BADGERS HELPING BADGERS GET IT RIGHT:

There is finally some good news for Wisconsin wind farm residents having trouble with turbine noise and shadow-flicker.

A new organization called Healthy Wind, Wisconsin (HWW) will advocate on behalf of those who feel their complaints are not being taken seriously by the wind company.

If you are a resident experiencing turbine-related problems in one of Wisconsin's industrial wind projects CLICK HERE to visit the Healthy Wind, Wisconsin website

From the HWW website:

"Healthy Wind, Wisconsin (HWW) is an all-volunteer independent Wisconsin-based community group working to ensure that the placement of large wind turbines is protective of family's health and safety. We have multiple years of experience in researching information in regard to wind turbine siting. Our members have participated in drafting large wind turbine ordinances that have been adopted by Town Boards. We have testified at local and state public hearings concerning this issue, and have offered our assistance to other citizen groups outside of Wisconsin.

We are committed to:

• Assisting residents living in wind facilities with complaint resolution.

• Compiling a data base of all complaints to channel toward the appropriate local, county and state agencies.

• Advocate for responsible siting to minimize the adverse impacts of noise, shadow flicker, and sleep disturbance.

• Put people into the renewable energy equation by providing education and awareness on the issues.

Healthy Wind, Wisconsin’s mission is to keep active track of wind-related health issues affecting Wisconsin families. We are committed to assisting residents' of Wisconsin who have been impacted by poorly sited wind turbines by processing resident’s complaints and monitoring the progress toward complaint resolution.

SECOND FEATURE:

Judge dismisses Trempealeau County wind lawsuit

SOURCE: Winona Daily News

By Dustin Kass | dustin.kass@lee.net | Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010

A Wisconsin judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Trempealeau County's wind ordinance, which critics have called one of the strictest in the country.

Judge John Damon dismissed the claims presented by Ron and Mary Winn of Galesville, Wis., when he granted summary judgment in favor of the county, according to court documents filed earlier this month. The Winns were challenging a county zoning ordinance that prevented the erection of wind turbines on land they were going to rent out to a wind development company. But a new state initiative made the case moot, attorneys say.

Mary Winn declined to comment for this story, and the Winns' attorney, Taavi McMahon, did not return a call for comment.

Wind development in Trempealeau County has been a hot-button issue since 2006, when an investment group called AgWind Energy Partners approached the county board with a request to look into three potential sites for a wind farm.

County board members enacted three moratoriums on wind development in response, before passing the restrictive ordinance in December 2007. It requires turbines more than 150 feet high to be at least one mile from the nearest homes and half a mile from neighboring property lines. Most commercial wind towers are about 300 feet. Additional required setbacks in the ordinance keep turbines away from roads, railroads and wildlife refuges.

The ordinance directly affected the Winns. AgWind had proposed renting 160 acres the Winns owned near Ettrick, Wis., for its proposed wind farm.

The Winns filed suit in June 2009, alleging the ordinance prevents commercial wind development anywhere in the county and doesn't comply with state laws and policies.

Trempealeau County denied those allegations and asserted its authority to create the wind ordinance.

Ultimately, Damon's ruling did not weigh in on the legality of the ordinance, but decided the Winns' claims were moot.

That action was based on a bill passed by Wisconsin legislators last fall calling for state regulators to create uniform site regulations for wind farms throughout the state, said attorney Mark Skolos, who represented Trempealeau County. Those regulations, when complete, will trump all local ordinances.

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD: At present there are no guidelines for siting industrial scale wind projects in the state of Wisconsin. A Town or County can still protect itself by adopting ordinances and moratoria. CLICK HERE to read why your Town needs and ordinance and how to go about getting it on the books.

THIRD FEATURE:

Important tips for landowners to know

SOURCE: KQHA News

By Jarod Wells
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:28 p.m.

PITTSFIELD, ILL. -- Illinois currently has 800 wind turbines in the state. And over the next five to ten years, the state could see five times more wind power as more turbines are built.

That's why the Illinois Farm Bureau has been holding talks across the state to inform land owners of their rights when entering a lease with a wind energy company.

One of those presentations was held in Pike County Monday, February 22nd.

An attorney with the Illinois Farm Bureau says one of the things he points out to land owners, is that wind turbine leases are usually long term, sometimes up to 90 years.

"We always encourage people to understand how long the contract is going to last. Talk about it with their family, attorney, accountant, anyone involved in their farming operations we want them to talk to because this is going to impact not just them but their grand kids as well," said Illinois Farm Bureau Attorney Ryan Gammelgard.

"Another thing we always recommend they look at is what rights are they going to have under the contract. Are they still going to be able to do their normal day to day farming operations, or is their farming operation going to be subordinate to the wind energy company," said Gammelgard.

The attorney with the Illinois Farm Bureau says many times land owners just focus on how much they'll get paid to put a turbine on their property.

But they don't realize their farming operations will be affected.

For example you may not be able to use aerial sprayer on your farmland once a turbine is installed.

KHQA was also told lease agreements are very complex and can be up to 40 pages long.

So it's not something you should just sign.



How big are the turbines? Click on the image above. The blades extend another 13 stories above the person who is descending from the hub of the turbine tower. In Wisconsin, industrial turbines 40 stories tall have been sited 1000 feet from homes.

WIND DEVELOPER WANTS STATE TO STEP IN

Green Bay Press-Gazette

www.greenbaypressgazette.com

28 November 2009

A wind farm developer proposing a large project in Brown County is urging state regulators to reject a similar project by another developer in Columbia County.

Invenergy LLC has unveiled plans for 100 turbines to generate electricity south of Green Bay in the towns of Glenmore, Wrightstown, Morrison and Holland.

Local and state approval is needed before the firm’s Ledge Wind Energy Project can move ahead.

In the meantime, Invenergy is asking state regulators to reject the We Energies’ proposal in Columbia County or approve both projects jointly.

In a filing earlier this week with the state Public Service Commission, Invenergy wrote that We Energies could purchase power from the Ledge Wind Energy Project for less than the cost of building its own wind farm.

The state has disclosed no timetable for deciding either proposal, although the We Energies project is further along in the regulatory review process.

Invenergy’s application to the state indicates that its Brown County wind farm could be in operation by 2011 and would generate enough electricity to power about 40,000 homes.\

OUR WIND FARM RESIDENT QUOTE OF THE DAY: [Click here for source]

“On Saturday or Sunday afternoon people come out here, stay for the afternoon, go home and wonder what the fuss is about. If you’re out here after 11pm you’ll known what we’re complaining about.”

 WHAT'S THE LATEST? Click here to read about why pilots of emergency medical helicopters can't rescue people who live in wind farms

Better Plan continues with our look at the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Glacier Hills Wind Farm proposed for the Towns of Randolph and Scott in Columbia county.

Click on the icon below to listen to a Minnesota Public Radio report on the use of eminent domain to force a wind farm onto a community that doesn't want it. (Text article appears below)

New Ulm Bullying its way to Wind Energy, Landowners say

Think it can't happen in Wisconsin?

On Page 29 of the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Glacier Hils wind farm prepared by the Public Service Commission we read:

WEPCO needs long-term easements for the land used by the wind turbines, access roads, and collector circuits. WEPCO has stated it intends to obtain easements from willing landowners. However, WEPCO could use the power of eminent domain if it is granted a CPCN by the Commission.

[Click here to download complete EIS document]

  Let’s stop right there:

What is Eminent Domain?

[click here for source of our definition]

 Eminent domain refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for a public use.

The PSC is now taking comments on the Glacier Hills EIS. If you'd like to comment on the impact of 90 wind turbines on residents forced to live with the proposed 1000 foot setbacks, CLICK HERE

 To review the entire docket for this project CLICK HERE and enter docket number 6630-CE-302.

New Ulm 'bullying' its way to wind energy, landowners say

by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio

[Click here to read at source]

Lafayette, Minn. — For the first time in Minnesota, the powerful government tool known as eminent domain could be used to take property rights in a wind energy project.

There's been a growing public backlash against wind energy; complaints about noise, visual pollution and even bird kills.

The city of New Ulm, as other cities around Minnesota have, wants to put up five wind turbines as a power source. The proposal has angered a group of landowners just across the Minnesota River from the southern Minnesota city.

Among them is Jeff Franta. The proposed site is surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans. He said most landowners here opposed the project from the start.

"We feel like that it will very likely grow into something a lot larger than just a few turbines," he said.

Franta said it is wasteful to convert even small amounts of highly-productive farmland to wind turbine sites, but that's not all that's fueling the opposition. The farmers are also upset with how New Ulm has pursued the project.

Jeff Franta

Franta's neighbor, Clete Goblirsch, said the city is bullying landowners. He said opposition to the project is so strong there's no way it could be built under normal circumstances. Goblirsch said the city is threatening to use brute force.

"It's eminent domain. The power of eminent domain," he said.

Most people think of eminent domain as government taking ownership of private land for a public project. That apparently will not happen here. The city has already gotten access to the land it needs from several farmers.

Those landowners aren't talking.

But eminent domain can be used to seize something other than land.

Clete Goblirsch

In this case, Goblirsch said the government can also use it to acquire wind rights -- the right to use the wind on hundreds of acres owned by Goblirsch and other farmers.

"If outsiders tell you that's it's a money issue, it's not a money issue," Goblirsch said. "It's who's got the power over us, and the people with eminent domain got the power."

Before New Ulm can build turbines, the city is required to obtain the wind rights on nearby farmland. The farmers would still own the land, but would lose some control. For example, they couldn't build their own wind turbines if they wanted to.

"The issue of controlling wind rights is the stumbling block," said Hugh Nierengarten, a New Ulm City Attorney.

He said the city needs to lock in a source of power, and developing wind energy is the right way to do it.

"How do we undertake the acquisition of the necessary wind rights in order to build and operate the five wind turbines that we propose for Nicollet County," he said.

Hugh Nierengarten

Nierengarten said the state requires wind farms to obtain the right to winds a certain distance from each turbine. That's to insure the machines are spaced far enough apart to have sufficient wind to operate efficiently. He said, even though the city is offering twice what he calls the going rate for wind rights, landowners have been reluctant to sign.

"We've already got approximately 55 percent of the area we need under control via leases with affected landowners that we negotiated over a year ago," Nierengarten said. "And there remain about 235 acres of wind rights that we have not yet secured control of."

Nierengarten said the city may use eminent domain to get those rights, although he calls it a last resort. That threat really irks landowners like Clete Goblirsch. He said it's a case of government trampling on individual rights.

"Taking your freedom of deciding what you want to do with your land," he said.

The entire wind industry may have a stake in this dispute about a relatively small wind project. A report from the state Energy Security Office predicts the use of eminent domain could have "severe adverse consequences" on other wind projects.

The report says the public may be less willing to even consider wind projects knowing they could lead to forcible loss of land or wind rights.

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, 10/14/2009, 7:25 a.m.

Click on the image above to see photos of Wisconsin windfarm homes taken by Gerry Meyer, who is a resident of the 86 turbine Invenergy Forward Energy Wind Farm in Fond du Lac and Dodge Counties. The PSC-approved setback from no- participating homes in Wisconsin wind farms is 1,000 feet.

Where did the 1,000-foot setback come from?

The PSC says they didn't come up with that number.

If they didn't, who did?

And who decided it was safe?

Wind turbines generate health, farming concerns

Farm Country September 30-October 6, 2009

[Click here for source]

By Judy Brown
 jlbrown@vbe.com

Johnsburg—Allen Hass, an eastern Fond du Lac County grain farmer, agreed to host three wind turbines when the Blue Sky Green Field wind farm was developed about three years ago.
 
With 88 turbines producing 145 megawatts of electricity for WE Energies, Blue Sky Green Field is Wisconsin’s largest wind farm. Utilities are under a state mandate to provide 10 percent of their power from renewable-energy sources by 2015.
 
Yet Hass, 55 is feeling something similar to buyers remorse. “We were told we could farm up to the base of the turbine.” Hass said. “Now I have three too many.”

(Click on the image below to see a news story which shows what the wind company did to Al Hass's land.)
 
Hass is concerned about how the ground near the turbine was left after construction. Topsoil wasn’t replaced to his satisfaction. Near the base of a 400-foot turbine, a layer of small stone was left that damages his combine’s head.
 
Beyond that the soil at a radius at about 75 feet from the turbine’s base is less productive than it once was, he said.
 
On an early September day, that part of the cornfield yielded nubbins of cobs. The rest of the stalks stood at least two feet taller than those surrounding the turbine.
 
Hass complained to WE Energies in Milwaukee which operates the wind farm. He hired a lawyer and has filed a lawsuit in an effort to recover normal use of the land surrounded the three wind turbines.
 
He receives $5200 a year, for each of the three turbines on his farm.
 
Under the standard contract with developers, landowners are prohibited from talking negatively about the wind farm. Otherwise, Hass said he believes there would be more public complaints from farmers who regret allowing turbines on their land.
 
Other farmers complain about buried cables that transport electricity to the grid, while others worry about the potential effect of stray voltage on dairy cattle. For many fields, aerial spraying is no longer and option.
 
Others are concerned about health issues they say are related to the wind turbines.
 
Brian Manthey, WE Energies spokesman, said that since Blue Sky Green Field was built, the utility has received numerous calls from people who want turbines on their property.
 
“We get more calls like that than people who are upset with the wind turbines,” he said.
 
He wasn’t aware of any litigation the company was involved in, although there were some out-of-court settlements when turbines were sited too close to houses, he said.
 
Manthey said some people have expressed concern about low-frequency sounds emitted by the turbines.
 
“It’s another case of whether there’s really an issue there or not. We have requirements as to how many decibels a wind turbine can produce,” he said.
 
Irv Selk, a member of the Calumet County Citizens for Responsible Energy, was among those who fought for an ordinance in that county to regulate wind farms. He said the 1,000 foot setback allowed in the Blue Sky Green Field wind farm isn’t enough. He favors a minimum of 1800 feet.
 
A survey of residents in the Johnsburg area living within a half-mile of wind turbines concluded that 30 percent of respondents were awakened at least once a week because of sound from the wind turbines, Selk said.
 
There is no scientific basis for the 50- decibel setback, Selk said. “One thousand feet is unquestionably too close to people’ houses.”
 
Selk, 65, said many residents have problems trying to describe their health symptoms.
 
“They are more subtle,” he said. “It’s almost easy to dismiss that as you as you are getting old. Some people are more sensitive.”
 
Teresa Weidermann-Smith, a spokeswoman for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, said the 1000 foot setback is not a PSC requirement.
 
For each of the major wind projects the PSC authorized, a requirement already existed at the local level that specified the 1000-foot setback, she said in an e-mail.
 
The project was laid out by the developer on that basis.
In none of those cases did the PSC specify the setback, rather it authorized the project to be constructed (more or less) as it was designed and the 1000 foot setback was a design criterion,” Weidemann-Smith said.
 
The biggest complaints associated with the wind farm east of Lake Winnebago have been about TV reception and shadow flicker, Manthey said.
 
He said WE Energies has dealt with a couple of dozen residents individually to fiz the TV reception either by provided satellite service to obtain Green Bay channels or by adjusting individual antennas.
 
For those who complain about shadow flicker when the turbine is in line with the sun and the house, the utility hires specialists who recommend blinds or some other remedy.
 
In the southern part of Fond du Lac County, Ralph Mittlestadt of Oakfield grows more than 1000 acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and other crops on his dairy farm. His land is in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties.
 
This year he expects to take an $8,000 loss because of the inability to obtain aerial spraying to combat fungus, corn rootworm and plant diseases.
 
“We were told by the utility that they would have enough room to fly,” Mittelstadt said. “But they plunked them right at the end of the runways.”
 
A spraying service formerly used the farm as a staging area, but since the wind farm was construction that has stopped,” he said.
 
Mittelstadt understands why pilots don’t want to fly in the area.
 
“They don’t light every tower, which is something I don’t understand, because the (Federal Aviation Administration) requires every turbine to be lit if higher than 100 feet,” Mittlestadt said.
 
Helicopters are also subject to the wind coming off the blades, he said.
 
Spraying crops with ground machinery also becomes problematic, he said.
 
“Crop sprayers may get around to it in four to five days, and by that time it’s too late,” MIttelstadt said.
 
Spraying corn with fungicides in the past has garnered Mittelstadt 15 to 30 bushels more per acre, he said.  
He doesn’t have any wind turbines on his land although he hosted a test windmill. “We found out it wasn’t financially feasible” he said.
 
Landowners receive $5,200 per year per turbine in the Forward Wind Energy wind farm.
 
Mittlestadt said that when the turbines were being built he believed about half of the people favored them and half were against the project.
 
“I think now it’s less,” he said. “A lot of people who put them p on their land wouldn’t do it again.”
 
Mittelstadt said he also has a problem with the noise produced by the wind turbines.  
 
“It sounds like a jet engine at times with a woof every time the blade moves. At night, it’s worse.
 
However, he didn’t say his sleep was interrupted by the turbines.
 
“I’m tired. I farm,” Mittlestadt said.

Click to see an interview with Ralph Mittlestadt and his son Kevin as they speak about living in the Invenergy Forward Energy wind farm

The configuration of turbines in Forward Wind Energy’s wind farm in Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties led Flight for Life, which operates a helicopter service, to send out a memo last year saying that accident victims have to be transported to pre-determined sites away from the wind farm instead of having the helicopter fly directly to the scene of an accident.

[Click here to downloadwind farm  memo from Flight for Life]

Diane Cappozzo, Fond du Lac County health officer, said her office has received complaints from a bout a half dozen people who live within the three wind farms in the county.
 
She said sleep disturbances are the top complaint. Many of the concerns are hard to document, she said, granting that for those affected it’s an issue because of the noise and vibrations from the wind turbines.
 
“For some people, it started as soon as the turbines started turning,” she said.
 
The county has forwarded concerns to the state epidemiologist.
 
“An epidemiological study will tell us if people here have more issues than just the general population,” Cappozzo said, “With wind turbines, the issues are very real for the individual making the complaints.”
 
The long-term impact of how residents react to wind farms is still unknown, she said.
 
“If the state is going to be involved in expanding wind farms, maybe this is something they should be aware of,” Capezzo said.
 
Gerry Meyer, of rural Brownsville has taken 1,600 pictures and written a diary since the Forward Wind Energy wind farm was established. The dairy can be accessed [by clicking here]

“I was neutral when it started,” Meyer said, “ didn’t help the people who were fighting it. I trusted the town board and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin that they would do the right thing.”
 
With several wind turbines surrounding his 6-acre property, Meyer and his wife Cheryl, find their quality of life diminished and report reactions such as loss of sleep from wind turbine noise.
 
“My wife has ringing in her ears, and one night at choir she was asked why she can’t get the pitch right,” Meyer said.
 
Low-pitched sounds may account for their sleep disorders, ringing in the ears and crackling noises they hear, he said. Once they leave their property their symptoms subside about three days later.
 
Meyer said he’s gained 37 pounds since the turbines were built.
 
“I was told my cortisol level was moderately high and that I should consult an endocrinologist,” Meyer said. “What I’m talking about is something new. I’m not about to blame the wind farm for pre-existing conditions.”
 
Meyer didn’t have a baseline cortisol number established before the wind farm was built.
 
“Almost every time I’ve heard from someone who has issues it’s mostly sleep deprivation and headaches,” Meyer said. He said he gets about two hours of sleep each night.
 
“We’re fortunate we have trees surrounding us to reduce the noise level,” he said.

(Click on the image below to see a video shot last winter by Invenergy wind farm resident Gerry Meyer. The video shows the turbines that are closest to his home. The second video shows shadow flicker affecting several homes in his community)

Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician, wrote a study in which she describes about a dozen health issues – such as sleep deprivation, anxiety and loss of motivation—as “wind turbine syndrome.”
 
Critics point out that the study involved 38 people, too few to draw conclusions about wind farms.
 
Others who support Pierpont’s conclusions say they experienced those same symptoms and were glad to see a description identified.
 
Curt Kindschuh, a resident near the Forward Wind Energy wind farm in southern Fond du Lac County, led efforts to keep wind turbines from being sited close to Horicon Marsh, which has hundreds of species of birds flying by on a regular basis.
 
“I personally know a lot of people who host a wind turbine who cannot speak out publicly about turbines,” Kindschuh said.
 
Some people express regret to him that they agreed to host wind turbines; Kindschuh said.
 
“They can’t speak out publicly because the fear legal consequences from the company,” Kindschuh said.
 
Calls to the legal department at Invenergy Wind in Chicago, the developer of Forward Wind Energy, were not returned.
 
Kindschuh said the quality of life is spiraling downward for many people, especially those who have tried to sell their rural homes.
 
He knows of seven or eight people who have put their homes up for sale.
 
“None have received offers,” he said.
 
He agreed the state of Wisconsin should embark on an epidemiological study on the three wind farms in Fond du Lac County because it appears the study isn’t going to be conducted locally.
 
However, he noted that the wind farm issue which has split neighborhoods and families, has produced some positive residual effects.
 
“You meet your neighbors, even though longtime neighbors don’t talk to each other,” he said. “It’s forever split the community.”
 

(Click on the image below to watch an interview with Curt Kindschuh about the changes the wind farm has brought to his community)

A is for "assume"

near the town of byron, fond du lac county, wisconsin, fall, 2008

"[Industrial wind turbine] noise, on which the ordinance is silent,

was assumed to be captured by the 1000 foot setback"

--Alex DePillis

From the Minutes of the November 4, 1999 Guidelines and Model Ordinance Ad Hoc Subcommittee meeting.

At the time, DePillis was a state worker employed by the Wisconsin Energy Bureau, Department of Administration.

He now works as a wind developer for EcoEnergy LLC

What are the results of this "assumption" about the 1000 foot setback?

Gerry Meyer carried mail in his community for 30 years.

He lives inside the Invenergy Forward Energy wind farm near the town of Byron in Wisconsin's Fond du Lac County. When the turbines went on line near his home in March of 2008, he was surprised by the amount of noise that they made. He began keeping a noise log. (The entire turbine noise log can be downloaded by clicking here)

Let's look at the noise log for September 1, 2008

6:20 AM Loud motor running or humming sound.

7:05 AM I’m hearing turbine #4 in the barn, shop, and at the computer.

[ Turbine #4 is less than 1600 feet from the house]

11:15 AM Wind SW Loud.

4:15 PM Turbine 4 and 6 are making loud jet flying over sounds, ripping the sky apart. It has been loud all day.

9:40 PM This is the loudest night in a long time.

I hear #4, 6, 73, 74a, 3a and and possibly more.

I can hear them at the computer in the front of the house and in the family room in the back of the house with the TV on.

Keep in mind turbine 6 is ¾ mile away. # 73 is 2480’ and 74a 5/8 mile away.

It is very sad our town officials and PSC have allowed this turbine project to affect the health of residents in this area and it will continue in other areas.

11:40 PM I hear turbine jet flying over sound while watching TV in our family room.

This assumption about wind turbine noise made by Alex DePillis and other members of the Model Ordinance Ad Hoc Subcommitee helped the state create guidelines which allowed Chicago-based wind developer Invenergy to site turbines as close as 1000 feet from unwilling participants homes in Fond du Lac and Dodge County.

The result?

Residents in Dodge and Fond du Lac are having trouble sleeping at night due to noise from industrial turbines, and when they want to sell their homes, no one seems interested in buying them.

This photo, taken December 8, 2008 is of a home near the town of Byron that has been on the market for a long time. The price has been reduced but still no offers.

Can you guess why?

Why would the state put so many residents at risk by allowing a committee to set guidelines based on an assumption that a 1000 foot setback would take care of noise problems?

Local governments who recognized the inadequacy of the state's guidelines for siting turbines have created large wind ordinances intended to protect the health and safety of residents. Within the last year, six Wisconsin townships have adopted ordinances with a 2640 foot setback. They didn't just pull that figure out of the air. And they didn't base it on an assumption. So what is it based on?

Here's what we learned from the findings section from the Town of Union's large wind ordinance regarding wind turbine noise.

The complete text of the findings and all documents used to support these findings are cited in the ordinance. (Download the entire Town of Union ordinance by clicking here)

This is just a summary:

The state's current wind turbine noise limit of 50dBA does not adequately protect residents from the adverse health effects associated with large wind turbine noise.

The town of Union limits large wind turbine noise to a maximum of 35dBA or 5dBA over ambient, whichever is lower, in order to protect residents from adverse health effects associated with large wind turbine noise based on the following findings:

Large wind turbines are significant sources of noise, which , if improperly sited, can negatively impact the health of residents, particularly in areas of low ambient noise levels.

Large wind turbines emit two types of noise-- 1) Aerodynamic noise from the blades passing through the air, which can generate broadband noise, tonal noise and low frequency noise; and 2) Mechanical noise from the interaction of the turbine components.

A dBA scale is commonly used to measure audible wind turbine noise.

Low frequency noise from large wind turbines is not adequately measured by the state's use of dBA weighting.

Noise is an annoyance that can negatively impact health, producing negative effects such as sleep disturbance and deprivation, stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

Large wind turbines create a noise annoyance that can hinder physical and mental healing and can cause adverse health effects associated with sleep disturbance and deprivation, psychological distress, stress, anxiety, depression, headaches, fatigue, tinnitus and hypertension.

Wind turbine noise can affect each person differently. Some people are unaffected by wind turbine noise, while others may develop adverse health effects from the same noise.

At low frequencies, wind turbine noise may not be heard but rather is felt as a vibration. Medical research reported complaints from people who felt the noise from large wind turbines, similar to symptoms that can be associated with vibroacoustic disease.

The risk for adverse health effects resulting from noise annoyance such as headaches, stress, anxiety, fatigue, depression, pain and stiffness, and decreased cognitive ability associated with sleep deprivation from wind turbine noise increases with increasing A-weighted sound pressures. According to wind turbine noise studies, few respondents were disturbed in their sleep by wind turbine noise at less than 35dBA. Respondents were increasingly disturbed in their sleep by wind turbine noise greater than 35dBA.

Wind turbine noise greater than 5dBA over ambient increases the risk for health effects because a change of 5dB is clearly noticeable.

Studies show prolonged exposure to wind turbine noise resulted in adverse health effects at sound levels below those from other sources of community noise, such as road traffic noise. Sound generated by wind turbines has particular characteristics and creates a different type of noise having different health impacts than compared to urban, industrial or commercial noise.

Living in a rural environment in comparison with a suburban area increases the risk of residents being impacted by noise from nearby large wind turbines because of the low ambient noise in rural environments. The International Standards Organization recommends community noise limits for rural areas be set at 35dBA during the day, 30 dBA during the evening, and 25dBA at night.

Eye-witnesses living near newly-constructed large wind turbines in the Town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, WI, testified at the public hearing held by the Town of Union Plan Commission that they currently experience adverse health effects from the wind turbine noise such as sleep deprivation and disturbance, headaches, nausea and dizziness. Th noise from the wind turbines in the Town of Byron is greater than 45dBA at their residences and can be heard inside of their houses and outside in their yards.

Two Plan Commissioners from the Town of Union visited the newly constructed wind turbines in the Town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, WI in June 2008 and confirmed the wind turbines were a significant source of noise. One described the quality and intensity of the noise as sounding like a jet airplane. The other spoke with residents, farmers and a sheriff's deputy in the area who all stated that the turbines were noisy. He also took sound measurements from the home of a resident with a turbine less than 1500 feet from his home. The sound measured between 57 to 67 dBA on June 6-7, 2008.

However, experiences vary. Two other plan commissioners visited wind turbine sites. One visited sites in Byron Township, Lincoln Township and Montfort and found that overall, people were satisfied with the turbines. Two issues noted by this Plan commissioner were tensions between landowners profiting from the wind turbines and those landowners who did not, and poor conditions of roads following the installation of the turbines.

The other commissioner visited wind farms in Iowa. He estimated that approximately 60% of the people he spoke with had positive opinions of the wind turbines and approximately 40% of the people he spoke with had negative opinions of wind turbines.

A fifth plan commission member went to a wind farm south of Rockford, IL. No one was available to talk so he walked around the area. It was a nice day, and windy. He noticed that the windows in the homes surrounding the site were all closed and no one was outside. He stated the noise was similar to a plane going overhead. He stood under a tower and did not feel any unease.

(For the complete text of the Town of Union's findings regarding Wind Turbine Noise Impacts, please download the complete ordinance by clicking here)