Windfarms and Turbulent Communities
Although renewable energy has the public persona of being harmless, wind farms have an extensive history of raising the ire of rural communities. The anger comes from the fairly disruptive effects of windfarm activities, such as noise, the seemingly excessive bird kills and even the view.
Combined, local opposition groups can be a powerful force against future wind energy projects. And even if the letter of the law is for the project, a well organized opposition can shift public opinion against the project. This does not mean that rural, or even some urban communities, are against green power. What it means is that wind farm developers and even environmental advocacy agencies have to take into account the NIMBY factor, engage in meaningful outreach with affected communities and actively try to mitigate the impacts of wind technology.
The NIMBY factor comes into play with any seemingly disruptive energy development. One recent example is the push to develop a North-South running powerline in Alberta that met stiff resistance from the rural and environmental community. The issue turned into a public relations disaster for the Stelmach government, when it turned out that the government body overseeing the public hearings hired private investigators to spy on the opposing farmers.
The lesson here is that green energy advocates have to be tuned into the public and political sentiment instead of blindly advocating a technology/environment first agenda. Any environmental and political agenda must to be sensitive to the needs and concerns of the people it affects, otherwise renewables will have a long and difficult climb ahead.
In the meanwhile it will be interesting to see how these local battles around wind energy are going to shape up in Ontario.