville, and WPPI want to do what is best for our future, buy renewable energy from areas where it is viably and not emotionally placed. I understand the 10% by 2015 criteria. It doesn’t say that it has to come from WI. My daughter loves pineapple, but I know that Wisconsin isn’t the ideal location to grow them. No company would consider a pineapple farm in Wisconsin unless it was overly subsidized and given incentives so that the lack of production would not interfere with profit.

I also want to make sure that it is known that I support responsible well sited productive renewable energy. I use compact bulbs, between my wife and I we drive less than 10,000 miles a year total. I’ve recycled close to 100,000 pounds of material in the last two years, I carpool, and I practice what I preach. I think the answer is not in More’s Law, I think is in Less’s Law. Conserving what we have is much more effective than finding more ways to produce power. Let’s encourage incentives for using less, instead of asking people to pay to produce more.

WPPI has an easy choice, keep force feeding the town of Union and its landowners what they don’t want, or find an appropriate location where common sense criteria is met. No one will win if WPPI forces this project through. I not only predict, I guarantee legal action in the Town of Union, if WPPI is looking for a fight, it came to the right place. Respectfully withdraw your interest in the town of Union and let its citizens get back to the life they had enjoyed before WPPI came to town.

I am here today asking that this Water and Light Commission draft and pass appropriate wording informing WPPI that they are not in compliance with there renewable energy initiative in the town of Union and that you feel it would be best for all parties involved if they withdrew any interest or intent of erecting Large Wind Turbines in the Town of Union effective immediately.

I appreciate your patience with this speech, I am expecting results, your job is to do what is best for the whole community and not just a wishful thinking pet project. I am submitting this letter verbatim for the minutes of the September 2007 meeting of Evansville’s Water and Light Committee, as I expect to see it approved as such. I do not wish to take such a direct approach to this committee, but I don’t think you realize how many families’ social, mental, and financial well being are being taken for granted.

Thank you.