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Re: 'Community windmill meeting hijacked,' Letters, Nov. 26

Joe Trentadue's letter shows exactly why the NIMBY crowd at the wind farm study meeting didn't get what they wanted. He starts off by saying the meeting was about a proposed wind farm when in fact, as the organizers made clear, it was about a two-year study to investigate whether the area would even be suitable.

Secondly, he states outright his belief that the presenters were trying to "delude" the community. No answers they gave could be taken at face value. They all had to be interpreted as part of a conspiracy.

Now, I'm not sure what his definition of a community is but this event was put on by Toronto Hydro Energy Services about a study that could impact the future of Toronto's electricity supply. Moreover, as a move that could combat both air pollution and global warming, any large wind farm development would affect far more than the 1,000 people in the auditorium.

More people in the GTA will die from air pollution during the study period than there were at the meeting.

I can see the proposed study site from my second floor window and I can see where wind turbines could be located from my front yard. However, I am one of the 100 or so people who took the bus on my way from work to get to the meeting, so apparently, my opinions are to be discounted.

By the time I left the meeting, I had counted more "local" people speaking in favour of the study than against it.

Trentadue's letter makes it clear that he doesn't want an offshore wind farm. The behaviour of his fellow NIMBYs in interrupting the presentation and booing and interrupting people who spoke in favour of the study shows who was really attempting to hijack the meeting. They were hoping to use the meeting not to gather information about the study but to shut it down.

Fortunately, the majority of the people from the area, along with a number from outside the area, put the good of the community ahead of their own narrow interpretation of their interests.

I hope the study shows that an offshore wind farm is viable. Canada is far behind our Kyoto commitments and we are running out of time to tackle global warming.

Gary Dale