New Richmond News

SOURCE www.newrichmond-news.com

August 4, 2012 

My attention was called to a recent letter written by Jay Mundinger in your New Richmond News newspaper.

Mr. Mundinger, as you know, works as a spokesperson for Emerging Energies. We here in southern Brown County on the eastern side of the state are familiar with that company and what they build.

About ten miles from our small farmette is the Shirley Wind project in the Glenmore Township. We have met and visited a couple of the homes of the three families who have had to walk away from those homes due to the onset of adverse health effects.

Some of the symptoms are headaches, ear pain, tinnitus, dizziness, sleep deprivation from low frequency noise to name a few. These three families had to make a difficult choice between their health or the home that once provided them with a sense of security.

This letter is to share that not only did Mr. Mundinger lie when he said that no problems ever arose in the Kewaunee wind project, but he had the gall to say that in a printed format.

One of the first documents that was shared with me and other concerned citizens was a survey conducted by an Illinois journalist who interviewed Lincoln Township people to see what, if any, problems might have been experienced by rural families there. Please use this contact to see the article: http://www.aweo.org/windlincoln.html

Please note that one electrical worker in that wind project refused to return to continue his work due to nosebleeds. Farmers had made mention of also problems with stray voltage in their barns and several were losing livestock that forced them to invest thousands to drop a neutral line around it, etc. to stop their animals from dying. To date, three families have been bought out and their homes were bulldozed — in essence an admission of serious problems.

So please dig a little deeper on this Emerging Energies crew. They are not environmentalists. They are not the “down home folk” they pretend to be. As one of the women interviewed in the recent documentary “Windfall,” by Laura Israel said, “… They are very good at what they do … They are carpetbaggers.. .”

Thank you for your time and your willingness to listen to the concerned citizens of the Forest Township. This is happening all around our state and the country. Be sure to check out wind-watch.org to learn more.

Sandra Johnson

Greenleaf

TOWN OF SHERMAN WIND FARM OPPONENTS FORM GROUP

Written by Josh Lintereur |

SOURCE www.sheboyganpress.com

July 30 2012

Citizens living near a proposed wind farm site in the Town of Sherman have formed an opposition group in hopes of stopping the project.

Members of the Sheboygan County Communities for Responsible Energy group say they plan to work with local leaders and state legislators to amend new state rules that have eliminated local control for wind siting decisions.

“The problem we’re dealing with now is a consequence of failed public policy, and that’s where it needs to be addressed first,” said Edward Buck, who lives in the township and is a member of the citizens group.

Hubertus-based EEW Services LLC has told Town of Sherman leaders it intends to submit a formal application to begin construction next year on the Windy Acres Wind Farm on 400 acres east of state Highway 57, west of county Highway CC and north of county Highway A.

The proposed wind farm would consist of four wind turbines that together could generate up to 12 megawatts of electricity, or enough for about 4,000 average residential homes. The turbines would connect to a substation in the Town of Holland.

There are about 500 property owners within one mile of the proposed site, and so far about 100 families have become directly engaged in the opposition group — and even more have voiced displeasure with the project, Buck said.

Opponents are now urging town officials to impose bonds and fees and stretch out the approval process as long as possible in hopes the state Legislature revisits rules that govern wind farm development sometime next year. State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) has encouraged the town to do the same, saying there’s a good chance that such efforts could keep the project from moving forward.

The state’s rules place wind farm siting decisions almost entirely in the hands of the state Public Service Commission, as state wind siting rules supersede local ordinances.

The state’s rules were adopted under former Gov. Jim Doyle and the Democrat-led Legislature in 2009, but the Republican-led Legislature voted in March 2011 to stop the rules from going into effect. Lawmakers needed to vote again by this spring on whether to permanently shelve them and never did, meaning the rules are now in place.

Jay Mundinger, spokesman for EEW Services, said the development firm has received a number of phone calls from residents regarding the project, and the majority have been positive.

“They believe the state is lacking in renewable resources, and they believe a small wind farm would be very acceptable to the community,” Mundinger said.

Mundinger said EEW will hold an open house for residents in the near future and continue to provide information as the proposal becomes more solidified.

The opposition group’s members have raised a host of concerns over the Wind Acres proposal, from the potential health hazards of living near a wind farm to its impact on property values.

“This isn’t a remote rural agricultural community,” Buck said. “There’s some really nice housing development going on out there, along with hobby farms and dairy farms.”

Buck, who is a research and development engineer in the energy industry, called it an “odd” project, given its relatively small size and placement in an area with little, if any, infrastructure to accommodate a wind farm.

Buck contends that same amount of energy could easily be achieved through solar power or natural gas, or by adding a small number of wind turbines to an existing wind farm.

Furthermore, there are concerns that the electricity produced by the farm won’t be used by state residents. The project site is in WE Energies’ service territory, and the utility is not involved in the project.

Buck and others have suggested that without involvement by WE Energies, electricity generated by the farm could be sold as renewable energy credits to out-of-state or international energy companies.

“This doesn’t benefit the people of Wisconsin,” Buck said.

Mundinger said that they haven’t settled on where energy from the project would go, though he indicated that both in-state and outside buyers are being approached.

Mundinger said EEW will submit a formal application by late September. Their goal would be to have the wind farm operating by late 2013.

“We’re still planning on moving forward and being as transparent as we can,” he said.

The project requires approval by the Sherman Town Board. The town is in the process of drafting its own local wind ordinance, though it cannot be more restrictive that the state’s rules.

Written by Dan Benson

SOURCE: www.sheboyganpress.com

July 25, 2012

TOWN OF SHERMAN — About 150 people showed up to learn more about a proposed wind farm in the Town of Sherman and most of them didn’t like what they heard.

“Looking at the number of people who are here tonight, the question the board should be asking is, ‘How do we stop it?’” said Jim Bertram, of Adell. “We want to know how we can stop it.”

The town is in the process of drafting a wind ordinance and related wind siting roles in light of a proposed commercial wind farm there.

The town, however, is hamstrung by state law in how strict they can make those rules.

“The town can’t be any stricter than the rules the state came up with,” attorney Matt Parmentier told the audience. Parmentier was retained by the town to draft the ordinance.

Hubertus-based EEW Services, LLC, is proposing to build a nine- to-12 megawatt wind farm on a 400-acre property east of state Highway 57, west of county Highway CC and north of county Highway A in the Town of Sherman. The turbine blades would reach as high as 500 feet and connect to a substation in the Town of Holland.

The developer has indicated that it intends to submit a formal application to begin construction next year on the Windy Acres Wind Farm.

The board did not take any action at Tuesday’s meeting, which was held at the Silver Creek Fire Hall, but heard from about two dozen people. Parmentier also shared details of the proposed ordinance, which cannot exceed state regulations regarding set backs and other factors. If the town’s ordinance is more stringent than state rules, then the ordinance would be declared invalid and the project would be automatically approved.

That was a sore point with many in the audience, saying the law was an affront to local control and property owners’ rights and will lower property values.

“He (the developer) is basically stealing my property,” said John Hayes, who lives near the proposed development. “I feel like they’re stealing from me.”

Parmentier said the application for the wind farm has not yet been received.

State regulations went into effect in March and the Town of Sherman project is one of the first to be considered under the new rules.

“We’re sort of the guinea pigs in this instance,” Parmentier said.

Speakers urged the Town Board to stretch out the process as long as possible in hopes of defeating the project, possibly through legislative action in Madison.

Several local representatives were on hand, including Rep. Mike Endsley (R-Sheboygan), Rep. Dan LeMahieu (R-Cascade), Sen. Glenn Grothmann (R-West Bend) and Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan).

Written by Sheboygan Press staff

Source: www.sheboyganpress.com

July 18 2012 

The Sherman Town Board will hold an informational meeting Tuesday to discuss the town’s proposed wind energy ordinance and related state wind siting rules in light of a proposed commercial wind farm there.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Silver Creek Fire Hall, W6566 Highway 144. Town officials will provide an overview of the state’s wind energy regulations along with its own wind ordinance proposal.

Attendees can ask questions and offer public comment during the meeting. No formal board action will be taken on the local ordinance proposal.

The meeting comes as town leaders prepare to consider a proposal by Hubertus-based, EEW Services, LLC, to build a nine- to-12 megawatt wind farm on a 400-acre property in the town.

The developer has so far indicated that it intends to submit a formal application to begin construction next year on the Windy Acres Wind Farm.

Under the proposal, four wind turbines would be built on a stretch of land located east of state Highway 57, west of county Highway CC and north of county Highway A. The turbine blades would reach as high as 500 feet and connect to a substation in the Town of Holland.

The project requires the blessing of the Town of Sherman Board, though approval is ultimately in the hands of state regulators at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, as state rules governing wind farm siting supersedes local ordinances.

The town is in the process of drafting a local wind ordinance though it essentially must mirror the state’s rules.

INCREASING TURBINE NUMBERS COULD MEAN LARGER SETBACKS

By Cheryl LaRocque

Source: Amherst Daily News

July 19, 2012 

AMHERST – For industrial wind turbines, low frequency sound emissions range: one person may not hear a noise a second person hears clearly, while a third person finds the noise loud and uncomfortable.

To date, some residents of Amherst and out of town visitors said: “I don’t hear them; the turbines don’t bother me; the turbines hum and/or drone and keep me awake at night; they gave me an ongoing migraine; they give me daily headaches; the turbines are noisy and I/we can’t sleep at night.”

Researchers explain individual hearing sensitivity varies greatly. If you are wondering why, the explanation may be tucked in the inner ear in a cluster of tiny, interconnected organs.

In an article published in the Bulletin of Science Technology & Society, 2011, Wind Turbines could Affect Humans, by Alec Salt and James A. Kaltenbach explained, wind turbines generate low-frequency sounds that affect the ear.

“The ear is superficially similar to a microphone, converting mechanical sound waves into electrical signals, but does this by complex physiologic processes.”

Serious misconceptions about low-frequency sound and the ear have resulted in a failure to consider how the ear works.

“Although the cells that provide hearing are insensitive to infrasound, other sensory cells in the ear are much more sensitive, which can be demonstrated by electrical recordings,” wrote Salt and Kaltenbach. “Responses to infrasound reach the brain through pathways that do not involve conscious hearing but instead may produce sensations of fullness, pressure or tinnitus, or have no sensation.”

There is overwhelming evidence large electricity-generating turbines cause serious health problems in a nontrivial fraction of residents living near them, explained Carl V. Phillips, MPP, PhD in his article Properly Interpreting the Epidemiologic Evidence About the Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines on Nearby Residents. The article was published in the Bulletin of Science Technology & Society (2011).

“These turbines produce noise in the audible and non-audible ranges, as well as optical flickering, and many people living near them have reported a collection of health effects that appear to be manifestations of a chronic stress reaction or something similar,” explained Phillips, a consultant and author specializing in epidemiology, science-based policy making and communicating scientific concepts to the public.

Dr. Robert McMurtry, former dean of medicine at the University of Western in London, Ont., published a case definition to facilitate a clinical diagnosis regarding adverse health effects and industrial wind turbines.

There is a move toward a safe setback of turbines of two kilometres from homes, explained Dr. John Harrison, physicist from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., in an email interview.

“In the absence of any independent studies of adverse health effects, a precautionary principle suggests all provinces and territories in Canada should adopt a two-km setback.”

Harrison’s expertise is in the properties of matter at low temperatures with emphasis on high frequency sound waves. For the past five years he has studied wind turbine noise and its regulation.

As the province of Nova Scotia continues to pursue and approve wind energy developments, it is important it take into account the larger the turbine and the increase in numbers of turbines would also mean an increase in setback distance, explained Richard R. James in a phone interview from his office in Okemos, Mich.

James is adjunct professor at Michigan State University and Central Michigan University with the department of communication disorders.

Richard R. James, INCE (Institute of Noise Control Engineering) is a certified noise control engineer and has been actively involved in the field of noise control since 1969, participating in and supervising research and engineering projects related to measurement and control of occupational and community noise for major US and Canadian Manufacturers. Since 2006, he has been involved with noise and health issues related to industrial wind turbines.

Other countries including Australia, Denmark, France, New Zealand and Germany have instituted strict regulatory requirements regarding industrial wind turbine setback or are in the process of tightening criteria that experience has shown are not protective. The Danish EPA (their regulatory body) recently instituted stricter regulations that require the turbine’s emission of low frequency sound be addressed.

FAIRFIELD RESIDENTS GIVEN NOISE GENERATORS TO DROWN OUT SOUND OF WIND MILLS?

SOURCE WKTV | www.wktv.com

July 16, 2012 

Fairfield resident James Salamone says he hasn’t slept well since a number of windmills went up right near his home on Davis Road in Fairfield about a year and a half ago.

Salamone said, “It’s torture. You cannot sleep with this frequency of noise. It’s just torture, I can’t explain it any other way.”

Salamone says he just received a noise maker from the company that installed the windmills, Iberdrola Renewables.

The small round machine is supposed to help drown out the sound of the windmills so people can sleep at night.

Salamone says he turns the device on and it sounds like a small fan. He said, “it’s a noise making machine. This is what they sent me. Put this by your bedside, put this eight feet from your bed, this will help drown out the noise coming in your house from the wind turbines.”

Salamone says the machine doesn’t help at all, and he says he shouldn’t have to have something like it, in order to be able to get a good night’s sleep in his own home, he says something is wrong with the system.

Salamone is not alone. Tobias Tobin lives right around the corner from Salamone on Cole Road.

Tobin says people don’t realize what it’s like to try to try and sleep at night with these windmills going around and around when everything else is quiet. Tobin said, “I’ve had a few friends of mine that came up from Middleville to visit, and when they came up the first time, they said ‘well that aint nothin’. When they sat there and were were talking, the said ‘my gosh, how the heck do you put up with this’. Yea, cause it’s constant. It don’t go away. It sounds like a plane that never stops. It just goes and goes and goes.”

Here’s how landowners have had to have to deal with this problem. Other landowners lease their land to the company Iberdrola Renewables, and receive $8000 per turbine, per year.

The turbines cannot be within 1250 feet of someone else’s property.

Salamone and Tobin say the ones next to their homes which sit on neighboring properties, are way too close.

Salamone says he feels trapped, and is ready to just up and move. He said, “you can count from my house right here, eleven, from right here at my house, they’re very close. This one here is about 1500 feet, the rest of them are about 2000 feet.”

But there may be some relief in sight for Salamone, Tobin and other Herkimer County homeowners who have been forced to live next to the windmills.

On Thursday, the Town of Fairfield authorized the testing of a Noise Reduction System by Iberdrola Renewables to make sure the turbines are in compliance with the noise levels required by the special use permit issued to the company.

After complaints from landowners back in the spring of 2011, Iberdrola Renewables agreed with the request from the Town of Fairfield to test sound levels adjacent to several homes.

Testing was done in the spring of 2011, and in late 2011 after the leaves had fallen from the trees.

Those test results were delivered to the town at their June Town Board Meeting.

According to attorney Bernard Malewski, a special counsel hired by the Town of Fairfield, the test results showed repeated levels beyond the legal 50 decibel level limit.

Malewski says Iberdrola Renewables immediately told him the company would like to begin testing a brand new Noise Reduction System (NRS) developed by Gamesa, the manufacturer of the turbines, on three of its turbines in Fairfield.

At this past Thursday’s (July 12th) Town Board meeting, the Town of Fairfield passed a resolution which supported the deployment of the NRS system as an opportunity to to cure the problem.

Today, we talked with a landowner who now has the sound detection equipment on his property to see if the new NRS is working.

That homeowner did not want his name used, but says he hopes the new system works.

If the results of the NRS are good, Iberdrola says it will implement the technology on all of the turbines in the entire Hardscrabble Wind Project, 25 of which are in the Town of Fairfield as well as 12 more which are in the neighboring Town of Norway.

The Towns of Fairfield and Norway were the first towns in New York State to require post construction testing of the sound generation of wind turbines.

If the noise problem is not fixed, both towns have the authority to suspend or revoke Iberdrola Renewable’s permit, or the towns can shut down any offending individual turbine.

The Town of Fairfield and Norway have directed Iberdrola Renewables to report back to the Town Boards on the results of the NRS, no later than their next Board meeting in the month of September.

Salamone says he hopes the new system does work, but if the levels come back as compliant, but still continue to keep him awake at night, he won’t stop fighting. He said,”we gotta sleep at night. Turn them off or move

From Vermont

PROTESTERS BLOCK ROUTE 100 IN OPPOSITION TO LOWELL WIND PROJECT

Jennifer Hersey Cleveland, Staff Writer 

SOURCE Caledonian Record via Mountain Talk

July 17, 2012

LOWELL — A stand-off between police from seven law enforcement agencies and more than 100 industrial wind protesters ended peaceably when police and organizers came to a compromise Monday afternoon.

The protesters, including members of the Mountain Occupiers and Newark Neighbors United, blocked both lanes of Route 100 for about two hours, preventing a truck hauling a wind tower section from entering the staging site.

They chanted “When our mountains are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” in their opposition to the 21-turbine project being constructed on the Lowell Mountain range by Green Mountain Power.

The protesters stayed on the far side of the road for much of the morning, singing in solidarity and holding placards with messages like “Greed Isn’t Green” and “Big $-wind-le” written on them. Skeletal figures with extended arms turned like wind turbine blades, and organizer Ira Powsner led the chants of “Mountains — yes! Profits — no!” to the beat of Bread and Puppet drummers.

Their message came through organizer Steve Wright of Craftsbury. The project, which is being sold as “green” energy, does nothing to alleviate dependence on foreign oil, he said. “It is the blackest of black energy.”

It will devastate wildlife habitat, and it is not a stable source of power, Wright said.

As the truck hauling a piece of a wind tower approached, protesters started moving into the roadway, blocking the truck’s path.
Before the bulk of the group could get to the front of the truck, Lamoille County Sheriff’s deputy Claude Marcoux had already arrested and handcuffed Ira Powsner and his brother Jacob Powsner of Ira for disorderly conduct by obstruction.

At that point protesters, who formerly had been willing to stand on the sidelines, moved into the roadway – blocking both lanes.

The movement intensified, with people yelling, “Shame on you!” and “Turn it back!” to the pounding of drums.

Essex County Sheriff Trevor Colby arrived and parted the wave of people with his cruiser, but the crowd swallowed up his car just as quickly as he passed by.

Corporal Dan Kerin of the Williston barracks was next on the scene, and quickly began moving the protesters to the sidelines.

Kerin yelled and pushed some people backward, which at first was effective and then elicited stronger opposition, with people moving back into the spaces Kerin had cleared, dancing and waving flags depicting scenes of destruction.

About 40 law enforcement officers from five state police barracks, three sheriff departments, U.S. Border Patrol, Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Motor Vehicles arrived in the moments soon afterward, largely staying on the sidelines until a plan was formulated.

Lieutenant Kirk Cooper, commander of the Derby barracks, quickly entered the crowd of protesters upon his arrival, quelling the shouting and asking people to consider their options.

Cooper told the protesters that he understood why they were there and said they have every right to stand up for what they believe in, but not the right to block traffic.

“I’m not going to fill you full of crap,” Cooper said. He said the protesters had two options: stand on the side of the road or be removed from the road.

“We’re going to be forced to have to remove you. I honestly don’t want to do that,” Cooper said.

One of the protesters said she thought the group would be fine with allowing all other traffic to pass — except that one truck.

The situation had come to an impasse, and worried looks started sprouting on people’s faces.

Officers, including one holding the leash of a large German shepherd, were all in possession of plastic hand restraints and appeared prepared to quell the uprising.

That’s when Don Nelson’s voice hushed all other sound. “We’ve made our point,” Nelson, who is in a civil court dispute with GMP over land rights in the project, said.

Some protesters were nodding in agreement, while others were shaking their heads and saying things that indicated they were not willing to back down.

Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux and Cooper spoke with Nelson and organizers Pat O’Neill of Westfield and Wright, in a tight-knit huddle.

Nelson, Wright and O’Neill asked the officers to give them a chance to convince the crowd to move to the side, but only if the Powsner brothers were released.

The trio spoke with Will Young, who turned and commended the protesters for making their point.

“We have done our job here!” Young said. “We have shown that this is a corrupt, evil system that destroys our ridgelines.”

The industrial wind opposition has to use its resources wisely, Young said, and putting fine money in the hands of the state is not putting money to good use, he said.

O’Neill said the Powsner brothers would still be cited for disorderly conduct but would not be taken into custody after Sheriff Marcoux said he had no authority to un-arrest people and that the state’s attorney’s office would decide whether or not charges would be brought in court.

With the protesters largely in agreement, and slowly moving back from the truck, O’Neill shouted, “But this truck doesn’t move until Ira joins us!”

Wright held the fort in front of the truck, waving a large Vermont flag, until police released the Powsner brothers.

Shouting, “Governor Shumlin, do you hear us now?” the crowd slowly moved aside and allowed the truck to move into the driveway of the wind project.

GMP spokesperson Dorothy Schnure said, after all was calm, “It’s unfortunate that the people who oppose the project blocked traffic… It’s unfortunate for locals to be held up for two hours.”

But she said despite the delay Monday, construction was still on target for completion by the end of the year.

Schnure said that 75 percent of Lowell voters approve of the project that she says will provide power to 24,000 homes and that the Public Service Board found to be good.

The protesters regrouped and Wright delivered closing comments.

“We’re on a track now to stop that kind of crap,” he said. The next step is creating a statewide organization to address industrial wind.

He reminded the crowd that the Public Service Board will hold a public meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Newark Street School regarding the proposed 30-turbine project there.

“We all have an interest in this,” Wright said. “This was a big win.”

SOURCE: wispolitics.com 13 July 2012 ~~

Recently, the Wisconsin Energy Business Association has felt it necessary to suggest that my office is engaged in ideological war against wind turbines. It’s not surprising that wind special interest groups would attack our position. Responsible wind siting would put their access to taxpayer subsidies and electric user’s pocketbooks in jeopardy. We pay higher taxes (or deficit spend) and electric users pay higher rates to pay for wind energy, the wind is free but the towers are not. More than half of the thirteen million dollars spent to build the Shirley Wind Farm was paid for by taxpayers, by you and me.

The Brown County Board of Health (BCBH) agrees that these Industrial Wind Turbines (IWT’s) are making people sick. In fact, the BCBH adopted a resolution asking for emergency State aid for those suffering around IWT’s. The Board’s resolution continues to state that they believe PSC128 has caused “undue hardship” and real health issues that were supposed to be protected against under state law.

The fact of the matter is PSC128 didn’t follow the requirements put in state law. Act 40 states that a medical professional who is “A member of the University of Wisconsin System faculty member with expertise regarding the health impacts of wind turbines” must help draft the rules. Jevon McFadden, the medical professional on the Wind Siting Council, openly admitted he did not meet these criteria.

My concerns with current wind siting regulation, PSC128, stem from the pleas of many of my constituents to do something about the illnesses they have had since the eight forty story IWT’s have been built too close to their homes in the Shirley Wind Farm, just south of Green Bay, near hwy 43, or as my constituents refer to it, the Wind Ghetto.

Over the past few years, three families have abandoned their homes due to high volumes of low frequency sound, making it difficult or impossible to sleep at night. They suffer ear aches, nausea, tinnitus, dizziness and heart arrhythmia as well as other illnesses. When these families are not near the turbines, their symptoms disappear. Now just to get a decent night’s sleep and end their sickness and their kid’s sickness, some of these families are paying two mortgages. Others want to move, but just can’t afford two mortgages and their homes have been so badly devalued by the nearby IWT’s they can’t afford to sell them.

If the members of WEBA are being honest about their belief that wind turbines do not cause negative health effects, then I suppose I will have three very happy families in my district. The WEBA members can buy the homes these families have been forced to abandon at fair market value before the IWT’s were built and move in or resell them for what they can get now. The Enz family has a furnished empty farm house that they moved out of more than a year ago and it’s available.

SOURCE: WKOW | www.wxow.com ~~

A group of residents from the Green Bay area came to Madison Wednesday to tell the Wisconsin Public Service Commission that a wind energy farm is making them sick.

Republican Senator Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) accompanied his constituents and claims their illnesses are real. But, a wind energy advocate says there is no credible evidence to back that up.

The four people have all lived next to the Shirley Wind Farm and came to the PSC armed with multiple studies concluding that low frequency noise emitted by industrial wind turbines can have a negative health impact on humans.

“Shortly after the turbines started up, I was starting to feel unstable, unsteady, I had stomach issues,” said David Enz, who chose to move away from that area with his wife less than a year later.

“Three families moved out that’s for sure, but there are many others that are sick and living with different symptoms,” said Enz.

“It doesn’t affect all people, but it affects a significant number of people and we shouldn’t do that to people in their own homes,” said Sen. Lasee.

That’s why even though the State Senate rejected a bill in March that would have forced wind developers to put turbines further away from homes than they currently do, Sen. Lasee is asking the PSC to re-visit the issue.

“Sen. Lasee has been waging an ideological war against wind power for a long time,” said Michael Vickerman of the green energy group Renew Wisconsin.

Vickerman believes that is what is really behind Sen. Lasee’s crusade, adding that no credible studies have found what the people from Shirley are claiming.

“The one prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health specifically says ‘we cannot find any foundation for a set of symptoms that is called Wind Turbine Syndrome,’” said Vickerman.

But, Sen. Lasee says many agencies won’t touch this issue for political reasons.

“If this was something connected with the oil industry that was doing this and making people move from their homes they’d be all over it and screaming bloody murder. But because its green energy, nope we can’t talk about it, there’s no scientific proof, forget it,” said Sen. Lasee.

Michael Vickerman said he is all for more study, but believes it will show the exact same thing the Massachusetts Department of Pubic Health found.

As for Sen. Lasee, he said the studies he’s citing were written by several different doctors and university professors.

He hopes the new commissioners appointed by Governor Scott Walker will take a fresh look at the issue.

 Jeff Holmquist

SOURCE: Pierce County Herald www.piercecountyherald.com

July 12, 2012 

The St. Croix Health and Human Services Board will look into health concerns raised by residents of the Town of Forest related to a proposed wind farm in that community.

For the second time in several months, a group of Forest Township residents filled the board room at the Health and Human Services building in New Richmond, Wis. to ask for help.

The HHS Board had previously agreed to send a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services asking for additional study of the possible health impacts of wind energy projects.

Opponents of the Highland Wind Farm project in Forest Township, proposed by Emerging Energies of Wisconsin LLC, say that people living near existing wind farms have suffered varying health impacts ranging from headaches, sleep deprivation and hearing loss.

In a response from Wisconsin Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades, the state is relying on three previous studies on wind farms. All of those studies indicate that the impact on a person’s health is non-existent if proper setbacks are followed, Rhoades wrote.

Wendy Kramer, public health officer for St. Croix County, admitted there is a great deal of controversy related to the health impact of wind turbines near homes.

Forest resident Brenda Salseg said state rules require a minimum 1,250-foot setback from existing homes. At least one industry recommendation calls for a minimum of a 1,640-foot setback from homes, she reported.

If the 41 Forest turbines are allowed to be constructed, Salseg said, it’s likely that some residents will have turbines too close to their home and their family’s health will be in jeopardy.

“This is serious stuff,” she said. “This could become a health emergency in St. Croix County.”

Salseg said she also expects more wind farm proposals in the future, which will have an impact on other parts of the county.

HHS Board Chairman Fred Horne said he will distribute the information that Forest residents are circulating concerning possible health effects and the board will discuss any future action at its meeting in August.

If the group chooses, Horne said, county officials could present testimony about health concerns as part of the upcoming Public Utilities Commission hearings in October.

The Wisconsin PUC will make the final determination about whether the Highland Wind farm will move forward. The Forest project is greater than 100 kilowatts in size, making the state agency the one with final say in the matter.

The Highland project was smaller than 100 kilowatts when it was first proposed, but local opponents worked hard to recall Forest Town Board members who were supportive of the project. The new town board eventually rescinded the required approvals, but then developers increased the size of the project to bypass the local approval process.