Windfall: An Independent Film about Wind Energy

I watched this on Netflix last night, it’s a free streamer by the way if you have their service. It’s an independent film made about wind energy in Meredith, NY which is in Delaware County. I highly recommend that people who think they actually have a grasp of what modern wind energy is and think they really know what it looks like and what its benefits are should watch this documentary.

One thing that should be noted upfront is that supporters of alternative energy who have the courage to watch this film will solely blame the big evil greedy corporations for wind’s shortcomings in their rush to make profits and it’s totally misplaced.

In this case the blame rests completely on the federal governments rush to come up with green energy solutions without regard to their environmental impact, cost or benefits. It set up these wind companies with huge tax breaks to build them. The wind generators cost around $3 million each to build, the feds give a $1 million tax break and the State of New York gives a $1 million tax break to build them. The other million had to be raised by Wall Street investment firms.

First and foremost the blame has to be laid at the feet of the ignorant local officials on the town council and the town planning commission that got duped into agreeing to a wind farm by not really doing enough research on the impact of what 430 foot wind generators would have on their community. The City as a matter of course didn’t see any positive financial impact to their coffers as a result of the project but investors made millions on this governmental con.

Once the process of building these wind generators began most of the citizens of the county were in the dark about what the impacts were. So as they started being built and realized what impact they’d have the outrage grew and the story of their fight to stop them began.

One of the leading people on the town council was a big land owner in Delaware County. He wanted the wind generators and sold part of his land to build some of them. Another member of the town council was an attorney who tried to dictate policy about the wind generators and obviously was totally out of her league about the consequences once construction and implantation of the wind generators began.

I looked for movies reviews on Yahoo’s movie site and found one. Why? Because the truth slams Greenies smack in the face about wind’s problems and they can’t deny or explain it away after watching this film. If you’re the kind of person who wants to be informed about important issues that impact all of us I encourage you to watch this film and spread the word about its message.