Visual Impact

Day

What does a 400 foot tall structure look like on top of a ridge line? Chautauqua Wind Power LLC will tell you that it looks beautiful - we would disagree. Right now, the dominant feature of the landscape in the Westfield and Ripley area is the lush green slope up to the ridge. This beautiful scene can be seen all the way from Canada. If Chautauqua Wind Power LLC is allowed to develop an Industrial Wind Power Project on the ridge, the dominant feature of the landscape will be their turbines with the ridge line being a stage. The animation below started with a photograph that was taken from Hardscrabble Road, about two thirds of the way up the ridge, looking up the slope to the top of the ridge where one of the turbines would be located. The wind turbine was then superimposed over the photograph in proportion - that is to say that the size of the turbine is in no way exaggerated relative to the height of the slope.

This is one of 34 sites that would have turbines on them. Notice how the turbine dominates the view landscape. Also consider that this site and others that would have turbines are close to high quality residences and that one of the reasons many people live in this area is the absence of visible industrial sites.

There is an existing installation at Fenner, NY that uses the same turbines as those proposed for the ridge in Westfield and Ripley. Chautauqua Wind Power LLC, In their document entitled "How Does The Chautauqua Wind power Project Compare to the Fenner Wind power Project", explains the similarities between the Fenner Installation and the proposed installation at Westfield and Ripley. The two projects are very similar, from the turbines used to the fact that they are along a ridge line to the fact that New York State tax money was used to fund the project. The photo below shows a location in Fenner. If you click on the image, you will be taken to a page with other photographs from Fenner along with some descriptive text.

This picture was taken in Fenner, NY. The turbine shown here is over a half mile behind the home in the foreground. This turbine is one of the models proposed for Westfield and Ripley. Click on the image for more information and other pictures from the Fenner site. Thanks to Ed Sliwinski of the Sardinia Preservation Group for this picture.

Do you want this to be the view from your home?

Flicker

The turbines that are proposed for the ridge line in Westfield and Ripley turn at a maximum speed of about 20 revolutions per minute. On a sunny day, this will create flicker at a rate of 60 cycles per minute (3 blades X 20RPM) and when the sun is low in the sky, such as evenings and in the winter, this flickering can occur some distance from location of the turbine.

The image above shows how long the shadows of a 400 foot tall object, like the tip of the turbine blades, would be with the sun at two different elevations. The vertical red line indicates the turbine location. The green line indicates where the shadow of the turbine blades would fall when the sun is at an elevation of 20 degrees from the horizon, which is close to the maximum elevation angle of the sun for many days during the winter. The blue line indicates the shadows when the sun is 10 degrees from the horizon. These elevations of the sun happen in the morning and evening in the summer and during the morning and afternoon in the winter. When the sun is at 10 degrees, there will be 60 flashes every minute or one every second at a distance of 2,258 feet or almost a half mile from the actual turbine. As the sun rises to or sets below this elevation, the distance of the flicker from the turbine increases. What is the big deal? At best, this flicker is an annoyance to somebody who experiences it. At worst, flicker from wind turbines can trigger seizures in those who are susceptible. For most people, the effects are somewhere in between yet the developers have not, as of yet, been required to enter into any sort of agreement with people who may be affected by the flicker, such as neighboring land owners. To make matters worse, these turbines can be placed as close as 600 feet to a neighbouring home and the homeowner has no recourse.

Night - Light Pollution

One of the beautiful things about this area is the dark starry night skies. The Federal Aviation Administration mandates certain lighting requirements on all structures over 200 feet in height. These requirements can range from white strobes to red flashing lights. Either way, if Chautauqua Wind Power LLC is allowed to build their Industrial project, there would be a line of lights stretching 5 miles along the ridge. All of this light would destroy the darkness. It is also medically proven that dark is very important to general good health and well being. Instead of dark nights, the ridge would look like an airport landing strip.

Now think about what would happen on a foggy night - there are plenty in this area. Fog diffuses light and at an average spacing of 750 feet (34 turbines over 5 miles - but actually, at the Westfield/Ripley site, the turbines would be in clusters - which would make the situation worse since the clusters are very close to prime residential property!) most of the ridge line, a portion of the plateau above the ridge and a large piece of the slope could be lit by a diffuse red glow in the case of red lighting. In the case of strobes, or blinking lights, the entire sky could appear to be flashing.

How would you like one of these enormous structures within eyeshot of your back yard?