Windfarms: a rapid development, a bad idea

Windfarms are being deployed rapidly across the Province. These developments have apparently been moving ahead far outfront of precautionary research.These taller-than-400-foot towers have been installed in a formerly quiet and scenic corner west of Long Point on Lake Erie, requiring re-zoning from agricultural to industrial. Now, a further 30 towers along the lakeshore have been recently pitched to the Norfolk County Council, and been accepted.

The Province of Alberta has put a hold on these industrial sites until or unless the emerging problems are solved. Many countries in Europe are reportedly withdrawing from the use of this technology. In Ontario, we are forging ahead, “damn the torpedoes.”

The problems? Despite their $5,000,000-each cost, they are largely ineffective in adding power to the grid due to wind variability, which renders the indispensible traditional power backup less efficient.

The MNR has not yet developed its policy on windmill bird impacts, yet Long Point is one of the most significant migratory funnels in the world. The fast-moving blade tips [340 kph] are the size of a passenger jet’s wings, and apart from the potential of raptor, bat, and butterfly kills, the World Health Organization has reported that the transmitted noise…always identifiable but sometimes considered conditionally inaudible by ear in the traditional sense… at 1/2 mile is 100X the sound level recommended for sleep, and at one mile, ten times.

There are suspicions of many lucrative under-the-table handshakes politically motivating this, and ultimately the public will pay…pay very much for very little. There is a claim [easily verifiable] that landowners who accept their downpayment and annual fees, signing on to accepting wind towers, also must sign not to disparage the technology. [And why would they?] The same goes for environmental NGO’s that accept donations from the promoters.

It’s time that TVO took a look at this, to give it the exposure it deserves.

Follow link for more comments

tvoorg/theagenda

Centerville Citizens Challenge Wind Farm Law

March 18, 2007

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Centerville Citizens Challenge Wind Farm Law

Lawsuit filed in Allegany County Supreme Court seeks nullification
A group of landowners in the Town of Centerville filed suit Friday alleging the town board worked hand-inhand with Noble Environmental Power, LLC, to craft a local law that accommodates Noble’s proposed Centerville Windpark, but without looking at the environmental impacts. The project would add at least 60 wind turbines, each about fifty stories high, to Noble’s Bliss Windpark in the Town of Eagle. Sixty-seven wind turbines have already been approved in Eagle. A comparable wind farm is planned by Noble in the Town of Farmersville in Cattaraugus County.

According to Dennis Gaffin, a professor at Buffalo State College and president of Centerville’s Concerned Citizens, “Many of us knocked ourselves out finding the most objective studies of noise and other effects of industrial wind turbines and submitted our research to the town board, but they said they would not look at it until later, when Noble submits a formal application.” Noble approached the town board with a proposal in January 2006, and paid for an environmental attorney to draft a law the board enacted last November.

George Ellis, a member of the citizens group, thinks the town board was misled. “I’m a farmer. Supervisor Sardina thinks a wind farm will save farming in Centerville. I think he and the farmers got snookered.”

“These are primarily investment schemes taking advantage of lucrative tax breaks,” according to the group’s attorney Gary Abraham. “The public pays billions in lost taxes and there is little regulation except at the local level. Landowners get a small rental payment if a wind turbine is operated on their land. But the value of property all around them plummets.”

The Centerville town board decided a 1,000-foot buffer to a dwelling is safe, except hunting camps are excluded from the protection. “That’s not enough” for Cheryl Sporysz, a member of the group suing the town. “My neighbors signed easements with Noble that allow a wind turbine within 500 feet of my property. Most independent studies recommend a setback of one mile. If Noble gets its way, I’ll have to stay away from the area between my house my property line.”

“We believe we can show the buffer areas required under the town law were determined by the easement agreements Noble made with landowners well in advance of the local law. In fact the town board reduced the buffer and excluded hunting camps that were protected in an earlier version of the law when Noble complained,” according to Mr. Abraham. “State law requires environmental review at the earliest possible time in the development of a project, but here the town decided to do no review until after buffer distances are in place.”

LAW OFFICE OF GARY A. ABRAHAM
170 No. Second Street
Allegany, New York 14706
716-372-1913; fax is same (please call first)

gabraham44@eznet.net
http://www.garyabraham.com

The Great Global Warming Swindle

The full documentary from Channel 4 in the U.K. (1 hour 15 min)

This video is important. It should be required viewing for everyone who has seen Al Gore’s film. It should be included in the curriculum in all schools and broadcast on the CBC to all Canadians. The more you read and see the better your education on any subject. In the end it is you that must make your own decision. Get some popcorn and enjoy the movie.

The+Great+Global+Warming+Swindle

Frey & Hadden, Wind turbines and health

From the editor

It appears from all the research that has been done on wind turbines and wind farms that not only is the wind industry not telling you the truth, neither is your govt. When I say your govt., I am talking about all govt. bodies that are involved in the promotion and licensing of wind farms. The evidence is in. The question at this point in time is really very simple. Are you going to stand up and be counted or are you going to do nothing?

Thousands of lives have already been ruined by poorly sited wind farms, you may be next. Both the wind industry and your government knew and continue to know that these wind farms are sited too close to people. It is about economy of scale. Never forget “By the people for the people”

I don’t remember it being changed to
“By the government for the corporations.”

The wind companies are in the process of sucking billions of dollars from taxpayers pockets and your govt. is helping them.

Is Democracy still alive in the so-called free world?

Leave a comment

The document below says it all

Frey_&_Hadden,_Wind_turbines_and_health

Wind turbines are large industrial structures that create obtrusive environmental noise pollution when built too close to dwellings. This annotated review of evidence and research by experts considers the impact of industrial-scale wind turbines suffered by those living nearby. First, the paper includes the comments by some of the families affected by wind turbines, as well as coverage in news media internationally. The experiences described put a human face to the science of acoustics.

Second, the paper reviews research articles within the field of acoustics concerning the acoustic properties of wind turbines and noise. The acoustic characteristics of wind turbines are complex and in combination produce acoustic radiation. Next, the paper reviews the health effects that may result from the acoustic radiation caused by wind turbines, as well as the health effects from noise, because the symptoms parallel one another. Primarily, the consequent health response includes sleep deprivation and the problems that ensue as a result. In addition, this paper reviews articles that report research about the body’s response not only to the audible noise, but also to the inaudible components of noise that can adversely affect the body’s physiology. Research points to a causal link between unwanted sound and sleep deprivation and stress, i.e., whole body physiologic responses.

These injuries are considered in the context of Human Rights, where it is contended that the environmental noise pollution destroys a person’s effective enjoyment of right to respect for home and private life, a violation of Article 8 of the European Court of Human fights Act. Furthermore, the paper considers the consequent devaluation of a dwelling as a measure of part of the damage that arises when wind turbines are sited too close to a dwelling, causing acoustic radiation and consequent adverse health responses.

The review concludes that a safe buffer zone of at least 2km should exist between family dwellings and industrial wind turbines of up to 2MW installed capacity, with greater separation for a wind turbine greater than 2MW installed capacity

Frey_&_Hadden,_Wind_turbines_and_health_2-07.pdf