Tower heights need to be regulated.
As engineers figure out how to construct larger wind turbines, the turbines keep getting taller and taller. The figure below shows that turbine height has now doubled in the past 10 years, from 316 feet to now almost 600 feet.
To provide perspective, the iconic Quincy Mine Shaft is 120 feet tall, the towers on the Mackinaw Bridge are 552 feet above the water, and Brockway Mountain is 728 feet above Superior.
The ground level elevation of the based of one proposed wind turbine will be 1,410 feet. The turbine is going to rise 575 feet above this ground elevation which places it’s overall height of 1,985 feet. Again, for perspective, the turbine will be 1,104 feet higher than elevation on Sharon Avenue in Houghton and 865 feet higher than the Hancock location.
Circle Power is talking about turbines that are almost as high as two football fields (almost 600 feet high). Greater tower height is directly associated with all the negative impacts associated with industrial wind turbines, greater noise levels, farther dissemination of produced noise, greater disruptions to wildlife, larger physical footprint on the ground, and degradation local road infrastructure. The wind company wants as large as structurally feasible turbines to maximum their capture of the wind and thus profits. There thus needs to be regulations to restrict tower height that considers the health and well-being of residents in a place to call home.
In terms of their visability, these industrial machines will be 575 feet tall and are being placed on some of the highest points in the local area. The turbine blades in fact are longer than the Quincy Mine Shaft is tall. How could one not see them? You can see Whealkate Bluff (near South Range) from many locations in the local area.
Circle Power has presented some artist renditions to suggest residents will not see the machines. This is simply false. Of course, we could sit in our deer blind and not see them. Circle Power has hired an artist to make renditions from strategic blind sports around the township to suggest their turbines will be hidden behind 50-foot trees. Lets be realistic, our days will be filled with a visual blight that will impair our enjoyment of the Keweenaw Ridge and is simply not compatible with the many historic and natural attributes of the area. People live in and visit the Keweenaw to escape these industrial intrusions, not to live underneath them and view them every day.
Circle Power is also stating that we won’t see them because we have 50-foot trees in our communities. This is ridiculous. You can see from the figure above, that in comparison, the iconic Quincy Mine Shaft is 120 feet tall. Does anyone not see the Quincy Mine Shaft throughout the local area because of 50-foot trees? And also Circle Power forgets that many of our trees don’t have leaves on them for most of the year.
As one example of how far you can see these machines, take a look at this map showing locations where we would have seen wind turbines placed on the Huron Mountains (and by the way, these turbines were not as high as the 575-foot turbines proposed for Adams Township and the study did not look at the height of the blade tip). https://savethehuronmountains.org/2019/02/01/view-map-wind-farm-foes-release-project-sight-analysis/.
The map you see on this website only looks at a viewshed of 25 miles away from the proposed turbine locations in Baraga County. The bright orange areas on the map are where the nacelles of the turbines would be visible all times of the year (the nacelle is the center of the turbine, where the blades meet and a flashing light is located, not the highest point where the turbine tip is located). The lighter orange areas are where nacelles would be visible in the fall or winter when the leaves have fallen.
