Eagle Editorial Provokes Well-informed Response
In “Negatives of wind turbines ignored,” Stockbridge resident Terry Flynn takes issue with “The force of wind, ” an editorial in the Berkshire Eagle of December 5, 2012. His point is that turbine construction itself is not a green enterprise. The editorial, Flynn says,
fails to describe the extensive blasting often needed to create the massive pads for the turbines, the largest of which are as tall as 50-story buildings, and the extensive blasting also needed to prepare a deep base for roads as wide, in parts, as Route 7 — roads which traverse steep slopes, destroy hundreds of acres of forest, disrupt hiking trails and drainage routes, and destroy wildlife habitats.
The editorial seems to be written by someone who has not had experience with turbines. Or if the writer has, she/he apparently has never been worried by a turbine gear oil leak (50 gallons in one turbine in Princeton), never experienced hours a day of strobing flicker (3 hours a day in Scituate), never worried about their own–or their children’s–inability to sleep and therefore to think clearly, concentrate, study, or work (Falmouth), or never had to lament the destruction of a scenic wildlife corridor (Florida and Monroe).
Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts 
The governor’s policy on green energy is aggressive, but not farsighted. In fact it is very shortsighted. If the governor took the trouble to consult with engineers, he would learn that the power grid is a system of interconnected power source components. Wind farms do produce clean energy but their power output fluctuates unpredictably with the wind. The aggressive Green Communities Act forces utility engineers to integrate wind energy components with the existing power plants. This has a very negative effect on the efficient operation of existing plants. They are forced to ramp and cycle excessively to maintain grid stability in the face of the ever changing power that comes from wind farms. The drop in efficiency is so severe, that it negates all of the farsighted benefits cited by the governor’s advisors.
Governor, please talk to some engineers who know this stuff. They will tell you that adding wind turbines to the grid adds to the cost for nothing in return.