The Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA) and the (Hazlet Environmental Commission’s (HEC) NIMBY opposition to the proposed Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) windmill is ludicrous.
As alleged environmental groups, they should welcome the opportunity to see wind power come to the Bayshore and reduce dependence on carbon fuels and ultimately reduce energy costs for an authority supported by the taxpayers and residents of the area.
They cite potential for explosion and fire of the turbine. There is probably more chance of explosion and fire of any of the equipment used in this sewage treatment plant. There is more of a health hazard from a potential sewage spill or a deliberate discharge from failure of equipment.
These windmills are all over the landscape of northern European countries that are well ahead of us in producing green energy. They are in use in Atlantic City and there is another one going up in Bayonne for a sewage plant. The construction will also create immediate needed jobs.
HAQLA and HEC should be more concerned about why BRSA commissioners rejected the three lowest bids in favor of the costlier Conti Construction bid. This decision will have a direct impact in increasing the sewer taxes and fees on the overtaxed residents of the Bayshore area. This abuse decreases our quality of life.
As a Raritan Bay fisherman, I find the southern bay along Keyport and Union Beach littered with garbage and marine-killing plastic bags. I continue to see degradation of the few wetland areas and continued wetland invasion by spartina-killing phragmites. I have attended beach cleanups sponsored by Clean Ocean Action and see it poorly attended.
What real efforts have these two Hazlet groups done to improve the Bayshore environment? I’d like to see these groups dedicate their energy to cleaning up the filth in our shore areas and to push for wetland creation, protection and replanting. There should be a serious effort to ban the use of plastic bags by stores in the Bayshore and seashore towns and expanding the efforts of the Baykeeper.
HACLA and HEC are fighting the wrong war, and their energy could be better used for real beneficial results.
Al Solana
Hazlet