HUNTING AND WIND FARMING What will the future of hunting be like in North Dakota if more wind farms are
And NOW, another question is: Are these large (non-resident) corporations Read the following eye opening perspective on these two issues by Dennis Stillings. |
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WELCOME TO OUR NEW INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE
Originally published in the Valley City Time Record on Friday, 21 August 2009
By Dennis Stillings
Reprinted with permission from Dennis Stillings
As many of you know, my wife and I have a home nestled among the wind turbines in Grand Prairie township. There is not a single human habitation within at least a mile of us. One would think that finding a good direction for sighting in a .308 rifle would not be a problem. It is. There are wind turbines to the north, south and west, and all are close by. There is also the occasional, unexpected NextEra white utility truck. The best direction for sighting-in is to the east — over County Road 27!
This situation got me to thinking about the effect the wind farms might have on hunting.
Current and planned wind farms in North Dakota will cover thousands of acres of prime hunting country. This may have at least a couple of unfortunate consequences.
1. Contracts between wind farm developers and landowners state that the latter are responsible for the safety of wind-farm service personnel working on turbines on the landowner’s property. An example of such a statement: “If Owner hunts and/or discharges firearms on and near the Easement Properties, Owner shall take such precautions as are reasonable to ensure the safety of [name of WF developer] site personnel and the protection of Wind Farm Improvements on the Easement Properties during and after construction of the Wind Farm.”
How far, exactly, might a landowner’s liability extend? Will he be responsible for the actions of hunters — whether invited or not — on his property? It is almost a certainty that the occasional potshot will be taken at the towers and turbines with high-powered rifles. Such vandalism can be accomplished by someone who is not even near the landowner’s property. Is the landowner liable for the damage? It would seem to be reasonable for the landowner to forbid all hunting on his property in order to avoid this level of risk exposure.
2. The presence of 400-foot wind towers dramatically compromises the image of North Dakota as relatively unspoiled hunting country. One of North Dakota’s great assets is its feel of authenticity. In my opinion, once thousands of acres of good hunting land have been disfigured by hundreds of wind turbines, all the fuss about “canned hunting” becomes meaningless. I find it hard to imagine that out-of-state hunters, looking for an authentic hunting experience, would be happy to pay to hunt on land dominated by monster machines.
We’ve got the windmills and more are coming. Add a few large clown heads to the mix and we can have the hunting experience equivalent of a round of miniature golf.
The loss of money due to the lack of interest in hunting North Dakota’s pinwheel prairies could be made up by copyrighting and marketing a “Hunting the Wind Farms of North Dakota” video game.
In such a game, one would specify the nature of the hunt — waterfowl, upland game birds, big game, etc. Points would be gained by picking off deer close to wind turbines (it has been observed that animals gather close to wind turbines, probably because the noise is paradoxically less annoying there than it is farther out). Points would also be made for shooting game birds so they do not fly into the whirling blades and get chopped to bits. Points would be lost for accidentally hitting the wind tower hardware or for hitting a white utility truck. Anyway, you get the idea. Use the Dakota Pride label. Scarcely anyone will pick up on the irony.
Are wind farms legal in ND?
Yes, they are, especially if they are used in local co-op organizations and fit the definition of a “family farm.”
On the other hand, something has apparently been overlooked with regard to major wind-farm developers from out of state.
The term most used by developers to refer to their wind turbine installations is “wind farm.” This happy and cozy term gives the impression of some sort of a relationship of wind farming to crop farming. And indeed there is such a relationship. Let us accept the wind farmers’ “wind farm” designation for their business.
Although the corporate wind farms pay property tax and also pay farmers for the use of their land, the bulk of the value — the electricity generated by these corporate farms — is transmitted out of our state.
The North Dakota Anti-Corporate Farming Act has been in effect since 1932. Until 1981, all corporations — whether foreign or domestic — were prohibited from engaging in farming in North Dakota. In 1981, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly amended the law, providing that all corporations and limited liability companies were prohibited from owning or leasing land used for farming or ranching unless they met certain exemptions provided in the law. I do not know whether corporate wind farms such as NextEra meet those exemptions, or if anyone has considered the possible relevance of North Dakota corporate farming laws to the operation of wind farms, but the possibility is there.
The terms “farm” and “farming” are not confined to food crops. One definition of a farm is “an establishment at which something is produced or proces
sed: an energy farm.”
Wind farms are energy farms. Wind farms transform a natural form of energy — wind — into a controllable and transmittable form of energy — electricity. So do food farmers transform the natural substances of soil, water and seed in the presence of light-energy into another form of energy — food.
Yes, corporate wind farms are indeed farms, but are they legal?
"The fact is that the Scottish people - as opposed to their politicians - are waking up to the realisation that wind power is one of the greatest hoaxes of our age."- Christopher Booker in 'Scotland's beauty will be sacrificed to 'renewable' fantasy', Sunday Telegraph 4/8/07.
"I have studied the debate, arguments and statistics and come to the personal conclusion that wind farms divide communities, ruin landscapes, affect tourism, make a minimal contribution to our energy needs and a negligible contribution towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The landowner and developer are enriched, while the consumer is impoverished by higher energy costs. Turbines are ugly, noisy and completely out of place in our beautiful, historic landscape."- UK Press, Nov. 30, 2009, Wind farms blight landscape - Duke.
"Wind power is an idea that is appealing to the imagination. It sounds like a 'free' source of energy that would be non-polluting and stable in cost. I am an optimist, and I love technology. If I thought for one moment that windmills would be a source of low cost energy, I would be building them. The reality is quite the contrary - wind power is wasteful of human and natural resources." - Fergus Smith, VT. (Source) Notable Quotes.
"Wind salesmen mimic the memes of environmentalism to sell their industry, often in ways so deceptive or contrary as to mock the very movement they claim to promote. Current policy of unlimited consents for wind power stations is tragically flawed, will never be the answer to climate change issues, cannot fulfill the national energy supply requirements expected of it, and inflicts an extensive and unjustifiable environmental cost." - Fergus Ferguson (Source) Notable Quotes.
"Wind energy has again been shown up for what it is, an expensive way of saving a derisory amount of CO2. It is, frankly, a disgrace, that the wind turbine farce continues in the name of saving the planet. The [UK] Government should intervene immediately and stop these projects - they are a waste of our resources." - Nina Thorpe in 'Turbine Figures Blown Off Course', by Robert Brooks, Newcastel-upon-Tyne 12/27/05
"If we knew what would happen, never would we have signed a contract that puts our friends and neighbors through this." - Hal Graham, Cohocton, New York. (Source) Notable Quotes.
"The trouble with wind farms is that they have a huge spatial footprint for a piddling little bit of electricity... ." - Sir Martin Holdgate, former chairman of the British Renewable Energy Advisory Group. (Source) Notable Quotes.
"Industrial wind is almost the perfect enterprise for our era, as it produces no meaningful product or service but is subsidized up to 80 percent by rate and tax payers. Like many "celebrities," it is famous for being famous, not for its actual performance."- Jon Boone in email to IWA 1/8/0
"In very simple terms, if wind farms are the answer the question must be: how can we waste the most money in an utterly useless exercise?" - (Source) Herald Sun.
"A single 555-megawatt gas-fired power plant in California generates more electricity in a year than do all 13,000 of the state's wind turbines. The gas-fired plant sits atop a mere 15 acres. The 300-foot-tall windmills impact over a hundred thousand acres to provide expensive, intermittent, insufficient energy." - L.M. Schwartz (Source) Industrial Wind Action Group.
Prairie Cuisinarts?
Lost Landscapes
Masters of the Earth
Of Noise and Nimbys
The Inconvenient Truth for Al Gore
The Dakota Beacon (pay particular attention to the last paragraph)
Wind Alert
Wasting Tax Money on Wind Power and Foreign-Owned Firms
Wind Company Spends $1.75 Million to Buy Out and Gag Its Victims
Landowners: SLOW DOWN WIND ENERGY
Letter to North Dakota PSC
Morrison Residents Reject Wind Farm in 245-18 Vote
Wind Power's Dirty Secret? Its Carbon Footprint
Wind Turbine Kills Bald Eagle
Environmentalist Bobby Kennedy Calls out the Wind Power Sham
Wind power takes a blow around Minnesota
Self-Destructing Wind Turbines
Wind Energy Information Video
Hundreds Protest Transmission Lines
Transmission Lies
Wind Mills are Killing Our Birds
Vulture Collides with Wind Turbine Blade
Industrial Wind ... a soon-to-be forgotten energy source
The Fiction of Climate Science
Minnesotans for Global Warming
Polar Bears Laughing at Al Gore
Europe's Carbon Mafia, and Ours
Organized Crime & the Wind Industry
Federal Judge Halts Wind Project - Wind Turbines Violate Endangered Species Act
Study: Wind Farms = Bird Killers
Cape Wind Sued for Violating Endangered Species Act