*Opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are not necessarily those of The Messenger.
Do you remember when PCBs were first found to be an endocrine disruptor, neurotoxin and a potential cause of breast cancer. We all checked our plastic food containers, Water bottles, and anything made of plastic to make sure it did not contain PCBs. Most manufacturers producing food related products have now eliminated its use. I just learned of a new threat of PCBs. One you can do nothing about if wind turbines come to your area. Industrial wind turbine blades contain BPA in the resin coating used to slow erosion that occurs on the leading edge of the blades. A Norwegian analysis calculates 62 kg (137 lbs) of material loss from each turbine annually. A paper written by Solberg however calculated that 20 turbines (130m rotor diameter) could release up to 24.8 tons of material over the course of their lifetime (approximately 20 years). The wind industry claims a much lower loss of just 150 grams per year. I don’t know about you, but I do not want any PCBs being distributed through the air to land on my lawn, my vegetable garden, the lakes and rivers I recreate in and even in my house. Without air-conditioning our windows are open six months out of the year. It takes only 1 kg of BPA to pollute 2,641,720,524 gallons of water. And what happens when the blades are replaced? Most of them are stock piled because there are very few landfills that will accept them. They sit out in the weather as more PCBs are released and washed into our lakes, rivers and underground water supply. If this upsets you, I suggest you contact your elected officials. Especially those at the state and national level since Minnesota recently passed a law taking away the ability of local governments to regulate turbines over 500 feet. Those being proposed for Rice, Goodhue, Steele and Dodge counties will be well over that height.
You can educate yourself about some of the harms that wind turbines have the potential to cause by visiting the local website saveourskylinesmn.com.
