Environmental hearings on DWP limited to serious health risks

Environmental hearings on DWP limited to serious health risks | www.citizen.on.ca | Orangeville Citizen:

The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) will consider only whether the Dufferin Wind Power project and its transmission line pose serious risks to human, animal and plant health or would cause irreversible damage to the environment, among similar considerations, the preliminary hearing was told Monday.
The actual hearing is set for Aug. 20 in Grace Tipling Hall, Shelburne. There’ll be a few familiar faces participating along with several lawyers of note who’ll be acting for some parties to the hearing.
Toronto lawyer Eric Gillespie is representing Dennis Sanford of Melancthon in opposition to the project. Mr. Gillespie gained turbine recognition in Chatham-Kent proceedings a couple of years ago, and is currently waging a multi-million-dollar battle over turbine leases near Stayner, among other actions.
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Neighbors complain of Vermont wind woes

wherein a developer opines wind opponents are "just short of crazy" - for warning people who aren't "just short of crazy" about the threat facing them.

Neighbors complain of Vt. wind woes - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-: 

The Milton Independent recently wrote an article saying that Georgia Mountain Community Wind co-owner David Blittersdorf described the people who complain about wind turbine noise as just short of crazy. Blittersdorf says his words were misconstrued.
"It was out of context; I was talking about generally across the state, across the U.S., the opponents to wind are not always grounded in reality. When we talk about facts on sound levels and things that are said that are not true," Blittersdorf said.
Blittersdorf says he made a visit to Johnson earlier this week to hear the concerns. He says although people like Johnson may not support this project, he stands by the project.
...
Johnson says although the turbines are in compliance with the state, his experience living with them so close is unbearable. He wishes more people could understand.
"Even though there's significant data you can get, you have to really experience it," he said.

Continue reading, and view video, at WCAX.COM
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Turbine flight risk

Turbine flight risk : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery

The Ontario Liberals installed unsafe wind turbines around an airport. Rebecca Thompson tells David Menzies that despite the flight risk they aren't coming down yet.

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Wind turbines ARE a human health hazard: the smoking gun

Wind turbines ARE a human health hazard: the smoking gun – Telegraph Blogs:

How much more dirt needs to come out before the wind industry gets the thorough investigation it has long deserved?

Picture from source article

The reason I ask is that it has now become clear that the industry has known for at least 25 years about the potentially damaging impact on human health of the impulsive infrasound (inaudible intermittent noise) produced by wind turbines. Yet instead of dealing with the problem it has, on the most generous interpretation, swept the issue under the carpet – or worse, been involved in a concerted cover-up operation.
A research paper prepared in November 1987 for the US Department of Energy demonstrated that the "annoyance" caused by wind turbine noise to nearby residents is "real not imaginary." It further showed that, far from becoming inured to the disturbance people become increasingly sensitive to it over time. 

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TOO Close the Victim's Stories

"TOO Close the Victim's Stories":

This is a preview of "TOO CLOSE the victim's stories" The full length documentary featuring these and many more touching stories of those living and suffering in the shadows of the Fairhaven Wind Turbines premiers in September. The film also takes a look at the backroom politics behind how this project came to be. Watch for "TOO Close the Victim's Stories" this September.

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State group to make recommendations on turbine noise regulations

Massachusetts panel to include turbine neighbour and acoustician Stephen Ambrose

State group to make recommendations on turbine noise regulations | SouthCoastToday.com:

Recognizing potential shortfalls of current noise regulations, the state Department of Environmental Protection has formed an advisory group to help steer the agency's policy.
The 16-member technical advisory group includes acousticians, public health professionals, representatives of the wind industry and a neighbor to the Falmouth Wind turbines. The group will consider changes to MassDEP noise regulations and policy as they relate to wind turbines.
"It is an acknowledgement that noise from wind turbines is different," DEP spokesman Edmund Coletta said.
In Massachusetts, any noise source is considered in violation of noise regulations if it is more than 10 decibels louder than ambient noise, or the background noise level of a particular area or neighborhood. Those regulations do not take into account the different nature of noise from wind turbines, which many say can be more irritating because of its "wooshing" quality, called amplitude modulation.
"When the blades are spinning, the sound is different; the amplitude modulation makes it different," Coletta said. "That's really what the group is looking at more than anything else."

Continue reading at SouthCoastToday.com
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Harrison to the MOE on Noise

"Three compliance tests demonstrate the under-estimation by up to 15 dBA, up to 12 dBA and up to 8 dBA respectively.  Some of this under-estimation can be put down to bad engineering; some can be put down to the science of sound generation and propagation that has been published over the past two decades but not acknowledged by the Ministry of the Environment."

Harrison to the MOE on Noise - Amherst Island Wind Info:

John Harrison has been studying the noise produced by wind turbines for a number of years.  Recently he submitted a report to the Ontario MOE going over (yet again) the many reasons the actual measured noise levels are far above what the Ontario noise limits and even farther above what was predicted by the proponents.  He has every reason to believe that the actual noise levels that will be experienced by many of the residents of Amherst Island will likewise be above Ontario’s limits.
His evidence for this belief is substantial.  In this report he presents 3 case studies where the measured noise levels were above Ontario’s limits.  Two of those case studies (Lormand/Ashbee and Libby) have appeared on windfarmrealities previously.  Added is a case study at an unknown location in the Melancthon area.

Continue reading at Amherst Island Wind Info

Summary from John Harrison's Report
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Risky Ontario wind turbines remain despite order to be removed

Sun News : Risky Ontario wind turbines remain despite order to be removed:

The MPP for Chatham-Kent Essex Rick Nicholls said the turbines need to come down to avoid an aviation accident.
Sun News also spoke with two concerned pilots about the ongoing issue.
At a news conference last week, PC MPP Monte McNaughton said the province should "absolutely" intervene and order the turbine company to remove them at their expense.

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Wind Meatballs

This important editorial published by the editor board at the largest daily newspaper in Denmark responds to the recent 'Act on Facts' campaign launched by turbine maker, Vestas. An English translation of the piece is provided below.

www.windaction.org | Wind Waffle:

"Act on Facts" is the name of a global campaign that the wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems has launched against what the company describes as 'a small but well-organized and influential minority that has succeeded in launching some outrageous claims about wind power' .
"We now take of the gloves and will provide quality rebuttals to our often unscrupulous opponents," declared Communications and Marketing Director Morten Albaek.
But their campaign was hardly launched before Professor Henrik Moller, civil engineer Steffen Pedersen and Associate Professor Christian Victory Pedersen from Aalborg University sent a letter to the editor of this newspaper on 28 June sharply criticizing Vestas' attempt to monopolize the truth about wind energy that would be biased in favor of the company.

Not surprisingly, noise is a central issue in "Act on Facts," and where Vestas argues, among other things, that the noise of a wind turbine from 400 meters away is less than the noise of an average refrigerator.
With sober scientific clarity, the three experts from Aalborg University counter-claim that wind turbines make noise 10 decibels more than an average refrigerator. Let us point out that a difference of 10 decibels is considerable.

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Do These Statements Sound Like They’re Coming from Nimby’s?

National Wind Watch reproduced this ad, "paid for by "a concerned and disheartened Dufferin County family."

Do These Statements Sound Like They’re Coming from Nimby’s? | National Wind Watch:

“I have had to permanently move out of my home because of this problem… Since I have moved to another location I have no longer had any health problems related to the noise from the wind turbines … All of the parties involved in creating this problem have been notified about it … and absolutely nothing has been done about it.”

Image from article (.pdf here)

“We are left with a basic existence — loss of family — you know you are worth absolutely nothing”
“We keep about 20 nanny goats, for the past 20 months they have had abortions, not a single kid was born alive, all aborted before term, others died within 3 hours of birth.”
“The level of hopelessness and helplessness can’t be measured — we are in our 3rd year and it never ends”
“All of us here have suffered with many severe headaches, ringing ears, heart palpitations and unending fatigue… When will there be some relief? Will it ever end? When will we ever get a good night’s sleep again?”
“We have lost our health, our home and no one cares”

Continue Reading at National Wind Watch - or view the ad as a .pdf

The ad lists a number of sites to gather more information: "www.windvictimsontario.com • www.illwind.org • www.globalwindenergyimpact.com •www.windvigilance.com
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5th International Wind Turbine Noise Conference (2013)

The Conference Programme is not set for the 5th International Wind Turbine Noise Conference (2013) to be held in Denver August 28-30.

Some prominent names from Ontario:

29 August 2013
Effects of WTN on Individuals

08.00 Audit report: Literature reviews on wind turbine noise and health
Brett Horner, Carmen Krogh and Roy Jeffrey, Canada

08.15 Wind turbine noise: What has the science told us?
Loren D. Knopper et al, Canada

08.30 Perception change of soundscape as wind turbine alters community sound profile
William K.G. Palmer, Canada 

08.45 Trading off human health: Wind turbine noise and government policy
Carmen Krogh et al, Canada 

09.00 Wind turbine facilities’ perception: a case study from Canada
Peter N. Cole and Carmen Krogh, Canada 

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ERT hearing limited to arguing IWT health effects

ERT hearing limited to arguing IWT health effects | Local | News | Lakeshore Advance:

Forced to stick to arguments centring around the original appeal about the potential health effects of industrial wind turbines in the Varna wind project, representatives of the Middlesex Lambton Wind Action Group (MLWAG) could not pursue additional complaints about public safety issues at the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) held at Seaforth’s town hall last Wednesday.“One wonders where public safety fits in – I can’t understand splitting that from health concerns,” remarked Harvey Wrightman of MLWAG after panel chair Paul Muldoon heard a request to rule on the issue from both Varna Wind Inc. counsel John Terry and Ministry of the Environment Director’s counsel Danielle Meuelman.The original MLWAG appeal against the 40-turbine wind project in Bluewater and Huron East centred around potential causes of health concerns, including infrasound, low frequency noise, audible noise, visual impact, shadow flicker, stray voltage and electromagnetic fields.The group then raised other issues about the proximity of wind turbines to wellheads, compressor stations and gas storage, the intersection of an existing 500 kV double circuit transmission line and the risk of falling turbines, tower collapse and fire to both property owners and travellers, a move both Terry and Meuelman successfully blocked at the hearing by asking it be ruled inadmissable.

Continue reading at the Lakeshore Advance:
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Remove eight turbines immediately: Nicholls

Things come in threes: This report is of activities following orders to remove turbines at GDF Suez's new Raleigh/Dillon wind project.
The President of GDF Suez Canada is former President of the Liberal Party of Ontario, and current President of the Liberal Party of Canada, Mike Crawley.
Remove eight turbines immediately: Nicholls | Local | News | Chatham Daily News:

The turbine company that owns eight turbines south of Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport should do the right thing and remove them immediately, says Rick Nicholls.

Image from source article

The MPP for Chatham-Kent Essex said Wednesday the cost for removing the turbines -- which has been ordered by Transport Canada -- would be far less than having to pay a lawsuit involving a possible airplane accident and the adverse publicity that would follow.
Nicholls said the turbines should come down "sooner than later" to avoid a serious aviation accident or tragedy.
The MPP also said the eight turbines should be removed at the expense of GDF SUEZ, the company that owns them, and not at the expense of Chatham-Kent taxpayers.
"It's a safety issue and the safety of people who make use of the airport is the No. 1 issue,'' said Nicholls, in a telephone interview.

Continue reading at the Chatham Daily News
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Sue Hobart Testifies: bring real doctors to study affected homes

The Windwise editor's note attached to the article explains the Hobart Home:

Bruce McPherson bequeathed funds to study wind turbine health effects. The field study was performed at Sue Hobart’s home in April 2011. The data was subsequently analyzed and published in 2012 in the peer-reviewed journal article “Wind turbine acoustic investigation: infrasound and low frequency noise – A case study“ by Stephen Ambrose, Robert Rand, and Carmen Krogh in the Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 32(2) 128-141.

Sue Hobart Testifies: bring real doctors to study affected homes | Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts: 

We have been forced to abandoned our perfect home to protect our health—had no choice. Our home is empty and our savings are gone but we are alive and attempting to recover from this heart breaking and faith shattering experience. But we are not there by a long shot.
I cry every day I go back to my now toxic home…I wish with all my heart and soul I could still live there… but it’s impossible to rest there and one cannot live without sleep. I won’t even get into the other symptoms because by now you should have heard of them or you are not doing your homework.
Our home was the site of the MacPherson Report.* More homework? You should know what that is by now too. You should also know that these health problems are proliferating as fast at the turbines all over the world. This is not “something about Falmouth…or Fairhaven or Kingston or Situate….” this is something about industrial sized wind turbines. They affect people the same way all over the world. The WORLD…. it’s not about crazy people either…ITS ABOUT WIND TURBINES!"
So there is obviously a growing a health problem and, given that more and more people are suffering from these carelessly sighted turbines, by who’s right do we continue to be ignored and degraded?
Is it the right of the Governor, based on some unqualified random “green” goal to push this agenda up our backsides at the expense of human health and well being…?

Continue reading at Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts
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Ontario's misguided reliance on renwable ‘green’ energy

Maybe The Chronicle Journal (the Newspaper of the Northwest) sometimes prints nonsense in order to obtain high quality responses - such as it displays today.

Ontario's misguided reliance on renwable ‘green’ energy | The Chronicle-Journal:

Living here in Northwestern Ontario, I tried to understand what it might mean to me and Ontario residents in general, if CAPE’s advice is followed in Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan Review.
With our decimated industrial user base, power demand the week before the Canada Day weekend in the Northwest was so low, the “old” green power from OPG’s largest regional hydro-electric station on the Nipigon River was caused to shut down and power was purchased instead from politically-in-favour “new” generators at twice the cost.
In Northwestern Ontario, hydro-electric generators, bought and paid for by Ontario taxpayers and electricity consumers decades ago, that can sell power to the grid for 50 per cent of the “new” green generators, are shut. So in future, if more green power is legislated into the grid, will more “old” hydro green energy be curtailed in our region?
CAPE also petitioned the Ontario government to be more aggressive in reducing Ontario’s dependence on nuclear, and even natural gas, to “save lives.”
After the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Germany, a recognized leader in renewables like solar and wind power, declared nuclear generation verboten. But Germany knows renewables need back-up when the wind don’t blow and the sun don’t shine. So with nuclear being phased out, two new coal-fired plants opened in Germany and six more will in 2013 for a combined capacity of 5,800 MW! And 27 gas-fired plants are in the works.
If CAPE’s statistics on Ontario deaths are correct, then Germany has just condemned hundreds of its people to die and hundreds of thousands to new illnesses.

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Commentary on"Wind Farm Noise - an ethical dilemna"

The original "technical note" by S. Cooper is now receiving commentary.

Wind farm noise – an ethical dilemma for the Australian Acoustical Society? | Industrial Wind Action group

Summary:Australian acoustician Steven Cooper examines the responsibility of Members of the Australian Acoustical Society to a community where people are forced to leave their homes because of wind farm "noise". His technical note can be accessed by clicking at the links at the bottom of this page. 

ABSTRACT
Not since the opening of the Third Runway at Sydney Airport has there been so much publicity in Australia concerning noise - in this case wind farms. Putting aside the issue of noise versus inaudible noise there is a question being raised as to Members of the Society breaching the Code of Ethics. This is not the old question of Professional versus Learned Society. Reliance upon criteria contained in Guidelines or Standards may be an excuse by consultants that in turn places the "fault" on the SA EPA and the New Zealand Standard. However, if people making complaints to no avail and leave their homes because of the wind farm "noise" what is the responsibility of Members of the AAS to the community?

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Wind power: Government should get it right

This article is from the print edition of the Picton Gazette, July 11, 2013

OUR OPINION
Decision was correct for Ostrander, but still missed mark  

THANKFULLY, the endangered Blanding’s turtle takes up its residence near Ostrander Point and Ontario's Environmental Review Tribunal decided the construction and ongoing operation of industrial wind turbines in that habitat was too significant a threat to its survival to be ignored.
That’s good news, barring appeal, because it takes away a wind project that had the potential to do damage to a lot more than just one species of turtle. The county’s south shore is still an Important Bird Area and it is still located on rare alvar habitat. From testimony the tribunal heard, there is reason to believe the natural environment would be impacted and there are no guarantees even with the best of mitigation methods suggested, that damage would not be done to the many species that live among that habitat. In fact, it would have been nice to see an even stronger message from the tribunal about the potential for that harm so this community can stop fighting internally and stop raising money to wage a similar war over future planned projects.

It also appears the tribunal didn’t go far enough in addressing human health when considering the
impact industrial wind has on those around them.

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Environmental Review Tribunal to hold Preliminary Hearing regarding wind turbines

Environmental Review Tribunal to hold Preliminary Hearing regarding wind turbines | www.citizen.on.ca | Orangeville Citizen:

Environment Review Tribunal has issued a notice of a preliminary hearing on Monday, July 22 at 10 a.m. at Grace Tipling Hall, Theatre at 203 Main St. East in Shelburne with regard to the installation of Dufferin Wind Power Inc. wind turbines in Melancthon.
The purpose of the hearing is for the Tribunal to review the renewable energy project in accordance with the Renewable Energy Approval and whether or not it will cause serious harm to human health or serious and irreversible harm to plant life, animal life or the natural environment.
The hearing is also in place to rule on requests from groups and individuals for Party, Participant or Presenter status, to identify the issues to be considered at the Main Hearing, which will take place on Aug. 20 at the same location, and to deal with any preliminary matters that may be raised by those involved.
Those interested in obtaining Party, Participant or Presenter status at the Preliminary Hearing must provide their request in writing (preferably by email) to the Case Coordinator at by 4 p.m. no later than Thursday, July 18.

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Feds to work with company on deadline on removing turbines

..Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope has sent a letter to Transport Canada critical of their handling of the announcement that eight turbines had to be removed.

Feds to work with company on deadline | Local | News | The London Free Press:

Transport Canada officials will work with a wind turbine company to set a practical deadline for the removal of eight turbines south of the Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport.
Brooke Williams, a spokesperson for Transport Canada, told The Daily News Monday no decision has been made on a date.
She did say that on at least two occasions prior to installation of the wind turbines, Transport Canada advised the wind farm representatives that height restrictions were in effect in the area around the airport.
The Daily News learned in June that Transport Canada was enforcing safety rules and requires the removal of eight wind turbines that are impeding height restrictions imposed by the airport zoning regulations.

... 

Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy said wind turbines and airports don't mix.
"Why would you risk the life of a pilot for a little bit of turbine-generated electricity?'' he asked.
Bondy said his concern is that the municipality may end up having to pay the huge demolition cost because the turbine company was issued municipally-approved building permits.

The entire article can be read at The London Free Press


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Big Wind turbines, health and disease - a Danish perspective

www.windaction.org | Big Wind turbines, health and disease - a Danish perspective: 

Documents based on the right of access in environmental and other Danish authorities have shown that already in the late 1980's there were complaints about the noise, but local as well as central authorities generally refused to investigate, and did not involve medical expertise. This happens also today.
Despite these complaints for over 20 years, unfortunately no medically based research has ever been conducted in Denmark, even not as a base for "safe" distances and noise limitations. The only research has been engineer-performed noise measurements and calculations. This ignores the human physiological impact of the wind turbine noise, previously shown in research into the impacts of other noise sources. Engineers are not physicians, and therefore cannot assess the impact on human health. Furthermore, those acoustic engineers closely connected with the wind industry have an obvious yet rarely acknowledged financial conflict of interest.

___ 

So please, do not continue to misinform the public outside of Denmark about the true situation for the increasing number of Danish citizens whose health and sleep is badly affected by low frequency noise from wind turbines. The language barrier between English and Danish will not hide the truth.

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