October 11, 2018
When wind power developers roll in their Trojan Horse to communities boasting of multiple benefits such as more jobs, prosperity and a cleaner environment, one thing they fail to mention — and in fact argue against vehemently — is the loss in property value for those people whose homes are suddenly located inside industrial power projects.
Chicago real estate appraiser and consultant Mike McCann was someone who studied the property value loss phenomenon, and appeared before various legal tribunals and committees to talk about it.
Mr. McCann studied Ontario properties, too, and was one of the group of professionals we often called upon for advice.
Mike McCann died this week in Chicago, after a battle with cancer.
Read his Obituary here
See a summary of property value loss studies by Mike McCann here.
8 Comments
Chris. J. Arscott
A day will come when units are decommissioned. The land owner will be shocked when MNR. Tell them to remediate the land back. Remove the concrete. As high as $100.000 dollars in costs. Good luck in finding the owners of the scrap system they are long gone. Read the fine print..
Sommer
If Germany is an example of how the decommissioning will play out, here’s an article about what leaseholders might also face here in Ontario in disposing of these turbines:
https://climatechangedispatch.com/germanys-wind-energy-mess-as-subsidies-expire-thousands-of-turbines-to-close/
Stan Thayer
Hey Chris noone said landowners are smart!
Just got in from the Merivale Transformer and distribution station. Hopefully the tests will go well and people will only be out for the planned period. Surges expected!
So back to Industrial Wind Turbines.
The projected specs are bullshit!
The wind energy people are living a dream.
I am all for renewable energy. In 1977 at Mc Gill university on the west island of Montreal we proved that electrical energy from wind was not feasible then and is not feasible now!
As a doomed species on this chunk of rock we have no choice!
It is nuclear!
If you need the figures I can supply then.
Stan the power man
Wayne Gulden
I never knew Mike personally, but we worked together on a number of his studies. He was always honest and gracious, two characteristics seemingly in short supply these days. RIP Mike.
Wind Concerns Ontario
Thank you for this comment. Mike was one of those guys who, when we asked for something, would say, I’m awful busy but … and the same day you would have an answer back. Always trying on the side of the people affected. (Too bad in his last months he had to endure an egregious attack of slander by Invenergy.)
Sommer
Was Mike McCann the person who made a distinction between urban noise issues and the fact that rural residents had what is called ‘deep silence’ before these turbines came to their neighbourhoods?
It’s the loss of this ‘deep silence’ that makes these turbines so invasive, especially to people who lived in their homes for decades.
Sommer
Has anyone ever compiled a list of all of the people in rural Ontario whose property value was reduced because of industrial wind turbines sited too close? This would include all of the people who have tried to sell their properties because they are being harmed and were not able to find a buyer.
Sommer
This is an article published today on property values:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/10/22/industrial-wind-turbines-may-result-in-27-million-property-value-decline/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NWW-News+%28National+Wind+Watch%3A+News%29