Caution to the wind: Trouble with wind turbines

The Canadian government is thrilled to have implemented the largest Canadian green energy producing farm, 133 wind turbines, a field of rotating blades, enough to generate power for 52,000 homes.  Each turbine blade, 45 meters in length, is the size of a 737 airplane's wingspan.  Hoping to close a coal burning plant by 2014, this Canadian contribution to effecting climate change is great. 

The turbine blades move at 180 miles per hour.  This creates sound, vibration and disturbance in air pressure. Infrasound -- sounds at such extremely low frequency (ELF) that they can't be picked up by the human ear but can carry through the atmosphere for thousands of kilometers -- is believed to cause certain breathing and digestive problems [source: Infrasound Lab]. What effect does this huge field of wafing sound waves have on humans, birds, wildlife?  Rural Ontarior residents say the government has made them expendable in the name of green energy.

Wind power companies erect wind turbines by leasing property.  These leases pay $9,000-$14,000 per year.

Opposition to wind farms is growing. Critics want tougher rules governing how close turbines may be built to people's homes. Some provinces set noise limits. And in Ontario, that usually means municipalities require turbines be 400 meters away. That's three times closer than the buffer zone being recommended by health experts at France's National Academy of Medicine.

WCO Response to Ontario's Premier: NO COMPROMISE ON HEALTH

Toronto, April 27, 2009 — Wind Concerns Ontario is encouraged that the Premier of Ontario has committed to an examination of the health issues involved with industrial wind turbines.

“We’ll take advantage of the very best information that’s out there to make sure that we’re doing something that’s intelligent.”
~Premier Dalton McGuinty The Canadian Press April 24, 2009

The Premier will need to go well beyond speaking only to the manufacturers of these turbines and the Canadian Wind Energy Association lobby in order to rely on the “best information” available. There are and have been better sources of information for several years. Other jurisdictions with far greater experience have implemented stronger regulations that Ontario has so far chosen to ignore. To date the “best” Ontario Health Effects information is the Wind Concerns Ontario survey presented by Dr. Robert McMurtry to the Standing Committee on the Green Energy Act on April 22.

Wind Concerns Ontario repeats its demand that Premier McGuinty apply the precautionary principle and conduct a full epidemiological study into health effects of wind turbines before any more industrial wind projects are installed in Ontario closer than 2km to any residence. This is the only way to avoid causing serious harm to those who live beside industrial wind turbines. Medical authorities elsewhere have already recommended precautionary setbacks.

The Government of Ontario must consider these various national standards:

• Scotland requires setbacks of at least 2 km from cities, towns and villages.
• The United Kingdom’s Noise Association recommends a one-mile (1.6 km) setback.
• France will soon add the International Standards Organization’s absolute level of 25 dBA, as measured inside homes in response to the National Academy of Medicine’s earlier recommendation of 1.5 km. setbacks,
• Germany specifies maximum noise levels for three different environments or “regions”:
  • quiet, 35 dBA (Setbacks in quiet or country locations are typically 1000-1500 meters)
  • middle, 40 dBA
  • standard, 45 dBA
• Denmark, Holland, and Sweden have a maximum noise level of 40 dBA.
• South Australia’s standard is 35 dBA or background +5dB
• New Zealand is now reviewing its secondary noise limit of 35 dBA for evening and nighttime in low background

The Canadian Wind Energy Association recommends noise levels of 40-53 dBA. They state that setbacks are normally 300-600 meters but in some cases “separation distances of less than 250 meters may achieve acceptable sound levels” (CanWEA paper, “Addressing Concerns with Sound from Wind Turbines,” January 2009).

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment presently does not specify setback distances. It has established only ‘regulatory guidelines’ that allow wind turbines, depending on the wind speed, to produce from 40 to as high as 51 dBA of noise, measured not at property lines but outside homes.

The present standards for Ontario are not nearly the best but rather nearly the worst.

If the Government of Ontario aspires to be a world leader in wind energy, it should also lead the world in protecting its citizens from harmful side effects of this industry. In addition to setting world-class standards for low noise levels on the dBA scale, Ontario must determine appropriate levels on the dBC scale for low frequency sound, reported increasingly as a health concern.  More about health concerns.

Contact:
Beth Harrington
Media Relations
Wind Concerns Ontario
windconcerns@gmail.com

Wind turbine victims support group formed

Victims of Wind, VOW, is forming a support group for victims who are experiencing adverse health effects from wind turbine complexes.

The purpose of VOW is to establish a network of victims suffering adverse health effects due to wind turbine complexes to provide mutual support for victims.

Some residents living in the vicinity of a wind farm are suffering from adverse health affects and disturbed living conditions. People from across Ontario who welcomed wind turbines into their community are now coming forward with questions and concerns and may not know where to turn.

If you, or anyone you know is having difficulty, please call toll free 1-888-700-5655 or email vow2help@gmail.com.

Sometimes it’s important to have someone to talk to who understands.  Your call will be kept totally confidential.