01:00 AM EDT on Friday, October 17, 2008
Barrington windmill foes produce video
BARRINGTON — The battle to block a wind turbine on town-owned land in hopes of saving on Barrington’s electric bill has gone multimedia.
Opponents have begun circulating a professional-quality 16-minute video blasting the $2.4-million proposal, accusing the town of rushing into the project without fully assessing the costs and benefits. It also asserts that the spinning blades, high on a peninsula at Brickyard Pond near the East Bay Bike Path, will generate too much noise for neighbors and kill birds.
The committee developing the project, which has posted its analysis in detail at BarringtonEnergy.com, says the nearest home would be 1,000 feet from the turbine, the noise will be no louder than a bubbling brook, the blades will kill fewer than five birds per year, and the town stands to save $3.9 million in energy costs — and possibly a lot more — over the next 20 years.
Tony Caner, a member of Citizens Wind Watch of Barrington, said the group produced the anti-windmill video, called “Throwing Caution to the Wind,” because the town committee’s presentation has been slanted in favor of the turbine. The video is available on YouTube.com and will be aired Monday at 6:30 p.m., and at other times throughout the week, on Channel 9 of the Full Channel cable system.
The Town Council has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school auditorium.
— C. Eugene Emery
