Coldingham wind gusts see houses evacuated

Homes had to be evacuated and a road was closed after a turbine fell over in gusts of wind in the Borders.

The incident happened near Coldingham in Berwickshire on Wednesday.

The turbine had been erected but was not turned on and appears to have been unable to cope with gusts of up to 50mph.

The A1107 was shut from the north side of Coldingham, at the Croftlaws Caravan Park, down to Lumsden Farm and a 200m cordon was in place.

Lothian and Borders Police said the turbine had suffered a break system failure and had been "freewheeling".

Local resident Billy Muir saw the results of the incident.

"The tip of one blade made it to within five metres of the road," he said.

"We live 500m away but there are a few houses about 200m away.

"No-one was injured - it was dealt with by Lothian and Borders police."

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From Minnesota:

 National Eagle Expert Raises Cry over Wind Project

ZUMBROTA — The oldest eagle preservation organization in the United States has joined calls from local citizens demanding that additional avian studies tbe done before constructing a 48-turbine wind project in Goodhue County.

Terrence Ingram, executive director of the Eagle Nature Foundation in Illinois, made that determination Friday after touring the 32,000-acre AWA Goodhue project for about four hours. He documented seven bald-eagle nests, six red-tailed hawk nests, and he saw 20 bald eagles — including two that flew over him less than five minutes into the tour.

Ingram’s visit was prompted by calls from Mary Hartman and Kristi Rosenquist, critics of the wind project, asking for his assistance. However, Ingram refused to take a stance based simply on information they’d sent him. That resulted in him spending almost 10 hours on the road last week in order to get a first-hand look at the area.

Reached Monday after his tour, he was highly critical of the pre-construction avian study submitted to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by Westwood Professional Services, the consulting company hired by National Wind. Many of the nests viewed Friday were identified by Hartman and Rosenquist after Westwood’s initial examination.

In Wednesday’s print edition, learn about Ingram’s three-pronged proposal concerning the AWA Goodhue project.