Better Plan, Wisconsin

Here is the most recent update of the noise log kept by the Wisconsin's Myer Family of Brownsville in Fond Du Lac County, where the turbines which surround their home have been on line since March.
(Download the entire diary by clicking here)

Gerry Meyer, who keeps the diary, was a mail carrier in his community for 30 years. He retired last month. He's been in his home for nearly 37 years.

In general the wind blows less in the months of July and August and the Meyer family had a few quiet days after months of non-stop noise.

The images below show turbine #4, a map of the turbine locations in the Brownsville/Byron area, and a detail map showing the turbines most frequently mentioned in this log.

Without an ordinance in place, wind developers in your township can site 40 story turbines 1000 feet from your door. It's important to contact your town board and ask them to work on adopting an ordinance. Wisconsin ordinances that have been adopted in the last 9 months can be found by clicking here on the Wind Ordinance List to your left.

(You can download the entire noise log from March 3 2008 to August 5th 2008 by clicking here)
   
July 10 –
     6:30 AM  Almost no breeze. Turbines tuning slow.
    11:40 AM - I can hear #’s 4 & 73 at my computer. We got home 30 minutes ago and I thought the turbines were fairly quiet. Now I hear both IN THE HOUSE.
1:15 AM It’s disgusting and very aggravating. I can hear turbines  4, 6, 73 and 74a inside the house and outside and it is like being at O’Hare airport listening to the jet sounds. Very loud.

July 11 –
    6:30 AM Turbine 4 not turning.
   7:10 AM Wind S quiet. Turbine # 4 turning, but slow with only a hum, but easily heard from 1560’ away.    10:15 AM  I can hear # 4 in our dining room.
    5:15 to 7:15 PM While changing oil in the cars I could hear #’s 4 and 73 the whole time.
    9:10 PM Wind SE. I can hear # 4. 10:05 PM Turbines 4 and 73 loud jet sound.
   12:10 AM I am hearing a vibration, thumping sound from turbines 4, 6 & 73 in all parts of our house.      Very, very sad and aggravating.

July 12 –
    7:55 AM --Wind W. Turbines 4 & 73 are loud. I hear other turbines, however conditions are
    such it is difficult to determine which ones they are. Maybe turbines further away? The air is
    heavy. I think the air is full of turbine sound and vibrations to make it difficult to know which is
emitting what sound. Most of the day we worked in the yard. No matter where we were the sky was filled with the jet sound of either turbines 4, 6 or 73 or all of them and at times 74 and 5a plus more. I feel they just keep wearing away on the mind and body.
    9:30 PM-- Turbines 4 and 73 giving off the loud jet sound.
    12:25 AM Turbine 4 is heard in our family room quite loud. (our family room is in the house) as well as # 73 in the computer room. Maybe the house is not vibrating, however it has that vibration type feeling.

July 13 –
     6:05 AM I can hear # 4 while in the kitchen with the door open.
     6:15 AM Turbine # 4 loud with the jet flying over sound. I also can hear # 73 with the same jet sound.
     4:50 PM I just returned home from a nice peaceful day at our cabin. There were no industrial     jet-flying-over sound of wind turbines there. As soon as we got home I could hear 3 of the noisy, jet sound turbines. Wind is from the West.
    8:55 PM The turbines are still making an annoying sound, but are quieter.
    10:30 PM Turbines 4 & 6 are making moderate noise together.
    1:00 AM I can hear turbine 4 in the kitchen with the door open.

July 14 –
    6:50 AM Turbine 4 is not turning as well as many others. Some of the 86 turbines are turning slow. All day the turbines are fairly quiet.
    10:45 PM Turbine 4 turning slow with hum. Turbine # 73 with a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

July 15 –

    6:50 AM Wind S-SW. I can hear turbine 4 from the kitchen with the door open. I can hear
    turbine 73 from the computer room. Outside I can hear turbines 73 & 70. Turbine 70 is a mile
    away. From the south the sky is filled with turbine noise.
    1:30 PM Wind SW. Moderate noise from # 4.
     9:30 PM Wind SW. Turbines turning slow and fairly quiet.

July 16 –

    5:10 AM No wind. Turbine # 4 not turning.
    8:00 AM Turning slow and quiet-fairly quiet until
    3:00 PM when the wind changed from SW to NE. The turbines got so loud it was difficult to
    determine thunder from turbines.
    5:00 PM Wind N. Jet sound.
    11:05 PM Turbines turning slow and with quiet hum.

July 17
    5:50 AM Wind SW but still or calm yet there is the jet sound.
    7:35 AM Wind SW calm/still. There must be upper air movement. Turbine # 4 sounds like a jet flying over. I also hear # 73 which is 2480’ across the road from our house. For the past 1 ½ hours I have been collecting and burning tree branches. There is not a place on our property I cannot hear the wind turbines. I even hear them in the barn in our race car shop. It is terrible our town and county governments and the PSC have rubber stamped this project and have bought in to this hoax and only listen to the energy companies and apparently do not care about the people they each represent.

July 18 –
    5:40 AM Slight wind. Turbines are turning slow and quietly.
    5:00 PM Today there has been little breeze, therefore almost no turbine noise—a rare moment.
    11:40 PM Slow turning, little sound.

July 19 –
    6:50 AM No wind.
    8:05 AM No wind/calm. NO turbines turning- - no electricity is being produced.
    5:00 PM Turning slow and quiet. Much of the day many turbines not turning.
    11:10 PM Not much noise. 2:00 AM I woke up. My wife was up and couldn’t sleep. Turbine # 4 is (word missing) from the kitchen.

July 20 –
    6:50 AM The turbines are turning very slow and quiet. Some of the turbines are hidden in
    the fog,.
    9:00 AM No breeze. Turbine 4 is turning slow and quiet. Half of the turbines are not
    turning. Most of today all the turbines were stopped or turning slow. It has been a quiet week-
    end. If Al Gore got his way (no coal, gas, oil or nuclear power) it would be hot and dark in the
    house and my ice cream in the freezer would melt. 
    6:25 PM Turbine # 73 is going 11 revs. Per minute.
    6:40 PM Turbines # 73 I could hear being stopped. Wind is non existent.

July 21 –
    5:45 AM All turbines (86) are not turning. Thank goodness we have alternative energy like
    gas, coal, oil and nuclear.
    8:25 AM A few of the turbines are turning slow.
    4:00 PM Turbines stopped.
    4:20 PM Turbine # 4 turned for about 10 minutes.
    8:45 PM Some turbines turning slow.
    10:10 PM Most turbines are stopped.

July 22
    – 6:40 AM Very quiet. All day the turbines were not turning or were turning slow and quiet.
    10:10 PM Turning slow and quiet.

July23 –
     5:15 AM Turbines turning slow and quiet. Wind calm. 11 revs. per minute.
    2:00 PM Slow and quiet. About ½ of the 86 turbines are turning.
    11:30 PM Turbines are turned SW but no wind.

July24
    5:55 AM Wind SW. I can only hear hum, no wind.
    8:45 AM I can hear # 4 in the kitchen and dining room. Of course I have the door open. It is a       perfect day for “real” air with the temperature at 67 degrees.
    5:10 PM Turbines are humming away.
    10:25 PM Sound is getting louder. Wind SW and can hear turbines 4 & 73.

July 25 –
    6:45 AM Wind SW still # 4 fairly loud for no wind on the ground.  Also I hear # 73.
    2:50 PM Wind SW calm. Turbine # 4 humming.
    10:55 PM Turbine 4 low jet sound, calm on ground.

July 26 –
    6:10 AM Wind NW. Turbine 4 is like a jet flying over.
    7:25 PM Wind W slight. Jet sound from turbine # 4 @ 15 revs. per minute.
    10:30 PM I can hear turbines 4 and 6 much louder than during the daylight hour. Jet flying over sound.

July 27 –
     6:15 AM I got up and saw a note on the dining room table from my wife. She is telling me
    that she was awake during the night from 1:30 to 3:45 AM. This has been happening much
    of the past week. Could there be a vibration in the area that is affecting her but not me? This
    week a farmer (George G) told me that “”There is an electric field around the turbines”.
    While on a tractor if he drove close to a turbine the AM radio did not work. I took a portable
    AM radio out to a turbine, however it did work. Wind N with loud humming sound.
    2:40 PM  Turbine # 4 loud jet sound plus I can hear turbine # 6.

July 28 –
    6:10 AM Wind N Fairly quiet.

July 29 –
    12:40 AM No Wind. Turbine # 4 stopped.
    5:10 AM My wife just told me she did not sleep well again. Fairly quiet.
    5:00 PM The day has been fairly quiet while the wind is from the E.
    11:35 PM Wind E, however now the turbine sound is loud. I can hear the turbines from the
    Kitchen with the door open.
    2:10 PM Wind SW. It has been a quiet 4 days.Now the loud jet is back in full force at 20 rpms.
     9:20 PM Wind SW with loud jet sound with turbines # 4 & 73 tearing the sky apart. 
    10:35 PM Calm Wind SW 10.5 rpms.

July 30 –
    5:25 AM Wind NW I hear #’s 4 & 6 with jet flying over sound☹
    10:00 AM to 3:30 PM Wind W. I have been weeding my peppers most of the time period. I just came in the house as I feel nauseated and with a slight headache from hearing 3 turbines all day (4, 6 & 73.) Remember, I do not get headaches.
    7:00 PM 11 rpm quiet hum.

July 31 –
    7:00 AM No wind. All 86 turbines are still.
    10:00 AM+ It is good there is alternative energy production (coal, gas, oil and nuclear) because     without it our homes would be dark. There was a token attempt for about half of the 86 turbines to turn mid afternoon.
     10:30 PM Silent.

August 1
    7:00 AM Calm, almost no turbines moving.
    1:30 PM Less than half of the turbines are turning.
    9:40 PM Wind NW. Turbine 4 loud jet sound as we get out of the car from shopping.

August 2 –
    7:10 AM Turning slow and quiet.
    7:30 PM calm and very few turbines turning. 8:55 PM Wind SE light. Turbine 4 is slow and  quiet @ 11.5 rpms.
    11:55 PM Turbine 4 not turning.

August 3 –
    7:10 AM Not much activity.
    12:55 PM Wind SE low. Turbines slow and quiet.
    3:30 PM Wind E. I can hear 75b which is ¾ of a mile E and 73 which is 2480’ Southwest.

August 4.
    2:20 AM Wind S. Fairly strong. Turbine 73 and 4 sound like a Chinook helicopter or very
loud  jet sound. I hear turbine 73 in the front room like listening to your heard beat in a stethoscope thump, thump, thump. Turbine # 73 is 2480’ from the house.
    7:55 AM Surrounding turbines  are not turning although many of the 86 are turning.
    7:55 PM About ¾ of the turbines are not turning including turbines 4, 6 & 73. 9:35 PM Close by turbines are not turning.

August 5 –

    7:00 AM It is calm and foggy with no turbine sounds in the air. They must not be turning
           as my lights don’t work and my ice cream is soft☺
    11:50 AM Turbines turning with a slow hum.
    10:35 PM Wind NW. Loud jet sound between turbines 4 & 6 as to who is the loudest and
    strongest. I took a few videos but on my old point and shoot is not too good. I have a Db meter
    and registered a few peaks of 50 with more at 45. I could hear either turbine 4 or 6 in my family
    room or both turbines.

NOTE FROM THE BPRC RESEARCH NERD: Click on the video below to get an idea of the kind of noise the Meyer family lives with:

And here, a song written by a 16 year old after finding out turbines were coming to where she lived. The BPRC Research Nerd admits to wiping away a tear when listening to this young person sing about the very things we treasure. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT!