Better Plan, Wisconsin

“I can’t stay there,” said Tracy Whitworth, a school teacher who moved into a temporary home on May 1 to get away from the turbines. “If I stay there, I will die.

“I can’t sell my home. What do I do? How do I survive?”

NOISE COMPLIANTS TO BE INVESTIGATED

 SOURCE: Simcoe Reformer, www.simcoereformer.ca

15 July 2010

By Daniel Pearce,

The company that owns the wind farm in the west end of Norfolk says it will undertake an infrasound study in the Clear Creek area to determine if its turbines generate low-level frequencies that nearby residents insist are sickening them.

“We anticipate the study will be done this summer,” David Timm, vice-president strategic affairs for International Power, told Norfolk council on Tuesday night.

The findings will be made available to the public, he added.

Scientific evidence so far shows no link between turbines and illnesses in people who live near them, Timm said.

But his company, which recently bought out the former owners PowerGen, wants to do the study anyway because of complaints from a number of people living near a cluster of turbines in the Clear Creek area, he said.

“We take noise complaints seriously and we investigate them,” Timm said.

The Ontario Ministry of Environment has studied the Norfolk farm and gave it the OK, but it also suggested the company do the infrasound testing, he said.

“We have to investigate the issue and see whether the issue exists or not,” Timm said.

Over the past year, residents who live near the turbines have insisted the vibrations do exist and are ruining their lives. They say they suffer from headaches and especially sleeplessness.

Some have moved out of their homes and were present at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Stephana Johnston, the most well-known of the residents, addressed council again on the matter and said things have become so bad residents are simply abandoning their homes.

Of 140 homes in her area, 40 are either abandoned, vacant, or up for sale, she said.

“We feel this does need fixing,” Johnston said before asking council to write a letter to Dr. Siva Sivoththaman, a University of Waterloo professor who holds an Ontario Research Chair in Renewable Energy Technologies, calling for him to study the situation. Council agreed to her request. Johnston challenged some of Timm’s statements.

“There’s been no scientific studies on the impact of human beings surrounded by wind turbines,” said Johnston, who has resorted to sleeping in a trailer at her son’s home near Langton. “Nobody’s looking at the effects these wind turbines have on us.”

Johnston and two other residents at the meeting followed Timm outside the council room and pleaded with him to get his company to do something.

“I can’t stay there,” said Tracy Whitworth, a school teacher who moved into a temporary home on May 1 to get away from the turbines. “If I stay there, I will die.

“I can’t sell my home. What do I do? How do I survive?”

Johnston told Timm living near the turbines amounts to a form of “torture.”

SECOND FEATURE

Doctor: Turbines cause health problems

SOURCE: www.watertowndailytimes.com

July 12, 2010

By MATT MCALLISTER,

HAMMOND — The author of “Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural Experiment” told the Hammond Wind Committee last week that 14 percent of the town’s homes will be adversely affected if the entire wind overlay zone is filled with turbines.

The report by Nina Pierpont, a Malone physician and graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University, examined the health effects of wind turbines. At the meeting, she explained her research methods.

“A good patient history, we were taught, and my experience has borne out, provides a doctor with about 80 percent of the information he needs to diagnose a problem,” she said. “I conducted thorough, structural clinical interviews of all my study subjects, directly interviewing all adults and older teens, and interviewing the parents of all child subjects.”

Her research shows that turbines produce sounds that affect the mood of people and cause insomnia, headaches, vertigo and nausea.

Critics have suggested that Dr. Pierpont’s research, theories and self-published book are unscientific and included only a handful of study subjects, while others agree that wind turbines actually do have adverse effects on the health of people living in proximity to them.

Regarding Hammond, she told committee members:

* More than 150 households in the town would be affected by the wind overlay zone and 1,500-meter buffer, assuming the entire overlay has turbines in it.

* As many as 316 residents are “highly likely” to develop migraines from the turbines.

* Hammond’s disproportionately high number of seniors makes its residents especially vulnerable to the turbines.

Wind committee members could not be reached for comment.

The wind committee meets next at 6:30 p.m. July 21 at Hammond Central School. David B. Duff, committee facilitator, says representatives from Iberdrola Renewables Inc. will be in attendance for a presentation.