<br /> <h1 style="background-color: white; color: #4993c3; font-family: Constantia, Georgia, 'Goudy Old Style', serif; font-size: 27px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 36px; margin: 0.3em 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> Ontario Bays Initiative Land Trust Statement<br />on Wind Power Development in Our Service Area</h1> <div style="background-color: white; color: #4d4c4c; font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.2; padding: 0px;"> <br /></div>

Ontario Bays Initiative, Inc. is a land trust whose service area includes eight townships in western Jefferson County. OBI’s mission is to preserve and protect the unique landscapes, habitats, and ecologically-sensitive lands in our service area for the benefit of future generations.

The OBI board has carefully considered the possible impacts of locating industrial wind turbine complexes in our service area. While OBI embraces the development of renewable energy sources, where appropriate, we believe that these sources should be carefully sited. In each proposed wind turbine project the environmental and aesthetic costs of turbine development must be carefully considered.

The eastern Lake Ontario region hosts one of the greatest bi-annual bird migrations in eastern North America. This region is an important - and perhaps critical – overwintering site for many species of “mouse raptors” in the northeast. These birds are of great ecological value to our region. Industrial wind turbines will most certainly take a toll on these creatures through habitat impacts and possible direct mortality. In addition, our area contains several declining bat populations, including the federally endangered Indiana bat. Recent studies have shown that turbines are a serious threat to bats and may have significant impacts on their populations.

A part of OBI’s mission is to preserve scenic viewscapes for future generations to enjoy. These beautiful land and lake vistas will be altered forever with the addition of massive turbines.

Clearly, the siting of industrial wind turbines in many areas of western Jefferson County area is at odds with OBI’s mission. Therefore, OBI has serious concerns about wind turbine development in this area and feels that such developments here are largely not in the best interest of human residents and our ecological communities.
[OBILT]