Part 1: Wind proposal dividing communities, May 4, 2010

MORRISON – Imagine dozens of wind turbines, standing 400 feet tall, stretching across the farm fields of southern Brown County.

They’d be spinning, day and night, for at least the next 30 years.

Some believe it’s a picture of progress.

“Of course it is. Wind has been used since the beginning of time,” said Glen Martin, a landowner in the town of Morrison.

Others see it as a major misstep.

“What do you do when the wind don’t blow?” said Dick Koltz, a landowner in Wrightstown.

Nine commercial wind farms are already up and running in Wisconsin, but on the table is a proposal for the largest project yet: 100 wind turbines in southern Brown County. It’s known as the Ledge Wind Energy Project.

The project has been proposed by Invenergy, a private wind developer from Chicago.

“The beauty of wind, once it’s installed, it just runs and runs and runs without harmful commodities having to be used up,” said Kevin Parzyck, the project development manager for Invenergy.

“We’re not claiming this is the end all for all power needs. It’s one component of the mix,” said Parzyck.

Parzyck said the electricity generated by the wind turbines would be sold to utility companies in Wisconsin.

The current proposal places 54 turbines in the town of Morrison, 22 in Holland, 20 in Wrightstown and 4 in Glenmore.

One would be on Glen Martin’s farmland in the town of Morrison. He believes the wind turbines are a necessary step towards energy independence.

“We have to produce this electricity and power some place, just like we have to grow a crop some place, just like we have to mine coal some place. This all has been to be done some place and this is a good place to do it,” said Martin.

But it’s not just about going green. Landowners would be paid as much as $10,000 per year for each turbine on their property. That’s quite the bonus, especially for farmers who have seen their share of struggles.

“Let’s face it, it would be nicer and times are tough. I’m sure the last couple of years swayed some of them into doing it. It is attractive,” said Dick Koltz.

Koltz signed a contract to have one turbine on his farmland in the town of Wrightstown, but said he’s now having serious doubts. His opinion changed drastically after seeing the wind turbines up close on a trip to Fond du Lac County.

“It just sort of hit me that this should never be. Not this close and not the area. It just wasn’t a good feeling,” said Koltz.

The feeling was so bad, in fact, Koltz is trying to get out of his contract with Invenergy.

Many of his concerns are being voiced loudly by the group Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy. Spokesman Jon Morehouse says the group is made up of neighbors who think the turbines are unsightly and unsafe.

“It can have mental and physiological effects on your body. There is also the low frequency sound waves as well as the sounds waves that you can hear and those have negative effects from sleep depravation to increase blood pressure,” said Morehouse.

Invenergy denies those claims.

“There’s anecdotal evidence of certain people with problems but there are no scientific studies that there are problems with wind noise,” said Kevin Parzyck, the project development manager for Invenergy.

The opposition group’s more than 200 members still aren’t convinced. They continue to show up at town hall meetings to voice their concerns.

The group’s spokesman turned down an offer to have three turbines on his property. It could have made him nearly one million dollars.

“I would never do something on my land that would negatively affect somebody else in our community,” said Jon Morehouse.

Others say they just don’t care if their neighbors don’t like the project.

“If I decide to go ahead and put something up like that, that’s my right,” said Glen Martin.

Even though Invenergy has been signing up landowners to participate in the project, the company is still in the process of modifying its application with the state. That application will ultimately be reviewed and voted on by the Public Service Commission — a process we’re told is likely still several months away.

Part 2: Wind blowing up storm of opinions, May 5, 2010

MALONE – If you walked out of your home every morning and saw wind turbines in every which direction, is it a sight you would get used to?

“You don’t even notice them anymore. They’ve been here two years and it’s just a part of life now, I guess,” said Ken Krause, a farmer in the Fond du Lac County town of Marshfield.

Or, is it a site you would grow to hate?

“Not these big, industrial turbines. They just don’t belong here,” said Al Haas, a farmer in the Fond du Lac County town of Malone.

It’s something many neighbors in Fond du Lac County will never agree on. Opinions are even more polarized among those who live on the Blue Sky Green Field wind farm . With 88 wind turbines, it is currently the largest wind farm in the state.

Haas has three turbines spinning on his farmland. He makes about $15,000 a year just for having them there. That’s a nice side income with no extra work involved.

“We were told we would basically be able to farm right up to it. We were told there would be basically no land loss to speak of, it just sounded like a good deal,” said Haas.

That extra money? Haas now says it isn’t worth it. He blames the wind turbines for damaging his crops and interfering with his TV reception.

But his main complaint is the noise. He says it keeps him up at night and has led to stress.

“It can sound like a freight train going through the other end of town. The problem is that freight train don’t have a caboose. It don’t stop. It just keeps rolling and rumbling on and on and on, for hours and hours,” said Haas.

“There are probably 3 or 4 days out of the month where they are loud but I think it’s a small prices to pay,” said Ken Krause.

Krause stands on the other side of the wind debate. He even likes the look of the two turbines on his farmland.

“If each community in the country was doing what we are doing, we wouldn’t need foreign oil … Not as much anyway,” said Krause.

Krause points to the pain at the pump two summers ago.

“Some people are already forgetting the $4 (a gallon) gas we had a couple years back. This is helping,” said Krause.

So, are all the wind turbines worth it? That’s what people in Brown County want to know. Some have even contacted people on both sides of the issue in Fond du Lac County to hear first hand with it’s really like living inside a wind farm.

“Is there a place for wind? Maybe. But I don’t think it’s in Wisconsin,” said Jon Morehouse, the spokesman for Brown County Citizens for Responsible for Wind Energy .

The group represents more than 200 people who are opposed to large-scale wind development in Brown County. Many of those people say wind turbines blemish the landscape and pose health hazards.

“We need to slow down, we need to slow down until things get put into place to regulate these industrial monsters to a safe and healthy level,” said Morehouse. “People are going to have to put up with them for 30 years.”

100 turbines are proposed in southern Brown County, with 54 turbines going in the town of Morrison, 22 in Holland, 20 in Wrightstown and 4 in Glenmore. It would be the largest wind farm in the state.

The project is being developed by Invenergy, a private firm from Chicago . The company says the location is one of the best places to harness wind in Wisconsin.

“Wisconsin has very good places for good wind and good transmission capabilities near where the power is going to be used,” said Kevin Parzyck, the wind development manager for Invenergy.

Invenergy is still modifying its application for the project. It will ultimately go to the state Public Service Commission for a decision.

That process will likely take several more months which gives people in Brown County more time to research the issue.

“We want people to go. Go to a turbine, stand under a turbine, see what it’s like, the proof is in the pudding,” said Parzyck.

Though, there are many farmers in Fond du Lac County who say a few days in their shoes would turn most people against wind development.

Part 3: The fight over Wisconsin’s wind future, May 6, 2010

It’s free, it’s everywhere and some think it’s the answer to our ever-increasing energy needs.

“Wind is the most feasible resource for most states because of its ability to scale up,” said Michael Vickerman, the executive director of RENEW Wisconsin. The non-profit group has been advocating for nearly two decades for widespread wind development in the state.

Wind turbines also provide struggling farmers a financial lifeline of thousands of dollars each year.

“For me, it’s a good thing,” said Gary Koomen, a landowner in the town of Morrison.

But as the state Public Service Commission continues to green light large-scale wind developments throughout the state, more and more people are speaking out against the projects.

“We need to slow down until things get put into place to regulate these industrial monsters to a safe and healthy level,” said Jon Morehouse, the spokesman for Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy. The group represents more than 200 people who are against large scale wind development in southern Brown County.

Right now, 9 commercial wind farms are operating in the state, with a total of more than 300 wind turbines. Though, 18 more wind farms have been proposed, which could push the number of turbines in the state upwards of 1,000.

The largest proposal on the table is 100 turbines in southern Brown County. The project is being developed by a private company from Chicago called Invenergy.

“I’ve always been a supporter of alternate energy to start with so it kind of appealed to me a consumer,” said Gary Koomen.

Koomen signed up to have two turbines on his farmland. He stands to pocket roughly $10,000 per year for each turbine. That kind of money can make life a little easier.

“Fun money,” laughed Koomen. “I’ll probably take a vacation.”

The push for wind development in the state stems back to 1999 when Wisconsin set its first renewable energy goal. The idea is to find energy sources that are sustainable.

Currently, utility companies are required to be providing 10% of electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Experts say, right now, the utilities are only about half way there.

“Without the standards, they have no reason to add more renewable energy,” said Michael Vickerman, of RENEW Wisconsin.

Vickerman says wind is the best renewable resource Wisconsin has, which is why he predicts a flurry of development in years to come.

“Wind will be the workhorse of all the renewable energy family. That’s true elsewhere in the Midwest,” he added.

The issue of wind development has divided communities and pitted neighbors against each other. One of the biggest fights continues to be over how close the massive turbines should be to neighboring properties.

Currently, many of the wind turbines are setback about 1000 feet. There are many people, however, who think they should be significantly farther away.

“It can have mental and physiological effects on your body. There are also the low frequency sound waves as well as the sounds waves that you can hear and those have negative effects from sleep depravation to increase blood pressure,” said Jon Morehouse, the spokesman for a group opposed to the project.

Wind developer Invenergy denies those claims.

“There’s anecdotal evidence of certain people with problems but there are no scientific studies that there are problems with wind noise,” said Kevin Parzyck, the wind development manager for Invenergy.

Though, Gary Koomen spoke with his neighbors about their concerns before signing up for the project. He said he wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t want him to.

“Probably not. I value the relationships I have in the neighborhood,” said Koomen.

The state has decided it wants to study the impact of wind turbines a little bit more. A 15 member wind siting committee was recently formed to advise the Public Service Commission on issues like noise levels and setback distances.

“These are legitimate points of disagreement and the more we can come to terms on those two issues, the better off we will all be,” said Michael Vickerman.

Vickerman is on the PSC’s wind siting committee. The committee’s goal is to come up with standards and rules for permitting large scale wind projects in the state.

Vickerman says uniform requirements are important because many communities have passed their own wind-related laws — some of which are designed to try and slow wind developmental.

The local laws may not even matter, however, because approval of large scale projects ultimately falls in the hands of the PSC.

“We have to resolve this issue before the wind industry gives up on Wisconsin,” said Vickerman.

Some admit that’s what they want.

“Whatever happened to using less and using less to the point where we save and use what we have more effectively. The wind thing does nothing but produce more,” said Jon Morehouse.

Much like the wind itself, the debate over wind development looks to be unending.

The PSC wants to have standards in place for permitting wind projects in the state by as early as this summer.

Officials at Invenergy tell FOX 11 they hope to start construction on 100 turbines in Brown County by 2011.

The question is: can these proposals withstand mounting opposition from the people who actually have to live among the wind turbines? The answer is still blowing in the wind.

SECOND FEATURE: Dig the AWEA conference by clicking on the image belo

THIRD FEATURE

Home for sale, Blue Sky/ Green Field project, Fond du Lac County, WI Photo: Jim Bembinster

On May 6th, 2010 two doctors gave presentations about wind turbine noise at the Rutland Regional Medical Center in Rutland, Vermont.

Robert J. McCunney, M.D. was one of the doctors hired by both the American Wind Energy Association and the Canadian Wind Energy Association to review existing peer-reviewed literature about possible negative health effects from wind turbines noise. He is credited as being one of the seven authors of a white paper called "Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Panel Review" which found no negative health effects from wind turbine noise.

Michael Nissenbaum, M.D. is specialist in diagnostic imaging, whose training and work involves developing and utilizing an understanding of the effects of energy deposition, including sound, on human tissues. He is a former Associate Director of MRI at a major Harvard hospital, a former junior faculty member at Harvard University. He conducted medical interviews with residents of the Mars Hill wind project in Maine, and with a control group of residents who live three miles from the project. His conclusions were quite different than those of the AWEA/CANWEA funded study.

The findings of these two medical professionals are detailed in a presentation which has been posted on YouTube in ten minute segments.

Click on the links below to watch

Part One: Introduction and opening remarks by Dr. McCunney

Part Two: Dr. McCunney

Part Three; Dr. McCunney

Part Four: Conclusion by Dr. McCunney, Opening remarks by Dr. Nissenbaum

Part Five: Dr. Nissenbaum

Part Six: Dr. Nissenbaum

Part Seven: Dr. Nissenbaum concluding remarks and questions for Dr. Nissenbaum and Dr. McCunney

Part Eight: questions for Dr. Nissenbaum and Dr. McCunney

Part Nine: questions for Dr. Nissenbaum and Dr. McCunney

Click on the images below to see what shadow flicker looks like in the Butler Ridge wind project near Iron Ridge Wisconsin. Filmed enroute to the Wind Siting Council meeting on May 4th, 2010.

Note from the BPWI Research Nerd: Click on the image above to hear what wind turbines sound like, how the quality of the sound changes depending on where you stand, and why so many in our state are having trouble living with them. Where wind developers venture, a torn up community is sure to follow. Though the following letter is from a resident of rural New York State, it could have come from any of the many communities in Wisconsin where wind developers looking to control land and make money do not hesitate to practice the art of turning neighbor against neighbor.

WIND COMPANY HAS NOT BEEN FORTHRIGHT WITH THE COMMUNITY

SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times, www.watertowndailytimes.com

May 9 2010

Several years ago, our small community was targeted by representatives of the wind company, Iberdrola Renewables, cleverly disguised as environmentalists. They quietly scoped out our farmers and large landowners, promising them large incomes, lower taxes and community gain. For a long time they appeared to have kept their plans under wraps; this prevented the rest of the community from knowing what was in the works during the early stages. Now that this intrigue has unfolded, our once close-knit community has been left in ruins before the approval of even one wind turbine has taken place.

The company now apparently intends to open an office in Hammond, creating the façade of an honorable business environment. Even this simple event seems rife with rumors, denials and accusations. Iberdrola Renewables will not respond to questions by the media, even regarding opening an office, unless in the form of an e-mail. Employees of Iberdrola have refused to have an open forum with our citizens. They have attended our Wind Advisory Committee meetings but would not answer questions unless presented in writing prior to the meeting. I do not hold these representatives personally responsible, since they are but the hired hands of the foreign wind company, doing their job as directed. It would appear that the direction is to be vague, avoid direct answers and spread information that ignores much of the real science behind the industry. Destroying relationships in our town is merely collateral damage.

I say to Iberdrola, you are not guests in our community. You did not approach our townspeople with an open meeting to present your agenda, fielding questions and inviting the community to participate in any plans. I believe you are here to make money at the expense of the people you purport to be helping. You have shown yourselves to be evasive and secretive. Doing business with any other company that behaves in this manner would be unacceptable even to the most gullible consumer, but you have insinuated yourselves with promises of big money and environmental commitment. Even the best among us have been taken in. I urge our citizens to see you as you truly are, and encourage you to go elsewhere, leaving us to clean up the wreckage your well-planned assault has left behind.

Brooke Stark

Hammond

Turbine Blade Damage 'Unusual'

SOURCE: Daily Chronicle, www.daily-chronicle.com

May 7, 2010

By Dana Herra

SHABBONA TOWNSHIP – Officials at NextEra Energy Resources aren’t sure what caused one of the three blades on a wind turbine south of the village of Shabbona to fail Friday morning. The 131-foot-long blade hung from the top of the turbine Friday, apparently bent at the base and split along its length.

A 131-foot-long turbine blade was damaged in the wind farm south of Shabbona.

That type of failure is unusual, NextEra spokesman Steve Stengel said.

“Our inspection at this point has just been visual, so at this point we don’t know what caused that,” Stengel said Friday afternoon. “Based on just visual inspection, it’s very unusual to have a blade fail and look like that.”

Stengel said the blade failed about 7:30 a.m. Friday. No one was injured and nothing besides the blade was damaged, he said. The turbine has been shut down.

The access road leading from Houghtby Road to that section of the 145-tower commercial wind farm was blocked off with orange cones and traffic barricades Friday. Stengel said NextEra is in the process of getting a replacement blade and arranging for a crane to repair the turbine so it can go back online after the cause of the failure has been determined.

Several vehicles pulled to the side of Houghtby Road while their occupants looked at the broken turbine Friday. One of those looking was Mel Hass, a member of a citizens group that filed a lawsuit last year opposing the wind farm.

Hass said he came to look at the turbine after getting a call that it had failed, and he had wondered if it was somehow damaged in a Thursday night thunderstorm.

THIRD FEATURE

Windmill Down; Fences Up

SOURCE: MADISON COUNTY COURIER

May 8, 2010

Safety Measures Implemented to Keep Public out of ‘Collapse Zone’

By Martha E. Conway

(Fenner) Enel Energy officials announced in March that heightened safety measures would be taken in light of the collapse of a windmill in the Fenner Wind Farm on Buyea Road Dec. 27.

“When the incident occurred, we fenced it off and set up security,” said Hank Sennott, director of corporate affairs and communications for Enel North America, Inc., out of Andover, Mass.

Now Enel is fencing off every turbine, Sennott said. He said with all the snow that stuck around this winter, it was difficult for anyone to get to the turbines, but with it gone, the company is erecting snow fencing to demarcate the “safety zone.”

“We are exercising an abundance of caution,” Sennott said. “The public has gotten use to having pretty liberal access to these turbines. We also needed to stake out the space before farmers begin working their fields.”

One of the things that made leasing so attractive to farmers was that they could work the land virtually up to the base of the windmill towers. Now Sennott says compensatory agreements will be made for the loss of use of the cropland unavailable inside the 300-foot radius – about the height of each windmill – staked out around each turbine.

The decision was made after concrete core samples from the foundations preliminarily showed inconsistent aging and degradation.

“Some of the samples looked like they were poured yesterday,” Sennott said. “Others… Didn’t.”

According to Sennott the samples of five or six foundations led to the decision to test all 19 in the project. He said the company is in the home stretch of collecting data and a report is expected soon.

Surveyors also are working the site to make sure towers are not moving, Sennott said.

“The last thing we want to do is have something happen,” Sennott said, adding that also is the motivation behind not hurrying to restart the turbines.

Sennott said he doesn’t know how much revenue is being lost each day the turbines don’t turn; he said he hopes the company can pull back the fences quickly and Enel’s expectation is that the turbines will be up and running by the fall.

“I don’t know of any turbine foundation failures, but we were the first, so there is nothing to go back and research,” Sennott said. “This project was the larges built east of the Mississippi when we constructed it 10 years ago. There’s no history for us to look at.”

Sennott said how much location may play into the problem is still a big unknown.

“That’s why we’re being overly cautious,” Sennott said. “Maybe we’ll look back and think it was excessive, but we would rather go overboard on the side of safety. We’ve never had any incidents, and we’ve never had anything like this ever happen.”

The top windmill engineering firm in the world is working on the investigation and report, Sennott said, and subcontractors who helped construct the project also are assisting.

“It’s been a real collective effort to try and sort this out,” Sennott said. “Everyone’s stepped up to the plate.”

Sennott said the community pride in the wind farm has been unparalleled.

“We can’t go anywhere without people tapping us on the shoulder, asking us when they are going to be started again,” Sennott said. “It shows that people are interested and care. There is real community pride in this project. Everybody’s been great. You don’t know how it feels to visit the Fenner website and see our turbines there. That really says it all.”

About the Fenner Wind Farm

The Fenner Windpower Project consists of 20 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts for a total installed capacity of 30 megawatts. Each wind turbine generator consists of a concrete foundation, a 213-foot-tall tubular steel tower, a 231-foot diameter, three-bladed rotor connected to a gearbox and generator, and an electrical control center to automatically operate the system.

The towers are 13.5 feet in diameter at the base and 8.5 feet at the top. The total height of each tower with blade extended is 328 feet; each blade is 113 feet long.

Each turbine weighs 380,000 pounds; the concrete foundation for each tower weighs more than 610,000 pounds. Access to the top of the tower is made by use of a vertical ladder located inside each tower.

The project is located in the town of Fenner, about 20 miles east of Syracuse in Madison County. The project encompasses about 2,000 acres of leased land running from the intersection of Mile Strip and Bellinger Roads in the North to the intersection of Buyea and East Roads in the south.

Two additional wind turbines and the electrical substation are located south of the intersection of Peterboro and Rouses roads, east of the main project site. Electricity produced by the windmills is transmitted to the National Grid power grid.

Construction began in June 2001 and was completed in November of that year.