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This [Cape Wind project] is precisely the kind of renewable energy that pretty much every Earth Day speech since 1970 has demanded that we develop. Now that it's finally here, though--now that we're talking about particular windmills in particular places, not abstract and squeaky clean 'wind power'--people aren't so sure...But I've given my share of Earth Day speeches, and seen the effect they had. Sooner or later you've got to do something.
-- Bill McKibben, Author of The End of Nature |
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Wind farms do not hurt property values, study finds
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
First-ever national analysis of data refutes claim advanced by wind energy opponents
YARMOUTH PORT, MA – A recently released, comprehensive study of modern, large wind farms in the United States has found no evidence of negative impacts on property values.
In a majority of cases, properties that had a view of wind turbines appreciated in real estate value more quickly than nearby properties that did not have a view of the wind turbines, according to the study.
The government-funded study, The Effect of Wind Development on Local Property Values, prepared by the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP), examined 25,000 real estate transactions within five miles of ten of the larger wind farms built in the United States between 1998 and 2001.
In a prepared statement, REPP Research Director George Sterzinger commented, “REPP gathered an extensive database and examined over 25,000 property transactions…If there were any systematic harm to property values from wind power projects, it would have shown up in the data”.
American Wind Energy Association’s Executive Director Randall Swisher also offered comment in a prepared statement, “We are pleased to see that the first systematic study on the issue of property values and wind power development yields the good news for landowners that wind projects do not harm viewshed property values.”
Cape Wind President Jim Gordon was not surprised by the study’s findings, “This new study is consistent with the experience being reported in Europe, where no harm has been found to occur to real estate values of coastal communities where offshore wind farms have been built.”
The study can be downloaded from REPP’s website: www.repp.org
The American Wind Energy Association’s website is: www.awea.org
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