D-Day vets: Wind turbines off Normandy beaches a ‘desecration’

[PoliticAverse]

American D-Day veterans are crying foul over a French initiative, approved last month by President Nicolas Sarkozy, to construct over one hundred 525-feet wind turbines just off the Normandy landing grounds.

Gérard Lecornu, president of the Port Winston Churchill Association of Arromanches, says the giant structures, expected to be built seven miles offshore, will be visible from the Normandy battleground beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

“Three million tourists come from the world over to the landing beaches. The first thing they do is look at the line of horizon from where the landings came,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “D-Day is in our collective memory. To touch this is a very grave attack on that memory.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/15/d-day-vets-wind-turbines-off-normandy-beaches-a-desecration/#ixzz1V6dDpRpY

[txlibdem]

1. D-Day was a fight to save the world, can't we save it from global warming, too?

Not blaming anyone but the use of fossil fuels is certain to destroy the world as we know it. We can already see the beginnings of a long term attack by mother nature against us. Isn't that something that's worth fighting against?

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Sometimes I wonder

If all sacred sites were declared untouchable, how long would it be before we were paralyzed?

For example, Paris was becoming hemmed in by their own cemeteries, until the late 18th century, when they moved the bones of all their dead into the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris">Catacombs.

[Nihil]

4. Ah, the beautiful ambiguities of the word "sacred"!

What's the betting that some of the same American D-Day veterans who are
protesting this proposal would be quite happy to see a coal mining company
take the top off a mountain "sacred" to one of the Native American tribes?

Or drill for gas in a "sacred" lake?

Or destroy archeological sites for the sake of oil prospecting?

But I'm sure that their pet "sacred site" is "different" isn't it?

:eyes:

As txlibdem noted in #.1, the fight against fossil fuels is even more deadly
than the fight against fascism that those brave veterans were prepared to face
(even though some of *their* parents would have warned them about the risks
and the futility of such a fight after the previous "war to end all wars").

:shrug:

[Kolesar]

5. :nailed:

:thumbsup:

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. And (of course) in this case, we’re not talking about putting wind turbines on the “D-Day” beaches

merely in sight of them, ruining the view for those who try to imagine the view the Nazis had of the invasion forces…

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. And you might think that a horizon dotted with turbines looks more like an invasion fleet

than an empty horizon. They're asking for the view to be frozen at the Nazi, pre-invasion viewpoint.

[pscot]

3. What horseshit.

[ChandlerJr]

7. D-Day vets, who the hell do they think they are?

The Kennedy family or something? It's not like they have paid for and own the views. Buncha NIMBY's.

[kristopher]

8. No suprise that the world's #1 nuclear cheerleader Sarkozy would create a controversy like this

They area should be an exclusion zone out to at least 9 miles offshore. It is deliberate shit-stirring by the nuke industry.

[One_Life_To_Give]

9. At 7 miles they won't be that visible

Just a little piece sticking up above the horizon on a clear day.

[silverweb]

10. D-Day veterans? How many are left?

Two of my uncles were part of the D-Day landing. One died 2 years ago and the other will be 90 later this month.

Just how many surving D-Day veterans can there be to protest this project that would have zero impact on the landing beach, which is the actual "sacred" site? And why would they be against clean air/water?

Sounds like a bullshit "protest" to me.

[truebrit71]

11. I'm caught in two minds on this one....

...on the one hand the Normandy beaches are amazingly beautiful but sombre places and their history should never be over-looked, but on the other hand it does seem daft not to take advantage of such a natural resource...

I think that they should probably go ahead with the project...the memories and sacrifice won't be harmed by the advance of time or the pressing need for cleaner energy...

It would be a different story if they were closer to the shore or actually on the beaches themselves...

[The Croquist]

12. I've got mixed feelings too

I've never been to Normandy but how similar is it to it's 1944 appearance? I'm guessing that there are allot of new hotels, restaurants and attractions. If such I don't think it's a big deal.

On the other hand if it's relatively untouched I can see an argument, maybe.

I've been to Gettysburg, PA where the National Parks Service has taken great pains to make it look like it did in 1863 complete with planting and removing stands of trees that aren't in the 1863 pictures. Something like this would be an issue but Gettysburg is the exception not the rule.

The grave / monument of General Mcpherson, killed in the Battle of Atlanta, is behind a Checkers fast food joint.

[caraher]

13. I was there last June

It definitely does not look just like it did in '44 (which should be a GOOD thing!). There are plenty of sites where some things are preserved (such as German coastal batteries, Pointe du Hoc). The idea that the *first* thing anyone does is gaze at the horizon and imagine the invasion fleet coming into view is such rubbish; my thoughts were certainly far more focused on the shoreline and the hell on Earth man create over a small stretch of the coast.

But as with the Cape Wind project, I've little sympathy for hand-wringing over aesthetics. Do the trig. They say these will be 525 feet tall and 7 miles out. The angle these would subtend is the inverse tangent of (525 feet)/(7*5280 feet), which is 0.8 degrees. How big is that? Smaller than the diameter of a dime held at arm's length.

[The Croquist]

14. Thanks for the info

Maybe the next step is to ban modern fishing vessels, sightseeing boats and ALL commercial shipping from within sight of land.

Yes I am being sarcastic...