 Maple Ridge Wind Farm Tour
CAIRE helped coordinate a wind farm tour that was organized and paid by Gaia Power for residents of Amherst Island on February 29, 2008. Towards this, Gaia undertook a postal run a month before the tour to inform all the 170 Amherst Island residents of the upcoming free bus tour, and everyone who showed interest to participate in the tour was accommodated. In addition, the council and staff of Loyalist Township were invited and were represented by Deputy Reeve Bill Lowry and Councilor Carl Bresee. Also was present a well known bird watcher who writes bird-siting logs for Prince Edward County. A total of 47 people enrolled for the trip and barring some last minute cancellations, 38 participated, with 6 among them being Gaia landowners.
The tour was for Maple Ridge Wind Farm that is located near Lowville in rural Lewis County of upstate New York. This wind project is spread over 21,000 acres of land on a 12 by 3 mile stretch and comprises of 195 wind turbines of 1.65 megawatts capacity each. More information on this project can be found at http://www.mapleridgewind.com
Before and after the tour, the tour participants were asked to take part in an anonymous poll comprising of the same 12 questions that are most commonly asked. In addition, most of the questions were framed negatively so as to support the argument of a typical wind farm opponent. For example, instead of asking, do majority of people support wind projects, the question asked was, do majority of people oppose wind projects. Below are the findings of the poll results and some of the comments received, both before and after the poll.
1) Birds: Do wind turbines kill birds?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
18%
|
21%
|
16%
|
18%
|
24%
|
0%
|
|
After Tour
|
5%
|
47%
|
3%
|
29%
|
13%
|
0%
|
2) Property Values: Do wind turbines reduce property values?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
16%
|
21%
|
29%
|
18%
|
13%
|
0%
|
|
After Tour
|
3%
|
13%
|
21%
|
24%
|
37%
|
0%
|
3) Viewscape: Do wind turbines look ugly on landscape?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
8%
|
24%
|
11%
|
32%
|
24%
|
0%
|
|
After Tour
|
8%
|
8%
|
8%
|
29%
|
45%
|
0%
|
4) Agriculture Land: Do wind turbines lead to loss of agriculture land?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
3%
|
18%
|
26%
|
16%
|
34%
|
0%
|
|
After Tour
|
0%
|
13%
|
5%
|
29%
|
50%
|
0%
|
5) Carbon Emission: Do wind turbines increase consumption of fossil fuel for power?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
3%
|
3%
|
26%
|
21%
|
45%
|
0%
|
|
After Tour
|
3%
|
0%
|
8%
|
21%
|
66%
|
0%
|
6) Water Table: Do wind turbines reduce ground water table?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
3%
|
5%
|
45%
|
8%
|
34%
|
3%
|
|
After Tour
|
0%
|
3%
|
16%
|
34%
|
45%
|
0%
|
7) Public Opinion: In your opinion, do majority of people oppose wind turbines?
|
Preferences
|
Strongly
Yes
|
Somewhat
Yes
|
Neither
Yes or No
|
Somewhat
No
|
Strongly
No
|
No
Response
|
|
Before Tour
|
3%
|
16%
|
39%
|
| | 
