Nov. 7, 2009

This week as I drove west on Highway 3 into a slight headwind, I had a strange sense of ambivalence. It was like I was seeing something that had been there for years for the first time and started to wonder if it was a good thing or the creation of a monster.

Back in the early ‘90s, a colleague wrote an article on the first wind farm in the area, 50 or so turbines on Cowley Ridge. They were a novelty, early signs that someone was thinking of alternatives to dirty fossil fuels for power generation. According to the article, the provincial government, a long-time supporter and benefactor of the fossil fuel industries, was less than enthusiastic and hardly supportive. But, the developers went ahead.

Now, the area sports 14 wind farms, with enough turbines twisting in the wind to dominate the landscape. They’re everywhere, it seems.

Of course, that’s not the end of it. At the eastern edge of the Piikani lands, you’ll spot early stages of transmission line development – towers on their sides spread for miles awaiting installation. They’re part of a 100-km, 240-kilovolt line from Pincher Creek to Lethbridge to patch increased wind-generated power into the provincial grid. Some believe it will ultimately help facilitate export of our power to the U.S.

During public hearings on AltaLink’s application in 2007, area landowners had a long list of issues, among them the effects on human and animal health of electromagnetic fields, negative impact on land values, humming noise, radio-TV interference and farming impacts and weed control.

Concerns over visual impact were similar to the complaints about the growing number of wind turbines. In fact, former Premier Ralph Klein reportedly found them visually unappealing. The prospects of more vertical detractions from the breath-taking vistas of the Rockies and Porcupine Hills brought suggestions that the lines be put underground. AltaLink cited costs in rejecting the suggestions.

Albertans in a survey released this week seem to favor putting lines underground and would even accept higher utility bills to help pay for it. The province rejects that solution based on cost.

So, here’s the root of my ambivalence: I accept that wind-generated power as a renewable resource is a good thing. It’s clean and makes use of a Southern Alberta feature we have in abundance – wind. It has its drawbacks, among them noise and presenting a danger to migrating bats, which researchers have found a solution for.

But it’s the visual distraction of the turbines and now the transmission towers that gives me the most angst.

I’ve always wondered at what the first people who saw the Prairies end abruptly at the Rockies might have thought and can only assume it must have included awe. I’m still dazzled by the sight, but it’s increasingly difficult to filter out the tools of the wind industry.

On the other hand, maybe I could just keep my eyes on the road.