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[open letter]
To the
Politically Responsible Parliamentarians
and the Competent Administrative Authorities
at the Federal -, State -, and Municipal Level
Celle, 9th Nov 1999
Ladies and gentlemen:
Under the pretence of an ecologically and economically sensible energy policy the exploitation of wind energy in the Federal Republic of Germany is being advanced by the installation of thousands of wind turbines - primarily on the coast, but now increasingly also in the interior of the country. Yet the arguments given in support of this do not in the least bear critical reflection! In reality, it is a matter of the wind industry pushing commercial interests through, to the detriment of the general public.
Throughout Germany, citizens immediately suffering from the harassment from wind turbines as well as opponents of the industrial deformation of our natural regions have integrated into over three hundred citizens' action committees and action groups to stop this disastrous development. Behind the subscribers to the resolution there is a steadily growing army of opponents of the exploitation of wind energy through wind turbines.
From the numerous reports in the media it can be inferred that the acceptance of the exploitation of wind energy is constantly decreasing among the population!
With the enclosed resolution the subscribers are addressing the public in order to point out the impairments emanating from the wind turbines and to make clear that the arguments furnished by the operators of the wind turbines are absurd in terms of energy policy.
We are calling upon all politically responsible persons and the decision makers at the administrative authorities to stop the construction of wind energy plants, that are unacceptable to large parts of the population, and to promote different, gentler ways of winning energy - also through renewable energies.
In the name of all subscribers to the resolution,
(Dr. Horst Reichel)
Resolution of the Citizens' Action Committees against Wind Turbines in Germany
Addressed to the Governments and the Parliamentarians of the Federal -, State -, and Municipal Level
Wind power is booming. Over the past three years, thousands of new wind turbines have been set up in Germany. In the middle of 1999 their number already amounted to 7 000. A further extension up to a multiple of this number is planned until the year 2010.
But now opposition of the people affected by wind turbines in their neighborhood is increasing because the circumstances, under which they have to live, have become intolerable. Over 300 citizens' action committees have already formed and are aiming at opening the general public's eyes to the unacceptable strain and the economic and ecological uselessness of wind power.
As citizens directly affected we are defending ourselves against a faulty development badly and lastingly weighing on the environment:
1. Wind power plants with gigantic heights, visible as far as 30 kilometers, ruin and destroy the best there is in our very densely populated country: nature.
They deprive animals of their living space, let people perceive the countryside only as a structure torn apart and transform our recreational and natural areas into stereotype industrial sites. Wind power plants offend the traditional time-tested principle of the separation of industrial and natural zones more ruthlessly than all other technical innovations.
2. Wind power plants wreck the social function of short-distance recreation areas. More than half the 82 million people living in the Federal Republic of Germany live in large towns and overcrowded areas. Primarily the inhabitants of large towns need the rural living space for recovery.
3. For people living nearby, wind power plants are an incessant strain on their vegetative nervous system. Reflections of light and shades, permanent noise, intermittent sound, and inaudible low-frequency vibrations cause mental as well as physical complaints or illnesses. In this way, the basic right to physical and mental well-being is violated. Citizens for whom the emotional stress with its physical effects gets unbearable are threatened with expulsion from home.
4. Wind power plants reduce the value of real estates by up to 50 percent. Losses up to that extent are also caused to hotels and boarding houses because wind power plants shorten the stay of guests and lead to a decline in reservations.
5. Wind power plants violate the statutory protection of the neighbor - an essential pillar of our constitutional state. Law-courts speak of "recklessness" in connection with their construction.
6. Wind power plants are unecological and in the last analysis completely ineffective regarding to energy supply, the preservation of natural resources, and the protection of the climate. Through them not a single conventional power station can be shut down. Moreover, wind power plants are uneconomical.
Therefore, as has already been expressed by 100 professors and other authors in the Darmstadt Manifesto, we demand:
Stoppage of the expansion of wind energy;
Suspension of the remuneration for the feeding of electricity into the mains as well as of all subsidies and tax allowances for wind energy!
Instead of this, advancement of effective measures such as increasing the efficiency through the coupling of power and heat, modern gas - and steam turbine power stations as well as sensible renewable energies and extensive energy economy measures!
Responsible:
Gerda Ackermann, Oberer Hirnberg 15, 55767 Oberbrombach, phone: 06787/8567
Iris Drews, Milower Weg 14, 17337 Lübbenow, phone 039745/20620
Elke Schiffer + Eva Schindler, Sellbachstr. 9, 67701 Schallodenbach, phone 06363/1013 or 993889
Dr. Horst Reichel, Flachsberg 10, 29229 Celle, phone 05086/2212
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