Earlier this month, I saw a letter that posed many questions. Here are my answers: Yes, I was able to sit through all but the last night of testimony in the February ZBA hearings, during which I took notes and politely listened to both sides being presented. Yes, I have contacted experts in the fields of concern to educate myself; that is how I became familiar with operational curtailment and mitigated lighting systems. Yes, I have spent innumerable hours researching scientific articles and have spoken to those who live and farm in the footprint of a wind farm.  Yes, I have consulted with legal counsel regarding the issues presented and have paid for such with my own money.

The decommissioning plan is laid out in the lease forms included in the special use permit application. The information within the special use permit application is the DeWitt County Board’s responsibility to question as part of the job it performs for the county, since I am not responsible for the fiscal responsibilities of the county.  

In 2008, per the National Bureau of Economic Research, America was in a recession, the largest banks recorded billions in losses, the price of gas was $4.12 a gallon, our sons and daughters had been fighting the Persian Gulf War for five years with no end in sight at an estimated cost of $ 3 trillion.  There was destruction of oil fields in the Middle East, our allies were being beheaded and burned alive by our enemies, and non-Muslim women were being kidnapped, raped and enslaved. 

Seven years earlier, the World Trade Center was demolished, the Pentagon was attacked, and a flight that ended in Pennsylvania may have saved the Capitol. This was the situation when I first heard about the proposed wind tower project in DeWitt County. As a strong believer that we needed to be free of any ties to foreign oil, I was also a believer that any options that were available, which also had the added benefit of clean energy (i.e. hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, biomass, marine/surf energy, and yes, even wind power), should be supported and utilized. My decision to support wind power was not for monetary gain but for freedom from the situations that were news of the day.

In the past few years, America has become independent of foreign oil, but with the casting of the next vote or the stroke of a pen, this could change and we could return to the situation of 2008. If every part of the nation would utilize the options available to them, America would NEVER have to be a pawn of the oil producing nations of the Middle East again. This is the reason that I favor alternate energy production, not because I am an uneducated, easily swayed ninny who wanted to fill my pockets with cash and create issues for my neighbors, but because I believe it is the right direction for our nation to move.

Kim Spencer

Clinton