Another thing, I'm sick of being labeled a "fanatic", and "anti-environmentalist", a "NIMBY" who cares only for what this means to my land... it's just not true. Most Bent Mountain citizens are here because we love nature and love this planet. We want to preserve and care for the mountains that have preserved and cared for us.
Mountains are a non-renewable resource, and we should cherish them and the ecosystems they support.
Some people say that this wind farm will be great for Roanoke, creating jobs and so on... but that is just not true! There is nothing saying that Invenergy has to hire local people to build the turbines... and after they are built, they require maybe one or two minimum wage workers for any security or maintenance. Where are these jobs then? They don't exist!
The people in the valley have been brain-washed into thinking that these turbines will create hundreds of jobs, reduce the cost of their energy bills, and allow them to continue living their excessive, energy-consuming lives guilt-free. This is just not true.
My alternative to the alternative of industrual wind being thrown down in the middle of the most densely populated and expensive area on this side of the state? How about researching solar and geothermal energy production... that seems to be where the future lies! Countries that have utilized wind energy for decades are now looking for ways to dismantle them and get their energy some other way. Wind can be helpful as a back-up source, but with the current technology, is too space consuming and difficult to ever be relied on to fully replace other kinds of energy.
We should also focus on educating individuals and helping them to re-examine their own lifestyles, how they use energy, and come up with sensible ways to conserve!
What about jobs? We desperately need some job creation in Roanoke, so in order to help the environment and create real, long-term local jobs, how about implementing a mandatory community recycling program?
It is crazy that Roanoke county doesn't have one yet, crazier still that VA hasn't made recycling for all counties mandatory. By creating this recycling program, we help our environment, reduce waste, teach individual responsibility for the planet while creating jobs. We would need people for management positions, pick-up, sorting, etc. That would be a much better way to help the planet and our community without dismantling an entire town and destroying a mountain in the process!
What do you think?
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