“WindFall” is a revealing documentary film about the pastoral community of Meredith, New York divided by the prospective introduction of the wind turbine industry. Like the crew – and most Americans- I thought wind energy was a good thing.
The film’s title connotes the profit-at-all-costs agenda between the government and corporations at the expense of the taxpayer and local citizenry’s quality of life in the wind energy industry. The film’s producer felt she was standing among “sharks in the air” as hundreds of the Orwellian behemoths appeared ghost-like from a lifting fog. Viewing a wind turbine farm from an interstate highway in the isolated hills of southern California is quite different than having hundreds outside one’s home and saturating the community vista.
Things I didn’t know: Wind turbines are over 400 feet tall. Just one propeller weighs 22,000 pounds. They have been known to fall and to catch fire. They create a distracting, strobe-like shadow “flicker” inside people’s homes and on local roads every few seconds 24 hours a day 364 days a year – in perpetuity. Low-frequency pulses by rotating blades and turbine “hum” create health hazards for people living within 1,000 feet (though a few seemed exaggerated). One resident said having a wind turbine near your home had the same deleterious effect on property value as any other industry in a residential zone. The original builder of each 3 million dollar wind turbine not only gets federal (taxpayer) funds to build it but amortizes the cost each year until they trade it to another wind energy corporation who begins the same amortization deductions all over again….before selling it to another, etc. This is where they make their money (like the below-prime mortgage industry). One Meredith resident said “When a modern day (wind turbine) carpetbagger comes to your door offering a ‘great deal’ then asks you to sign a non-disclosure contract something is very wrong.”
The film is about a small, picturesque community (like ours) who educated themselves on an issue and fought to preserve their quality of life – not unlike our debate on water usage.. It is a microcosm of what is (or should be) happening throughout America. The bonus interviews with the film crew are as revealing as the film. It is available on NetFlix. The federal/state/local wind agenda is coming soon to a community near you. Be prepared with the facts
