PROPERTY IMPACT
Irreversible Water Damage
- A 4th generation family farm is located on the Kettle Point Black Shale Aquifer, from which it has drawn potable water for generations. As a result of the pile driving and construction of the 55 industrial wind turbine (IWT) facility and the adjacent 34 IWT facility, the waters of the aquifer are now contaminated with black shale particles known to carry heavy metals such as uranium, lead, mercury, and arsenic. The water supply to the property and those of 17 neighboring properties is no longer safe. The particles are smaller than one micron, such that they cannot be removed even by the finest filters and are easily absorbed through the skin.
- The water in a well adjacent to the Niagara Region Wind Farm, became contaminated with silt within months of the wind farm becoming operational. The sediment clogged filters and ruined a cold water tank, water softening unit, reverse osmosis system, hot water tank, and rendered toilets inoperable.
https://www.scirp.org/journal/jss Search: Access to Justice by Alan Whiteley
Loss of Property Value
- It surely seems logical enough, anything that would cause a potential buyer to value a property less lowers its value. The value of property, after all, is just what someone is willing to pay for it. Markets are about supply and demand, and all things being equal, why would somebody choose to buy a home with an industrial wind farm nearby? And simply put, it seems impossible to believe that wind turbines would actually add to a property’s value. Many Treasure County residents have a substantial amount of their personal wealth tied up in their property. The devaluing of their personal property is the same as taking money straight from their wallet.
- Dr. James A. Chalmers, qualified as an expert witness in over 20 states, found that residential properties near transmission lines sold for 20-50% less than comparable residential properties. -“High-Voltage Transmission Lines and Rural, Western Real Estate Values” published in The Appraisal Journal 2012.
- “Residential property values are adversely and measurably impacted by close proximity of industrial-scale wind energy turbine projects to the residential properties,” up to 2 miles and a range of 25% to approximately 40% of value loss. -Michael McCann, of McCann Appraisal, LLC based in Chicago.
- Wind turbines absolutely do impact property values: “Turbines complicate your property enjoyment, period. That alone spells depreciated value…they will also cause a significant loss of real estate value.” -John Leonard Goodwin, a real estate broker.
- In 2013, an Ontario Superior Court of Justice determined that landowners living near large wind farms do suffer from lower property values, with the court accepting a 22-55% reduction.
- Wind turbines and associated transmission lines severely depress local real estate values.
http://windturbinepropertyloss.org/site/windfarms-make-homes-unsellable/
“The erection of a wind turbine creates apprehension in the general public, which makes the property less desirable and thus diminishes the prices of neighbouring property…” “Continuing scientific uncertainty over the adverse health consequences of wind turbines only serves to perpetuate the debilitating effect of wind turbines on property prices.”