We Are Not Safe

Dear Editor,

Recently, our family was devastated to learn that a block of four massive Industrial Wind Turbines are planned to be installed within less than a mile from our small family homestead. The map shared at a local town board meeting solidified our fears. Some had bought into Pattern Energy’s money scheme and entered into contracts and discussions, with complete disregard and disrespect for the consequences their decisions would have upon their neighbors. 

We live just outside of the tiny rural town of Edmund, in a circa 1850s farmhouse. It seemed that we were safe from big-city living, corporate greed, and industrialism. We love the quiet country atmosphere, the quaint peaceful calm all around us, the small-town feel. We thought that we were safe. Until now.

These IWT’s (Industrial Wind Turbines) threaten the way of life that this rural community has held dear for literally hundreds of years. This is a way of life that encouraged neighbors to talk to one another, to keep their doors unlocked. To cherish close-knit friendships and community in a manner that only small-town people are intimate with. A way of life where neighbors depend on one another and are concerned about the ups and downs that their friends experience. A way of life that has become obsolete in other parts of the country. A way of life where people actually care about one another. 

Because of a few people’s decisions, the majority of us are facing the devaluation of our properties, possible health consequences, weighty environmental concerns, as well as mental strain and anxiety. Nothing is safe.

We used to care about how our decisions would affect our neighbors; it was our way of life.

This way of life is not safe anymore. IWT’s, pummeled forward by big energy companies and fueled by the greed, selfishness, and desperation of small-town folks loom frighteningly large on the horizon, their greedy arms circling us like vultures ready to snatch their prey, waiting for us who hang on to the old-fashioned way of living to roll over and die. 

We thought that our homestead was safe. We thought that the Health and Safety Ordinance passed in the town of Linden’s board meeting would protect us.  

We are not safe. But we will not go down without a fight. 

What can we do? I’ve found myself asking this question over and over this week and raising my eyes up to Heaven for an answer. We can cower and accept our fate, or we can fight. We can plead with our neighbors to back out of their contracts, we can call our legislators on both sides of the political aisle; this is clearly not a partisan issue, it is a human one. And we can pray that God Himself will intervene. We will not go down without a fight. Will you join me? 

Rebekah Neal, Dodgeville, WI