A is for Ambient Noise - Wind turbines generate infrasound, which are noises humans mentally are unaware of hearing, but the body recognizes them. Studies have shown noise exposure from turbines have been a public health concern to residents living within wind turbine power plant areas and causing symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and or motion sickness.
B is for Blades - Each blade measures 246 ft in length with a rotating diameter of 492+ ft, including the turbine nacelle width. These latest developed wind turbines blades sweep 4.36 acres (190116.62 sq ft) in the sky. The blades create disturbances to homeowners living within the wind turbine power plant areas: casting shadows into homes and buildings (“shadow flicker”) and onto non-participating properties (properties that have not signed contracts with wind energy corporations), produce continuous whooshing sounds and vibration sensations in homes and buildings, and during winter months are also dangerous culprits of throwing ice from the blades. Most blades end up in landfills after their 10 to 20 year life cycle, due to being replaced with larger designs and the unusable fiberglass components from which they are made with.
C is for Clean Energy? - Is industrial wind energy really “green energy” or a misleading perception? “Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.” The carbon footprint of mining products for production, production of the wind turbine components, transportation of product to wind turbine power plant areas, disruption of the ecological footprint and material used for erecting the wind turbines, and disassembling the wind turbines after the useful lifespan is far greater than the green energy output. What is the motive behind the green energy push? Perhaps a different form of green ($)?
D is for Decommission - What goes up, must come down. Estimates to decommission 134 turbines in Minnesota in 2019 came to $71 million, or roughly $532,000 per turbine. Currently, the Tazewell County ordinance on decommissioning current wind turbines are vague, worrisome, and the burden to decommission will fall on the taxpayers and future generations. What about the unrepairable damage and effects sustained to Tazewell County’s prime farm land during decommissioning?
E is for Electricity Costs & Efficiency - Energy producing projections, of a picture-perfect wind turbine power plant, in an ideal situation, are proposed on wind development projects and “sold” to the public. The harsh reality? Wind is unreliable and wind turbines only operate at a 25-30% capacity. Wind is free, but producing wind energy is not free! Not only are communities paying for these renewable energy projects, through federally funded government tax credits paid for by taxpayers, but in return our community electricity bills are increasing also. Why? To cover the costs of the green energy incentives.
F is for Fossil Fuel Back Up - Wind turbines only produce energy when the wind blows in certain parameters. What source of energy keeps the lights on behind the scenes, when the turbines are not producing energy? Turbines, just like other forms of modern energy power plants, need energy themselves to operate. The electricity they need to continue to operate, when the wind is not blowing, is pulled from the power grid. How often are these “green energy” turbines operating in an energy deficit?
G is for Government Intervention - Would rural Illinois farm communities see rapid wind power plant area development without government subsidies? Would wind still be a profitable energy source without the governmental incentives? Would the energy companies be profitable, if they had to incur the totality of the building and maintenance costs of these wind turbine power plant areas? Taxpayers cover two-thirds to three-fourths of the cost of erecting these industrial wind power plant areas.
H is for Home Value - Owning a home is often a family’s largest investment. How would one or several towering 600 ft wind turbines, in your home’s backyard, affect the decision of a potential home buyer? Industrial wind turbine areas decrease property values by 28% or more; at times homes are unable to be sold to potential buyers, due to turbines and their effects. Industrial wind can also create a loss of use and enjoyment of neighboring properties, affecting the area negatively.
I is for Interference - Residents and motorists in rural communities in Tazewell County have a 25–30-minute drive to most major hospitals. Our citizens value the presence of Life Flight Support in instances of emergencies around our county. When Life Flight cannot land in an emergency around wind turbines, due to aviation signal interference or turbulence, and the emergency situation becomes life-or-death, then what? Or when wind turbines create interference with the timing and accuracy of weather radar readings, such as delaying a tornado warning and a family’s ability to seek shelter in time? In these instances, turbines become a public safety concern violating the rights of every citizen in Tazewell County. Turbines may also have an effect on and interfere with receptions and transmissions of rural satellite, internet service, cellular service, satellite television, and more. In addition, aerial applications to crops can be hindered, due to turbulence and placement of the turbines, thus decreasing crop productivity which affects to our food supply.
J is for “Just a Turbine” - The use of leased land, in the wind energy contracts to landowners, is not limited to just the area of where the turbine is erected, but the entire land plot the turbine is placed on; see excerpt from the Tazewell Wind Agreement: “Grantee shall have the exclusive right to develop and use the property for wind power machines, of any kind (including supporting towers, foundations, and other associated equipment or structures)” i.e. energy storage facilities, power generation facilities, substations, and other future wind project developments. How does this contract verbiage affect neighboring properties that have not signed up for wind development and how can the citizens protect Tazewell County’s prime agricultural land? The Tazewell County Wind Ordinance is outdated and needs modifications to protect all citizens of Tazewell County.
K is for Killing Birds - An estimated 681,000 birds were killed in 2021 at the expense of wind turbines. If the U.S. meets its industrial wind energy production goal by 2030, the numbers of bird deaths could be more than 1.4 million per year. In April of 2022, a renewable energy company was charged with killing at least 150 endangered eagles on several of their operating wind turbine power plant areas. This number does not take into account the deaths of bats that occur due to wind turbines. What effect do these wind turbines and electrical land lines have on other wildlife habitats?
L is for Lifespan - 20 years (or less) is the average lifespan of a modern wind turbine. Then what happens? Blades usually need to be repaired or replaced sooner than 20 years. Turbines are being marketed as a permanent solution, but their existence is mostly served in a landfill or scrap yard. Is this truly a sustainable energy source?
M is for Maintenance and Repairs - Every operating machine requires maintenance and repairs. Due to the scale and size of these 600 ft wind turbines, there will be oil leaks, breakage of blades, lightning strikes, generator, nacelle, and rotor malfunctions, and other equipment repairs needed to maintain these turbines The costs for parts, supplies, and maintenance will be costly. The higher the value of an item, the higher the cost of repairs. And what damage will be caused to the surrounding soils with massive equipment used again for repairs and maintenance?
N is for Next Generation - Choices made today will directly impact future generations of Tazewell County. What will that look like? Especially if energy contracts are signed and those land plots are in control of large energy corporations for 55-60 years. Will decommissioning industrial wind turbine power plant areas put the county in financial distress, in order to restore the county to the beauty we see today? We need to consider the effects turbines will have on the health, safety, and land of our next generation of residents.
0 is for Out of the County - And out of sight. Tazewell County's most valuable resource, the rich fertile farmland soil, is being signed over by landowners, many who no longer live in Tazewell County, to large corporate energy companies that do not reside in our county, state, or even country! For example, some of the wind energy developers, which are currently seeking to sign land leases with landowners in the area, are headquartered in Texas and Chicago, with their corporate headquarter firms and power making decisions located outside of the United States. Looking at the larger picture, is this in the best interest for Tazewell County and the citizens who actually reside here? Or has our area become a stepping stone for the green energy agenda?
P is for Power Plant - Wind “farms”, as marketed and advertised, are not farms raising crops or animals, but in actuality are towering wind energy turbines spanning thousands of acres of farmland, located in agricultural areas, and numbering in counts of 50-200+ turbines per area. A better definition would be a power plant which is defined as “an installation where electrical power is generated for distribution”. It is further defined as “an engine or other apparatus which provides power for a machine, building, etc.” These types of power plant areas in Illinois and Tazewell County span acres upon acres and are visible for miles upon miles.
Q is for Quality of life - Wind energy turbines have been known to cause sleep disturbances, unnatural continual sounds, shadow flicker, and vibrations to humans and animals, have recurring flashing red lights, in some areas contaminated water supply and rendered wells useless, takes land out of commission for food production, and much more. When Industrial wind comes to town, a community's rights to an undisturbed quality of life, in rural Illinois, is conditional on only a handful of landowners that sign land leases with these large corporate wind energy companies. What we choose to do in Tazewell County today, affects everyone.
R is for Road Work - Imagine the amount of trucks and equipment needed to transport three 246 ft blades for each turbine, tower sections and bases, generators, nacelles, rebar, concrete, gravel, equipment for excavation and leveling, multiple large cranes for construction, trailers for jobsite offices, and much more. Creating the infrastructure needed to truck in many oversized loads can create damage to our current road system here in Tazewell County. Will industrial wind companies bring current roads up to load limits for these projects and maintain them later during maintenance and decommissioning? Oftentimes, the roads are not returned to their original state. Recently in Neosho County, Kansas, they estimated $4,960,464 of road damage after wind farm construction.
S is for St. Louis Arch - The newly proposed wind energy turbines are comparable in height to the tallest national monument in the United States. How would our landscape change in Tazewell County with hundreds of these monument height turbines erected?
T is for Trespass Zoning - How is it legal for any wind turbine or it effects to trespass onto any part of a Tazewell County citizen’s property, who has not agreed to the turbine effects or signed a contract with a corporate wind energy company? Wind turbines are expansive and can trespass by casting shadow flicker into homes and buildings, causing continual noises and vibrations above allowed measurements, throwing ice condensation from blades during cold temperatures, have the potential to “steal” wind energy from neighboring properties, can prevent future wind turbine expansion on neighboring properties, and more.
U is for Undisclosed Information - Revenues paid to local school districts. While monies paid to the local area school districts do increase the first few years after wind turbine power plant areas are erected, what is not disclosed is the rate at which wind power plants depreciate, and in return, public funding dollars decrease while state funding for school districts does not increase. Does this create stress and financial problems under Illinois’s evidence-based funding principles which rely on the district's property taxes?
V is for Visual Intrusion - Is this the last time you will see the untouched horizon and beautiful landscape of Tazewell County how it was formed? Take in a sunrise or sunset on a country road. Go outside and look to the west, east, south, or north. What do you see? Do you love the way God made Tazewell County? Industrial wind would forever impact our serene heartland and destroy our gorgeous views?
W is for Waste - Where will these wind turbines end up after their life cycle has expired? By 2050, all turbines today will be past their useful life and deemed waste. All of the components to create a wind turbine are dependent on coal and there are certain aspects (such as the blades), which are not recyclable. The blades alone will produce 43 million metric tons of waste by 2050, plus will be 1/8 of all plastic waste worldwide.
X is for X Marks the Spot - Illinois is the #1 soybean producing and the #2 corn producing state in the country. Tazewell County alone produced 28,897,000 bushels of corn and 8,392,000 bushels of soybeans in 2021. Why is some of the most valuable farm ground in the Midwest being marketed and taken out of production for Industrial Wind?
Y is for Years - 57 years. That is how old children born in Tazewell County today will be when the land is no longer under lease to industrial wind corporations. How much has technology changed in your lifetime?
Z is for Zoning - Current Tazewell County zoning states that a wind energy turbine only has to be 750ft from a dwelling or no less than 1.1 times the height of a turbine. Is this a safe and effective way to protect our individual property rights? Tazewell County wind ordinances were last reviewed in 2009, it is time to update them!
