Letters and Comments for December 4, 2009

To the Editor:

Could your school use $100,000?

For the second year in the row, U.S. Cellular is offering $1 million total to the top 10 schools that get the most support from their communities. I am sure anyone in our local communities would love to see their favorite school receive a portion of this gift. But we need them to show it.

To give your school a chance to win $100,000 please go to a local U.S. Cellular store and pick up a voting card and follow the directions on the card. You do not need to be a U.S. Cellular customer, and there is no catch beyond showing your support.

Please show how much we all care for our children’s education and help support our local schools! The contest goes through Jan. 15.

Patrick Flynn

Island City

Tossing out ‘crumbs’

In response to Mr. Lewis’ letter regarding the Antelope Ridge Wind Farm, it is questionable as to where he obtained his statistics.

Horizon claims the 300-megawatt Antelope Ridge project will generate enough power for more than 90,000 homes, but Mr. Lewis stated it will generate enough power for 69,980 homes. Neither is correct since wind projects only provide power 10 percent to 21 percent of the time per the Department of Energy, which equates to approximately 18,900 homes for this project.

Reduction in CO2 emissions is nothing more than wind power propaganda. Per DOE only 1 percent of the electric power in the USA is generated by fossil fuels.

Regarding the jobs that have been generated due to wind power, most are temporary. History has shown long-term jobs are one for every 15 wind towers with many being specialized provided by the wind tower manufacture that travel in and out of the site. In fact, records show there are only two Horizon employees at Elkhorn.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports in 2008 that wind power was subsidized at $23.34 per megawatt hour while natural gas at .25, coal at .44, hydro at .67 and nuclear at $1.59. Wind power is the biggest recipient of tax dollars.

As for real estate devaluation, numerous studies across the U.S. have shown that property values drop as much as 26 percent for property within 5 miles of a wind tower. This was further substantiated when a questionnaire was sent out in a major wind farm area.

Odds are that wind towers will never be retrofitted after they become obsolete since there will be no tax subsidies and other more reliable sources will be available.

Wind farms rape our environment and take advantage of rural communities by tossing them a few crumbs of tax revenue while being awarded generous tax credits.

Dennis Wilkinson

Cove