Letter to the Editor As a life-long resident, business owner, and landowner in the target area, I am strongly against the turbinepowered wind farms being solicitated and built by foreign corporations in Lincoln County for several reasons.
First, the foreigners have no connection to, or concern for, the heritage of our people, nor our land, water, livestock, and wildlife that we all enjoy in our beautiful area of the state. They are in it for their money. Talk with any landowner in Western Oklahoma who allowed multiple 600’ towers to be built on their property, and they will tell you that, “yes, I got paid, but there’s not enough money on earth for the destruction of my family’s lifestyle”.
Second, these towers have shown to be unsafe for the health of the landowners and their neighbors, livestock, wildlife, and for the aquafer that most of us use as our sole water source. The towers emit constant ground tremors, expel hydraulic fluid and other toxins into the air and earth, and have little to no recycle value at the end of their “green” lifespan. At the end of the day, the people left having to address the problems created by the wind turbines are the landowners, not the foreign company that installed them. We’re all left to clean up the mess because the foreigners are here to make money off us. They’re in it for their money!
Finally, the tactics and promises of these companies engaged in obtaining the contracts from the landowners defy the ‘Oklahoma way’ of doing business. They use different sales tactics such as telling landowners, “all your neighbors have signed, are you going to let them have all the money”? Who uses these tactics? Are the cities and municipalities going to receive extra funding from the tax monies collected? Show me a school or county in the State of Oklahoma that can attest to the fact that they’ve received a penny from these land leases. Think Lottery! The foreign companies are only here for the money they can make off us.
The fallacy of the foreigners’ story about the power generated by the wind turbines is that, in fact, it does not benefit us here in Oklahoma – the power goes out of state and does nothing to improve the citizens of Lincoln County. The fantasy is that by signing over access to your land for construction of the wind turbines you are doing something positive for your family, friends, and Lincoln County. Don’t believe the foreigners coming in to take advantage of landowners for an “Oklahoma minute”.
Kim A Evans