[pct-l] Wind farms crossing PCT at Cameron Canyon and Kelso

[Timothy Nye]

The proliferation of windmills along the trail also really bothered me last
year.  It wasn't just the presence of the farms themselves, although more
about that in a second, but that there appear to clear indications that
these could become the  most obvious, "litter" problem of the
immediate future.  These could despoil not just the trail but the
surrounding remaining wilderness areas.

After I-10 the windmill farm is well past it's expected life expectency.
This should be good news as it continues to generate power.  But take a
closer look and see what is becoming evident further up the trail as well
as at Altamont Pass in the East Bay and elsewhere.  Abandoned no longer
functioning windmills.  Rusting, in some cases twisted, eyesores ensconced
on some of the most visually prominant locations in the surrounding
landscapes. Some of these have been left literally for decades and
continues to be inexorably joined by their fellows as they reach the end of
their respective lifespans.

Windfarms are an economic business.  They are being subsidized in many
ways.  This allows well connected developers to erect them at below market
cost and with a guarenteed purchaser or the resulting power.  There is no
evidence that I am aware of that any provision is being made to sequester
funds to provide for their removal.  Based on experience I expect the
companies involved to become defunct with this expense the least of their
concerns.  If you ever drive over the Altamont Pass from I-5 turn your gaze
to the literally hundreds of no longer functioning turbins that have
languished for literally year after year in full public view.  When do you
think those are going to be removed and by whom?

In my opinion, the presence of these turbines has the most negative effect
on hiking and the wilderness than any other factor other than perhaps
logging; although with logging the land can heal itself and isn't slowly
being tranformed into highly visible vertical land fills.  As the bearings
go out of true, the shrilling of these turbines is a further distraction.
It sounds like the land of the demon in the movie Plotergeist. The irony
here is that these places are constructed in the name of saving the
environment.  Dams and resevoirs generating renewable hydropower are bad,
turbines good.  Leaving aside salmon and steelhead runs for the moment I
would note that in California dams are no longer permitted even where such
runs no longer exist such as the Auburn dam site.  I found the whole thing
totally dispiriting when I hit the Lassen area and saw that the crest
streching northwards from there is now also crowned with the thorns of
proliferating turbines.

Comparatively speaking as to the environment, windmills are causeing the
most immediate and potentially long term environmental damage to the
remainiing wilderness areas, albeit damage that I fear will be born by our
children after we have long since reaped the "benefit" in the name of
political correctness.

Of course, this is just my view.