Local anti-wind gadfly Chris Aichholz joins Advertiser-Tribune as ‘guest columnist’

TIFFIN, OH — A local man best known as being one of the leaders of the controversial Seneca Anti-Wind Union has now “signed on” with a local newspaper.

A source familiar with the agreement says the Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin now prints SAWU leader Chris Aichholz’s columns with his new title, “Guest Columnist.”

This move suggests readers of the Advertiser-Tribune can likely expect to see more anti-wind propaganda coming from Aichholz being printed in the coming weeks and months.

Aichholz and his group have been accused of spreading propaganda linked to the coal industry, and “provoking angst and fear” among area residents.

Here are some of the sources Aichholz has previously cited while spreading his anti-wind message:

• Aichholz emails the commissioners a Forbes article, If Renewables Are So Great for the Environment, Why Do They Keep Destroying It? The article was written by Michael Shellenberger, a pro-nuclear activist who once represented the administration of then-Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
• Aichholz forwards to the commissioners a “study” titled The True Cost of Energy: Wind by Randy Simmons and Ryan Yonk of Strata, an organization funded by Koch Industries. Simmon’s ties to the Kochs were subsequently examined by the Washington Post. In 2015, Checks and Balances Project talked with Simmons and he admitted his funding.
• Aichholz emails a post by National Wind Watch, another national anti-wind group. Tom Stacy, a board member since 2010, has ties to the Heartland Institute, the fossil fuel-funded think tank behind controversial attacks on climate science and renewable energy policies.
• Aichholz forwards an article from the Center of American Experiment, a Minnesota-based “think tank” whose director of operations has written, “Increasing CO2 in the atmosphere ’greens’ the planet and helps feed the growing human population.”
• Aichholz sends a blog post from Master Resource, a “free market” forum. Its principals are primarily from the fossil fuel industry.