10+ WAYS TO TAKE ACTION

THE BIG PICTURE

  1. Watch this short video: What’s Wrong with Wind and Solar. [5 min]

  2. Watch this documentary: Planet of the Humans (free on YouTube) to understand the global, manipulative, big-money politics behind so-called clean/green energy. [1.5 hours]

  3. Learn to recognize deceptions: These are manipulative tactics used by wind and solar companies to get people to sign contracts. [15 min]

TRUE STORIES

  1. Find out why many farmers regret signing wind and solar contracts

  2. Watch “Life with the Dekalb Turbines,” by a couple who lived surrounded by 13 industrial wind turbines. [various 5-min chapters; 42 min total]

  3. ***IF YOU DO ONE THING: Watch this presentation by Ted Hartke, a first-hand account of a family driven from their home by wind turbines. [25 min]

FACTS IN THE FIELD

  1. Look at the Fayette County Assessor - ARC-GIS - Interactive Parcel Map to understand the scope of planned wind and solar installations across Fayette County. [10 min]

  2. Find out how much wind and solar industrialization reduce property values. Get the facts from actual real estate appraisers (not from self-interested energy companies) [5-60 min]

  3. Hear examples of wind turbine noise. [5 min]

  4. Understand shadow flicker (at a residence; in the woods) and wind turbine noise pollution (both auditory and sub-auditory/infrasound), which can cause sleep disturbance and health problems. [5-30 min]

GET INVOLVED

  1. Share our website with your friends, family and neighbors. [10 min]

  2. Check out wind-watch.org and No To Peoria County Windmills.

  3. Follow Save our Countrysides and National Wind Watch on FaceBook. [5 min]

  4. Read about Illinois House Bill 4412 (HB-4412) which prevents counties from protecting residents from predatory wind and solar companies. [30 min]

  5. Write to the Fayette County Board to oppose the rapid wind and solar industrialization of our countrysides. Ask them to host a community meeting to discuss what’s happening (a meeting for local residents, not an energy company sales pitch or propaganda session). [10-30 minutes]

MORE DETAILS

GLOBAL CONTEXT

Planet of the Humans

This feature-length documentary (available free on YouTube) explains in detail how industrial wind and solar don’t live up to their utopian promises of “clean/green energy” and aren’t viable without major government subsidies (meaning a whole lot of taxpayer dollars).

The big-money global politics and greenwashing propaganda may explain why Governor Pritzker suddenly flip flopped on local control of industrial wind installations and signed House Bill 4412, despite 70% of Illinois counties opposing it. Do you think somebody is getting a kickback on this project?

ILLINOIS POLITICS

House Bill 4412 (HB-4412)

This Issue Brief by the Illinois State Association of Counties gives an overview of HB-4412, signed into Illinois state law by Governor Pritzker in 2023. The law takes away county-level authority to protect residents and landowners from predatory wind and solar energy companies. It has a lot in common with eminent domain and was basically cookie-cutter legislation, written by energy industry lobbyists, that they're pushing not just in Illinois but in other states as well. HB-4412 declares counties aren’t allowed have any restrictions more strict than state-level regulations (which provide bare minimum protections).

For example, to ensure that a wind turbine wouldn’t crush your house and kill you if it tipped over, the bill mandates a minimum setback from occupied houses. If at that distance, however, the noise pollution and shadow flicker would make your life awful, they don’t care and you have no recourse.

Additionally, HB-4412 specifically prohibits a “property value guarantee” or “property devaluation escrow account.” So in addition to the loss of our views and quality of life, we're expected to eat the cost of a 25-45% property devaluation, while a Polish company makes hundreds of millions of dollars. THIS is how you know it’s a bill ghost-written by industry lobbyists.

PROPERTY DEVALUATION

How much wind and solar industrialization reduce property values

Realtors and licensed real estate appraisers have reported—time and time again—that industrial wind and solar complexes immediately cause property values to drop 25-45%, double the time it takes to sell a property, and in some cases make houses unsellable. Energy companies routinely gaslight property owners about this, claiming it isn’t true. Wind and solar companies are not real estate appraisers. Get the facts from actual real estate appraisers: