Read the Fine Print

To the editor:

We all have heard of Wind Farms that generate electricity from the blowing wind. Many companies are scrambling to get the rights to land to build such farms and make money. If they didn’t make money there would be no wind farms.

The big question is whether the land owner is enriched by these wind turbines. A land owner is mesmerized by the quick profit to be made for doing nothing. Much like the days of oil and gas leasing of their land. Are these wind farms any different than oil and gas exploration and production? Really, the answer is no. The farms extract energy derived from wind blowing across lucrative land with high potential for returns on investments. Much like oil and gas leases. Companies do not invest capital for exploration and development on worthless land. Much like wind farms don’t invest where there is a low return on one’s investment.

Landowners who willingly sell or lease their land for wind farms without truly understanding what they are relinquishing without legal representation will only be disgruntled when they finally realise what they sold away. Hopefully, before anyone signs away their land right to any number of companies without knowing their rights will have nothing to complain about.

The one piece of advice will be that even with oil and gas leases one should get legal advice and not be swayed by a quick dollar. Wind energy extracted from your land is exactly the same as oil and gas extracted from your land.

Frank Chlumsky Muldoon