3/5/09 Z is for Zero regard for residents concerns: The Wind Farm Strong-Arm in New Ulm

RED ALERT: This week, Wisconsin State Senator, Jeff Plale, (D-South Milwaukee) will introduce a bill which could hand over all siting of wind turbines to the PSC.

The PSC approved the siting of industrial wind turbines just 1000 feet from homes in the wind farms of Fond du Lac County. Residents in those wind farms are now being forced to live with the disastrous results.

To get a glimpse of what the future could look like for Wisconsin residents if the PSC has control over wind turbine siting, we look north to New Ulm, Minnesota and the message the City of New Ulm’s Public Utility Commission is sending to the people there.

After you read this post please go to the phone and call your legislators and ask them not to support Senator Plale's turbine reform bill. Tell them the appointed officials of the PSC should not be in charge siting wind turbines. Tell them they need to review what what has happened in Fond du Lac County since the PSC allowed a turbines to be built 1000 feet from homes.

These two articles appeared The Lafayette Nicollet Leger.

New Ulm PUC wind farm controversy continues

February 26, 2009

by Andrew Olsen

About 100 people showed up Monday, February 16 at the St. George Parish Center when the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission held a listening session to hear concerns of local property owners. This was the first public meeting held in Nicoillet County by the PUC about the controversial wind farm project.

The evening started with about 45 minutes of informative presentations about the project and another wind farm project.

Trimont area farmer Neal Von Ohlen presented information about his experience with wind turbines and addressed some concerns, including the flicker effect.

Von Ohlen stated that the flicker effect is present on his property only about one month of the year. He also pointed out that he has easily gotten used to the noise associated with the turbines and that he has seen no health side effects in his experience, no issues with radio or television reception, and no proof of increase or decrease in land values.

After Von Ohlen’s presentation, he took questions from the audience. It was difficult, however, for him to pinpoint his answers, as most questions inquired about New Ulm’s project, and not the one in which he is involved.

There seemed to be an aura of frustration as some had hoped their questions would be responded to at the meeting.

However, this was not the format the PUC chose to follow. PUC officials, instead, only listened and stated that they would respond to questions and concerns at a later time.

"Rather than it appearing that the PUC was trying to convert the skeptics, the PUC felt it was appropriate for area residents to have their say without having to engage in debate," New Ulm Utilities Planning and Development Engineer Patrick Wrase stated in an email to the Ledger after the meeting.

He went on, "The opponents of this project have painted themselves into a political corner and would ‘lose face’ if they accepted the logic of the PUC’s reasoned responses to their baseless claims. Thus no answer would have been sufficient to satisfy them and quell their fears.

They are simply beyond rational dialogue. For those with legitimate questions and concerns, they are entitled to reasoned and thoughtful responses after their concerns have been duly considered and studied. There are so many technical issues involved in a project like this that an ‘off-the-cuff’ response would risk misleading or misinforming, and the PUC has no desire to do that."

Area resident Dan Wendinger produced a timeline of how the project got to where it is today, and provided a letter that showed what project opponents called a clear threat of eminent domain. Some opponents believe that fear of losing land is the only reason why any of the three landowners in lease agreement with New Ulm signed those leases.

"They negotiated a lease rather than lose a portion of their property," Wendinger claimed.
Jeff Franta, an active opponent to the PUC’s wind farm project, which seeks to place three wind turbines in close proximity to his property, asked those present to "keep in mind that this is the very first public meeting held," and reminded them that a "project of this magnitude needs large public support to be successful." He also pointed out that none of the three landowners who have signed leases with New Ulm for use of their land were present at the meeting.

Other opponents also spoke at the meeting. Kim Schwab reiterated documented health effects that had been presented at an earlier Nicollet County Board meeting, and also voiced concern about the unwelcome presence of four-wheelers on her property.

Wrase assured the Ledger that access to properties under lease to the PUC for planning purposes was obtained only from public rights-of-way or via other property under lease to the PUC.
"The PUC requires all of its consultants and contractors to strictly respect all private property rights," Wrase wrote in an email to the Ledger. "The trespassing described by Mrs. Schwab is on property described as a township road according to Nicollet County records."

A consolation for opponents of the project might be an increase in property line setbacks for the wind turbines. The current setback in Nicollet County is 750 feet, but some residents would like to see that number doubled. Nancy Reinhart read a portion of a safety manual for wind turbines, which states to stay 1,300 feet away from the turbines.

The PUC hopes to have responses to concerns raised at the meeting ready and mailed to area residents within the coming weeks. For some opponents, though, answers may never come, as Wrase stated that there will be no response from the PUC to the presentations made by those he calls “the radicals."

"The PUC looks to the future of this project and will not engage in a debate about how things got to this point. When the PUC has had an opportunity to develop reasoned and factual responses to other questions that were legitimate, responses will be given," Wrase stated in his email.

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD: The photo below was taken in a PSC approved wind farm in Fond du Lac County, where the setback is 1000 feet from homes, or, if you'd like a 40 story wind turbine even closer, 440 feet.

Near the town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, Winter 2009 Photo by Gerry Meyer

Surrounding landowners say that wind farm is the right idea in the wrong place
by Ruth Klossner

While the City of New Ulm’s Public Utility Commission is moving forward with plans for the development of a wind farm a few miles southwest of Lafayette, the surrounding landowners are expressing their opposition to the project.

Both sides agree that wind energy is a good idea—but that’s as far as their agreement goes.

The New Ulm PUC has been looking at wind energy as a source of power for the past few years, starting with a feasibility study.

While area landowners were aware of that study, they didn’t know at first that it applied to them.

As early as the spring of 2007, eight landowners in Lafayette Township were approached about the possible sale of land for a potential wind farm. When they were contacted by phone, it became apparent that PUC representatives “knew everything about the land.”

After the initial phone calls, no further contact was made for a time and local landowners “thought the project died.”

That changed early this spring when three landowners were contacted again.

After due consideration, at least two of the three responded, through their lawyer, in late March, that they had no interest in any wind generation project on their property. They asked the City of New Ulm to look elsewhere.

Letters to landowners in mid-May indicated that the City of New Ulm intended to pursue the project, in spite of property owners’ objections.

The city indicated a desire to negotiate the purchase of land, but stated that other means would be used, if the landowners wouldn’t agree to the city’s demands.

With the threat of losing their land through eminent domain hanging over them, the three landowners agreed to negotiate and worked out lease agreements, rather than the purchase agreements that New Ulm wanted.

Long-term land and wind easement leases with three landowners—Brad and Diane Franta, Roger Klossner, and Sharon Hacker—were approved at the NU PUC meeting Tuesday, August 26.

According to the leases, two turbines could be placed on 60 acres leased from the Frantas, one on 40 acres leased from Klossner, and two on 137.03 acres from Hacker. The PUC also authorized an option to purchase an additional five acres from Hacker for the construction of a substation. The sites are in Sections 18, 19, and 20 of Lafayette Township North.

A request for a conditional use permit to erect that meteorological tower will be heard at the meeting of the Nicollet County Planning and Zoning Advisory Commission at 7:00 pm. Monday , September 15 in the County Board Room of the Nicollet County Government Center.

That will be the first time that a Nicollet County government board has had any input on the proposed wind farm. The matter is also expected to be on the Tuesday, September 23 agenda of the Nicollet County Board of Commissioners.

Surrounding landowners will attend both meetings to express the many concerns they have about the project.

In a Letter to the Editor published last week in the Ledger and other area newspapers, 12 landowners/taxpayers wrote,

“We are not opposed to wind energy and, in fact, think that wind energy is a top choice for electric power going green in the future. However, there are places much better suited than this area for wind turbines.”

They also noted, “We, the surrounding landowners, including the three landowners who have signed the leases with the New Ulm PUC, have opposed this project from the start.

The three landowners that have entered into a lease agreement with New Ulm PUC have done so only for fear of losing a large portion of their developed crop land due to the threat of eminent domain.”

The group has also presented a petition, signed by 77 landowners/producers, landowner/residents, and landowners to each member of the PUC, as well as to members of the Nicollet County Planning and Zoning Board and County Board of Commissioners.

Basically every name of every resident and/or owner within a mile or two of the proposed wind farm site is on the petition.

A total of 32 building sites are within a mile of a proposed tower. Six of the signers of the Letter to the Editor expounded on the concerns of the surrounding property owners last week.

The three landowners, who have signed leases with the PUC, are under a gag order and cannot speak about the process or the lease.

“Their hands are tied. They can’t say a word since they signed the lease. That holds throughout the entire process,” Dan Wendinger stated.

In turning to the group’s concerns, Wendinger noted, “The proposed wind farm area will encompass more than 30 building sites. No other wind farm around has that many building sites, or that many sites where the landowners actually farm the land. It’s their business. A lot of small businesses will be affected by this project.”

When Jeff Franta noted, “A wind farm is not five towers,” Sandie Altmann added, “It seems to be ‘a test.’”

Kim Reinhart commented, “They’ve never established whether they’ll expand, but we’ve heard other numbers.”

While the NU PUC has announced plans to put up turbines equating to five to seven megawatts at this time, the proposed sub-station is designed to handle 30 megawatts.

Group members pointed out that the development of a wind farm of any size has significant tax issues. According to officials in the wind industry, an average wind tower should generate $8,000 a year in taxes, or approximately $4,000 per megawatt.

With New Ulm talking five to seven megawatts, that’s $20,000 to $28,000 annually in taxes that would be lost, because municipalities do not pay taxes.

All tax money generated by wind towers, if privately owned, stays in the county. “Nicollet County gets nothing out of this, except perhaps a small per acre tax on the property that the turbines stand on,” Wendinger said.

Group members also questioned why the towers are proposed for Nicollet County, versus Brown County where New Ulm is located.According to the landowners, wind maps show that western Brown County has better wind than the area selected.

“Besides, there’s more prairie land there, and the farm sites are not as concentrated as here,” Jeff Franta said. “It’s likely that someone with grassland would welcome getting income from it.”
He went on, “We’re highly productive. We farm fenceline to fenceline on highly productive land.”
The group objected to New Ulm referring to the local acreage as “undeveloped land” in its negotiations.

“We call it ‘developed crop land.’ It’s developed in our eyes,” Franta said.

Placement of turbines on productive farm land could adversely affect the farming business, not only of the landowners on whose property they would be placed, but the neighbors as well.

Clete Goblirsch pointed to a number of agricultural concerns.

“Any time you take a big parcel and cut it up, you decrease efficiency. Putting these towers in would cause us to go from bigger to smaller parcels—while equipment is getting bigger. It would be inefficient for planting, spraying, harvesting, tilling. We don’t make just one pass. Farmers would have to drive around it seven times a year.”

The roads leading to each tower would break up the farm land even more. Equipment will have to be raised each time roads are crossed.

The proposed towers are spread out over a lot of acreage, another concern for landowners.

“They’re indiscriminately putting the towers here and there, rather than in a line like they are in most wind farms. The five towers are spread over three or four sections of land,” Goblirsch noted. “That’s not farmer friendly.”

Franta added, “They’re disrupting three landowners.”

The farms have been in family ownership for a long time—with at least one being a Century Farm.

“The Franta family was probably farming the land before New Ulm was even a city,” Dennis Franta commented.

The towers would also cause problems for the application of pesticides and herbicides.

“Aerial applicators can’t deal with multiple towers,” Goblirsch, who is a pilot as well as a farmer, noted.

“More aerial applications are being done every year—I see no indication of it being reduced. The test tower is even worse than the wind towers as pilots can’t see the guy wires.”

In a related matter, group members related that they have learned that many air ambulances won’t land in areas with dense towers, especially at night.

“They need a big area to maneuver. Where are they going to land if we need an air ambulance?” Goblirsch asked.

County and township roads are another concern. While the PUC has stated that it will restore the roads after construction is complete, area residents question who will fix the roads when heavy equipment has to be brought in to do turbine repair.

Another traffic concern is that the turbines would be a tourist attraction, putting many more vehicles on the rural roads, and interfering with machinery movement and causing safety problems.
Reinhart brought up another area of concern.

“There are a lot of health concerns. It affects everybody who lives there. People living in turbine areas have sleep problems, headaches, nausea, depression, and many other problems. The low-frequency noise causes insomnia.”

Franta added, “Our population is very close to where the towers would be. We’re very concerned about it."

Reinhart and fiance Scott Schwab would likely be within three blocks from a proposed tower.

“The flicker/shutter effect as the blades going by can cause equilibrium problems. The shutter effect is seen up to a mile or two away,” Reinhart noted.

“The noise has to be 50 decibels at night, but can be exceeded a certain percent of the time. Fifty-decibels is like a refrigerator or air conditioner running next to your bed. It’s not a steady sound, either. There’s a pulse to it.”

Another concern is that the blades can throw off ice during cold weather, and could cause injury.
“We live in the country for a reason,” Reinhart emphasized.

The local landowners emphasized that they are not against wind energy, but that turbines should be placed in a more suitable location.

“We are fully aware that New Ulm has several other options for acquiring wind energy as a power source for the city. We have consulted with several wind farm experts and they suggest that a project of this magnitude is at a very high risk of not being successful and could place a great financial burden on area tax payers,” the group noted in its petition.

“If this goes through, it’s precedent setting,” Franta said. “No city of this size has ever done this before. It’s usually done by a group.”

Altmann added, “We are for wind energy, just not in such a heavily populated area.”

“It’s the food versus fuel argument. There’s a place for wind turbines and a place for corn and beans. There is land available in Brown County that’s more suitable for turbines,” Goblirsch stated.

While distance may be argued as a deterrent to a western Brown County location, Goblirsch pointed to data supplied by former Secretary of Agriculture Jim Nichols, now manager of a wind turbine farm on the Buffalo Ridge.

While the industry commonly cites a two-percent loss in the electrical power grid, one percent of that is basically lost through transformers. Only one percent is lost is transfer of power up to 1,000 miles—so the loss from western Brown County to New Ulm would likely be no greater than from Lafayette Township.

This story ran September 11, 2008.

Here's the Update:

What New Ulm has to look forward to:

Photo: Farmhouse in one of the PSC approved industrial wind farms in Fond du Lac County, Winter 2009 Setback of 1000 feet.

New Ulm in 1870

Y is for Year and a day: 366 days in a PSC-approved Industrial Wind Farm.

RED ALERT: This week, Wisconsin State Senator, Jeff Plale, (D-South Milwaukee) will introduce a bill which could hand over all siting of wind turbines to the PSC. The PSC approved the siting of industrial wind turbines just 1000 feet from homes in Fond du Lac County.. Residents in those wind farms are now being forced to live with the disastrous results.

Gerry Meyer, who lives in the Forward Energy wind farm near South Byron has been keeping a noise log since the turbines went on line near his house a year ago.

The marker in this picture is the first the Myer family saw of turbine #4, having little idea that it was about to dominate their days and nights and take away the peace and quiet and they had known in their home for 37 years.

After you read this post about what it's like to live in a PSC approved wind farm, please go to the phone and call your legislators and ask them not to support Senator Plale's turbine reform bill. Tell them they need to take a close look at what has happened in Fond du Lac County since the PSC allowed a turbines to be built 1000 feet from  Ask them what these setbacks based on?

Town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, Winter, 2008  Photos by wind farm resident Gerry Meyer

 One Year Later:

What's life like in an 86 turbine PSC approved industrial wind farm? Is it what the wind developers said it would be?

Like the people of Johnsburg and Marshfield, the people of Byron were assured by the wind developers and the PSC that the turbines sited 1000 feet from their homes would not be noisy, certainly not loud enough to keep them up at night.

They were told that shadow flicker would not be a problem, that they would not suffer any negative health effects, that there would be no impact on the wildlife in the area or on their property values for that matter.

A year later it's clear to residents of the Fond du Lac County wind farms that none of what the wind developers and the PSC said is true.

Turbine #4 went on line March 3rd, 2008. Gerry Meyer, who has been keeping a turbine noise long since that day wrote this as the first entry:

"March 3, 2008
Turbine #4 turning slow for the first time. 10:00 pm I went out to check the fire and I looked up in the sky to try and see the jet flying over. It was not a jet, but the turbine."

Turbine #4 is 1560 feet behind the Meyer home. It is one of five turbines they are able to hear from inside the house.To see and hear Tubine #4 in action, click on the image below:

Here is the latest update to the Meyer family noise log:

(To read the entire noise log, click here)

January 1 2009 –

2:20 AM I was awakened by large industrial wind turbine sounds. I went back to sleep.
Yes it was New Years Eve. I had one Cherry Pepsi (no alcohol) some egg rolls and cheese & crackers.

4:10 AM This is the 2nd time tonight I was awakened by industrial wind turbines. I took a sound reading from our patio door, dba 48.9, dbc 74.8. The refrigerator was not running.

7:00 AM Wind S, Very loud jet sound. dba 51.6, dbc 67.0. I am quite tired today from being awake or having disrupted sleep most of the night.

One nap at 10:00 AM, one at 3:00 PM and fell asleep watching TV in the evening. Yes, I strongly believe this is directly due to industrial wind turbines being placed much too close to homes.

10:00 PM Wind SW, dba 51.4, dbc 67.3.
Very loud and I can hear [it] in all rooms of the house. My wife complained about sound upstairs sewing. I hear [it] in the family room while watching TV, even during talking on the TV. Our son was down for Advil for turbine induced headache. He still is awake at 11:30.

11:25 PM Wind SW dba 48.9, dbc 62.7 We hear turbine sound all throughout the house☹ I am hearing turbines 4, 73 and 6.

January 2 –

Last night was very loud with turbine noise as I have written. I was again awakened twice from the sounds or vibration penetrating our house. I was angry before, but now that I am getting woke up at night from the turbines, it just raises the level of anger.

8:35 wind NW, 7 knots, sound is like that of a heavy, fast moving train going by.

10:10 PM Wind NW, Fairly quiet, but very noticeable at 1560’.

January 3 –

6:50 AM Wind E, Not too loud compared to most of the time. Sounds like heavy working motor and audible at 1560’. Today was a fairly quiet day with intermittent loud sound bursts. The sound was covered by the strong winds.

9:45 PM Wind E, strong, but I still hear the turbines over the rain.

January 4 –

6:30 AM Wind, if there is wind, is from the NW. Very calm, light fog and complete silence. I hear or see no turbine turning. I hear an owl hooting and the feet or toes of a squirrel digging into the bark of the icy tree. I don’t’ hear these sound when the turbines are turning.

Where are the Sierra Club, Green Peace or other environmental groups [raising concerns about] the effects on wildlife by the large industrial wind turbines?

Two friends have now told me about not seeing deer since the turbines have been built. We used to see deer on our lane or even in our garden. Now we see zero deer. We used to see 16-20 almost daily. We have seen one since the turbines have been up.

I know from one of the study people that bats were found by the turbines in this area. So tell me why there is not concern for the wildlife in a wind farm, yet of there was going to be a dam or a pipeline environmental groups would be screaming about how wildlife would be affected.

I can hear our dogs feet breaking through the thin layer of ice on top the snow and his toe nails sliding on the ice where there is no snow.The sound level on this quiet morning is dba 30.4. You can see the big difference compared to when the turbines ARE turning.

Before I could get a dbc reading turbine 73 began turning and then 4, 6 & 3a.

I now hear all these with a whooshing sound with dba 46.8, dbc 76.2. 2:40 PM Wind W, 17 knots. Today is the loudest whooshing sound since the turbines have been erected. They can be heard while I work in the dinning room and by my wife upstairs in the sewing room. Loud upstairs.

9:55 PM Wind NW. The sky is filled with turbine sounds especiallyN & W from turbines 4, 3a and 6

January 5 –

5:45 AM Wind SW, Loud jet sound fills the air.

8:15 AM Wind SW. The loud sounds just keep filling the air. My wife told me the ringing in her ears is the worst it has been in days and also has a headache. She was sewing all day yesterday and the turbines were very loud.

1:30 PM Wind SW Turbine 4 & 73 are very loud.

4:35 PM wind SW, 11 knots. Turbine 73 louder than #4. Together they sound like a Chinook helicopter ripping the sky apart.

5:40 PM. I’m sitting at my computer and hearing the deep thump, thump, thump of turbine 73 (2480’ away). It sure affects concentration and makes me sick to my stomach, but so far no headache.

9:00 PM Wind SW, still very loud and as earlier I hear turbines 4, 6, 73. this has been one of themost annoying days since they began turning March 3, 2008.

11:30 PM We hear the turbines in all rooms of the house.

January 6 –

6:25 AM Wind SSE, calm, 13.6 rpms. Sound that of large working motor. Quiet compared to yesterday yet very noticeable at 1560’.

10:20 AM Wind calm, 11 rpms, Whooshing sound, but audible. Light snow and low visibility.

1:20 PM Wind SW, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet.

9:40 PM Wind still. Whooshing sound

January 8 –

6:30 AM Wind W , 7 knots, Sound that of working motor. It was real loud this morning. I was so tired yesterday I took 3 naps and fell asleep watching TV at night. I realize I am not getting to deep sleep due to the low frequency noise emitted from the industrial wind turbines around my house. I used to dream every night often in color. I could dream a few moments after falling asleep. Now it is rare to dream at night at home.

9:40 PM Wind NW, Strong, whooshing sound. Not so loud most of the day.

January 9 –

6:30 AM No turbines turning.

9:35 AM Wind NE, light, 12. 6 rpms. The turbines I can see have snow/ice build up on both sides of one blade.

1:40 PM wind NE, 11 rpms. With this wind direction sound usually is fairly quiet which it is now.

10:05 PM Wind S, 13.3 rpms, whooshing sound, but audible from the house or 1560’. Today was fairly quiet and did not need a nap. I’m sure there is a connection to sound, sleep deprivation and being tired.

January 10 –

6:30 AM Wind N, 8 knots, dba 43.8, dbc 49.3. My wife told me she was awake at 4:00 AM and could not get back to sleep and was a little anxious. That prompted me to check the sound level. The difference between dba and dbc is the problem or low frequency noise issues

4:50 PM Wnd NNW, 11.6 rpms. Rumbling motor sound.

9:50 PM Wind NW Audible motor Humming sound. Fairly quiet day.

January 11 –

6:10 AM No wind, no turbines turning. Dba 30.6. It is so quiet and peaceful. I rarely hear
an owl hoot since the turbines began turning, but it was nice to hear one this morning.

7:30 AM Wind SW, calm, 11 rpms @ 60.24 seconds, not enough to produce electricity.

11:40 AM Wind SW, 11 rpms, not much sound, but not much if any electricity.

4:00 PM Wind SW, 11 rpms, not much sound.

9:50 PM Wind NW slight breeze, turning slow and quietly or motor hum.

January 12 –

5:25 AM Wind calm. Some turbines not turning. Turbine 4 slow at 11 rpms. Fairly quiet.

8:10 AM Wind SW, Many turbines not turning.

9:35 PM Wind N, 7 knots. Turbine 4 not turning,but can hear turbines 6 & 73.

11:15 PM Wind NW, 9 knots. Turbine 4 loud as heard from patio door.

January 13 –

7:45 AM Wind NW, 11 rpms, Turbine 4 stopped, but can hear turbines 6 & 73. 6 is louder and is ¾ mile away.

4:35 PM Wind W, 11 rpms. Slow and quiet.

9:50 PM Wind W, No turbines turning. It is interesting that this is the coldest night of the winter at -10F (-24C) and no electricity is being generated. In summer when air conditioners are running no electricity is
generated because there is not wind. In the 3rd quarter this Invenergy wind farm produced at
a disgusting 17.5% of it’s capacity. When we buy furnaces for our homes we are looking for an
efficiency rating in the 92 to 96% rating. When are our elected and appointed PSC officials going to see what an obscene hoax wind energy is?

January 14 –

5:40 AM Wind NE, 11 rpms, fairly quiet.

4:00 PM Wind W. Very loud jet sound.

9:15 PM Wind NW, 10 knots, dba 46.6, dbc 61.1. Loud jet sound ripping through the sky. Turbine 6 is
Also loud which is ¾ mile away.

January 15 –

6:15 AM Wind NW, 6 knots, dba 43.7, dbc 58.9. Jet sound.

3:30 PM Wind W. Jet sound.

9:30 PM Wind W. Turbine 6 is pounding away at the night sky louder than turbine 4 with loud whooshing sound mixed with the jet flying over sound.

January 16 –

7:10 AM Wind W. Early we heard the turbine sounds from all around our yard.

11:30 AM, Wind SW, Jet sound. Also hear turbines 6 & 73.

4:45 PM Wind SW, 5 Knots, The sky is filled with turbine sounds, especially turbines 4 &73. Also 6, 3a, 74a and 70 are heard. Turbine 70 is one mile away. This is ridiculous, unnecessary and very annoying.

10:05 PM Wind SW, dba 53.2, dbc 75.3. This sound report is from turbine 73 which is 2480’ away. Turbines 73 and 4 are offering a loud jet sound. Very loud.

12:15 AM I heard the thumpingTurbine sound at the computer even over the furnace blower running.

January 17 –

5:30 AM This night was terrible. The first words from my wife this morning were, “I didn’t sleep much last night. I tossed and turned all night”. I agree. I had the same affects. We went to bed at 12:20 AM and at 2:20 AM I was still awake. We could hear the turbines in our bedroom. At 3:20 AM I was woke up by the turbine sounds. At 4:10 AM awake and at 4:35 AM I was woke up again and I didn’t get back to sleep before it was time to get up, but for Invenergy, the PSC and our town officials this is OK. How sad.

6:25 AM Wind S, 11 knots gusts to 14 knots, dba 50.2, dbc 70.7. Very loud jet flying over sounds from turbines 4 & 73.

3:45 PM Wind SW, 14.6 rpms, loud jet sound turbines 4 & 6. 9:10 PM Wind NW, loud jet sound Turbines 4 & 6. 12:00 AM Wind NW, turbines are loud as heard from our patio door. Probably not a good night for sleep.

January 18 –

6:00 AM I was woke up by the turbines at 1:20 and 3:35AM. My wife was awake at 1:35 AM. It was a restless night.

7:15 AM Wind NW, 18.3 rpms, dba 48.9, dbc 70.7. Loud whooshing and jet sound from 4. Even louder jet and thumping or pounding from #6.

10:10 PM Wind NW Jet sound

January 19 –

5:30 AM Wind WNW, 17 rpms. Loud whoosh with a new sound today. There is a vibration sound in the air in sync with the blades passing the tower. I can hear it all over inside the house. It is kind of like if a metal barrel with partially filled with a liquid and a sound was passed through it. I was awake last night several times. At some point at night my wife told me she couldn’t sleep. Sleeping conditions are getting worse.

8:20 AM Wind NW. This new irritating vibration sound continues and is more noticeable in most rooms of the house than outside.

3:10 PM wind NW, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet.

10:10 PM Wind NW Turning slow and fairly quiet yet definitely audible from 1560’ from the turbine.

January 20 –

6:45 AM Wind NW Not too loud this morning.

4:45 PM Wind SW, 11.6 rpms. Hum of a working motor, not too loud but definitely audible from 1560’.

10:05 PM Wind SW, 16 rpms Jet sound. I can also hear turbines 73 and 74a. 74a is 5/8 mile away.

January 21 –

1:15 AM Wind SW. I can hear turbine 4 in our back room and dining room. At this time
we are on our way to Chicago to fly to Miami Beach to meet one of our exchange students and
her parents.

January 22 –

I slept all night and even had dreams☺

8:30 AM Walking on the streets I feel upbeat. I don’t feel the stress that I do at home with constant low frequency noise. Street noise (cars, roof being repaired) are non events here.

1:00 to 4:00 PM Wind NE. We were on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean. After several hours I asked my wife if the sound of the waves is like the wind turbines back home. “No way”, was her response. This is a very pleasant sound. The turbine sound is very annoying and aggravating. There is NO way the two sounds can be
compared to each other.

The next sentence from my wife was, “And the buzzing and ringing inmy ears is gone”. I do not have the crackling in my left ear.

Evening – Very great and peaceful. No loud turbine sound.

January 23 –

7:30 AM Slept great. Many dreams last night. Did not wake up at all. No crackling in my ear. I feel happy and motivated unlike at home.

11:30 AM to 3:45 PM We were on the beach (Atlantic Ocean) The sound of the waves was peaceful, beautiful and relaxing. Wind company sales people compare the sounds of the industrial wind turbines to ocean waves. Tobe blunt and honest that statement is an outrageous lie. There is NO comparison to the two being alike.

January 24 –

7:15 AM Again it was a peaceful night. I slept all night and had many dreams. Afternoon, we did a lot of walking on the street. Those street sounds were a non event.

January 25 –

7:30 AM It was another great sleep night. More dreams.

11:00 AM I went to the beach
for a while. It was hot and the sound of the waves was relaxing and peaceful. No crackling in the ear.

January 26 –

1:30 AM This makes me so angry. We have been away from home for 5 days. It was so beautifully peaceful while we were gone. We just arrived home and of course the first sound we were confronted with when we left the garage was wind turbine sounds. Thumping in the sky. Turbine 6 and maybe 75b. Turbine 4 not turning. 75b is 7/8 mile away.

5:45 AM Wind W Turbine 4 now turning with jet sound.

10:10 AM Wind W, 11 rpms. Audible sound.

10:10 PM Wind NW Slow turning, low jet sound.

January 27 –

6:25 AM Wind NW, 13 rpms, not real loud, but very audible at 1560’ with sound of a large motor under load with intermittent jet sounds. Often the sound is not just at one level. As gusts of wind hit the blades there is more force on them and it gets louder and quieter in a minutes time or in several minutes time.

12:30 PM Wind NW About ½ of the turbines are not turning. Turbine 3, 13 rpms.

3:30 PM Wind ?. No Turbines turning. Yes, it is amazing how peaceful it is when no turbines are turning. Even when they are turning slow they are fairly quiet, yet the low frequency noise must be saturating the air because the turbines are annoying and cause tenseness and anxiety.

5:30 PM Wind SW. No turbines turning. When the turbines are not turning there is a much different peace than when the turbines are turning slow and quiet but audible. Even slow and quiet must still emit low frequency noise that affect the body. It’s difficult to explain this. This afternoon the wind was NW and turning slow and fairly quiet. There still was sound and that caused stress and anxiety and irritability.

At 3:35 as well as now the turbines are not turning and there is a complete peace and well feeling. It is a sense or feeling that is rarely felt or is rarely present since the industrial wind turbines around me began
turning March 3rd of 2008.

This just makes me more angry at the town of Byron planning and zoning, the town board, the counties of Fond du Lac and Dodge, the PSC and any and all legislators that promote this misrepresented form of “green” renewable energy. It is a gigantic hoax.

10:35 Wind SW Turbines are not turning. 5 minutes ago all were turning slow but certainly audible from my sidewalk.

January 28 –

5:25 AM Wind NW 13 rpms. Whoosh sound. 8:10 AM Wind NW 11rpms. Motor humming and whooshing sound.

5:30 PM Wind SW, 17 rpms. Loud jet flying over sound from turbines 4 and 73. 9:35 PM Wind SSW dba 47.4, dbc 74.9. Very loud jet sound from turbines 4, 73 and 6. Pretty much equal sound between from all three. They are 1560’ 2480’ and ¾ mile away respectively. This is the loudest sound in a few weeks. I can hear them in our back room even with the TV on. My wife has been sewing upstairs this evening and has been loudwith turbine noise all evening. This is from 6 to10 PM.

11:15 PM I hear turbine 73 pounding and thumping in the front of the house over the computer motor and the TV with music on.

January 29

5:00 AM I was awoken now and several times during the night. Yes, turbine noise from turbine 73 and probably 4. My wife told me now she was restless all night.

7:20 AM wind calm. 13.3 rpms, Audible motor humming sound. 9:30 PM Wind NW, 18.3 rpms. Loud jet sound from turbines 4, 6 and 75b. 75b is 7/8 mile away.

January 30 –

6:50 AM Wind W Jet sound.

3:35 PM Wind W, 11 rpms, lot motor working hard sound.

6:45 PM Wind W I can hear 4, 6 and 3a with jet sound.

8:45 PM Wind W I can hear 4 and 3a with jet sound.

11:55 PM Wind SW Loud jet sound. I can hear turbines in our back room.

January 31 –

6:00 AM I didn’t sleep well last night due to turbine noise.

7:05 AM I have not been outside yet, but I can hear the turbines thumping from my computer.

7:30 AM Wind SW, 12 knots, loud jet sound.

6:10 PM I can hear turbine 73 from computer and # 4 and 6 from our back room.

2:30 PM Wind SW I went across the road with my snowmobile to the snow near the neighbor’s woods so they could walk with their dog. I was almost straight east of turbine 73 over 1000’ away when I stopped. The snowmobile was running and I had on a DOT approved helmet on (well padded and sound resistant) and I could hear turbine 73. That’s loud.

10:10PM Wind SW LOUD jet sound. I can hear turbines 4, 3a 73 and 6.

February 1 –

6:30 AM Wind SW, Windy. Loud jet sound, strong whooshing of the blades, dba 50.

ALL day – Wind SW with loud jet sound.

9:35 PM Wind SW. Loud jet sounds. I can hear 4, 3a, 6 & 73. They are 1560’, 5/8 mile, ¾ mile and 2480’ away respectively.

11:25 PM I can hear turbine sounds at the computer. My wife was at a hotel in Madison Friday night (this is Sunday). She was with 4 sisters and a niece, all in the same room. She commented that she had no trouble
sleeping and slept through the night. She had no ringing in her ears.

Last night I woke up at 1:20 AM and 4:40 AM. Last night when I went to bed I could hear an unusual vibration or buzzing in the bedroom. I could not pinpoint where it was coming from. I asked my wife, “Don’t
you hear it”? Her response, “I have a buzzing in my ears. I can’t hear it”. Since the turbines began turning she has a buzzing or ringing in her ears constantly when we are at home.

February 2 -

5:25 AM Wind SW, 3 knots, seems calm. Jet sound. I easily hear turbines 4, 6, 73 & 3a.

8:10 AM Wind SW. Jet sound. My wife just commented with frustration, after I told her I was awake twice last night, that when she is away from home she sleeps all night, but just can’t sleep here at home. Low frequency noise from the industrial wind turbines is the problem with just plain turbine noise much of the time.

9:00 PM Wind NW. I can hear turbines 4 &6. That would be very audible as turbine 6 is ¾ mile away.

February 3 –

6:20 AM Wind NW. Loud jet sound.

3:30 PM Wind NW. We were gone all day to a quiet, peaceful place. Now we are home and returned to hear the jet sound of turbines 4 & 3a.

10:30PM I can hear the turbines from the computer, front of the house and the back room.

February 4 –

5:20 AM Wind NW. Loud jet sound.

8:40 AM Wind NW. Jet sound continues. My wife just told me the last two mornings she woke up with a head ache and ringing in her ears.

1:15 PM Wind NW. Jet sound. 4:30 PM No wind, no turbines turning. dba 30.4 What a big difference from the usual 48-51 decibel levels. It is so peaceful. I feel up beat with a smile☺I realize now that even if the turbines are turning slow and quiet there is a tenseness in the air and our quality of life is affected forever. How sad this is allowed to happen.

11:25 PM Wind SW I hear number 4 & 6 providing loud jet sound. I hear at the computer (front of house) and back room.

February 5 –

5:45 AM Wind SW, Loud jet sound. I hear turbines 4, 6 & 73.Turbine 73 is like the sound of a helicopter.

10:30 PM We are near Wetmore, MI in the UP of Michigan snowmobiling. It is perfectly peaceful, not turbine noise or viper acoustical vibration to affect our bodies.

February 6 –

6:15 AM I slept all night and had many dreams. I no longer dream at home due to the interrupted sleep cause by the industrial wind turbines surrounding our house.

10:00 AM I’m waiting on a snowmobile trail for the rest of the group. It is so quiet. I hear the feet moving
and beaks pecking on the trees of nut hatches or chickadees.

11:10 PM Again it is dead silence. It is wonderful how good the body and mind feels when it’s not subjected to the effects of the turbines in an industrial wind farm.

February 7 –

6:30 AM Outside there is complete silence. Again I slept all night without interruption and with many dreams. Some in color. Emotionally I feel much better than at home with the constant low frequency noise.

11:00 PM There is no sound. It is so quiet my ears have a slight hiss, however not crackling or ringing.

February 8 –

6:30 AM Similar to yesterday. Complete silence. This feels so good☺ No industrial wind turbine sounds.

3:45 PM. We arrived home from the UP. Of course the first sound we hear are the wind turbines. Not so loud, however very audible and aggravating.

9:30 PM the sound continues.

February 9 –

5:20 AM Wind SE Whoosh sound.

2:15 PM Sound slightly quiet yet very audible.

8:50 PM Wind S Jet sound.

February 10 –

7:10 AM Wind S Strong wind, but can hear turbine 4 over the sound of the wind.

1:30 PM Wind SW, 12 knots, gusts to 17 knots. Turbines 4 & 73 sound like a helicopter at work.

9:05 PM Wind SW Jet sound from turbines 4 & 73. I woke up last night at 1:20 and 3:40 I’m sure from low frequency noise.

February 11 –

5:20 AM Wind SSE, very audible sound

8:00 AM No turbines turning.

1:45 PM wind NNW, 10 knots. Turbine 4 is shut down for maintenance, however I can hear # 73, 3a & 6 very
loud. The are 2480’, 5/8 mile and ¾ mile away respectively. I was just in South Byron at a friend’s house. Turbine 7 is NE of his house. I could easily hear the loud jet sound.

9:10 PM Wind NW, 15 knots, gusts to 22 knots. Loud jet sound from turbine 4.

February 12 –

7:00 AM Wind W, 12 knots. Jet sound from turbines 4, 6 & 73.

6:25 PM Wind NW, 6 knots, 11 rpms, humming sound, very audible at 1560’. Some of the day turbine 4 was not turning due to maintenance. My wife woke up with a bad headache that lasted all day. I was unmotivated and took 2 naps and just had no ambition. We could hear turbines 6, 3a and 73 most of the time. I would say low frequency noise affected us severely today.

9:15 PM Wind NW Low jet sound. Nauseating feeling. Today was not a good day. During the day there was low wind with turbines running & not running.

9:30 PM Turbines not turning. Peace and quiet.

February 14 –

6:10 AM Wind light. Turning slow, but very audible. 5:20 PM Wind NW fairly calm. Hum but very easily heard from 1560’ away. Not as one person from Renew Wisconsin says, “barely audible from 1000’ “.

9:10 PM Wind NW, Jet sound.

February 15 -

6:35 AM Wind NW, 6 knots, feels calm. Sound is that of a humming motor. 1:35 PM Wind NW Low jet sound.

9:40 PM Wind NW. Fairly low whooshing sound, but certainly audible@ 1560’ away. We have a 22 year old girl from Japan staying with us now. Last night was her first night. The first words she said when she woke up were, “I could hear them last night”. The turbines were actually very quiet. I told her about a 2 on a scale of 10.

February 16 –

5:20 AM Wind NW All the turbines within site are still.

2:15 PM Wind SW, 11 rpms. Quiet. Turning, but audible.

11:00 PM Wind S, 8 knots, 18.3 rpms, dba 55.0, dbc 78.1. Very LOUD jet sound from turbines 4 & 73. I can also hear # 6. We were gone and our 14 year old called to say he could not sleep because of the turbines and had a migraine and upset stomach.

12:15 AM I can hear turbine sound in front and back room and very loud turbine sounds upstairs in our son’s room.

February 17 –

7:05 AM Wind SSW, 18.3 rpms Loud jet sound from turbines 4 & 73 being the loudest with jet sound also from 3a, 74 & 6. I can hear turbine sounds from inside the house as I write this, upstairs and in the back room. The air outside is saturated with turbine sounds.

9:05 PM Wind S, 5 knots, light snow. Jet sound from turbines 4 & 73.

10:10 PM I hear turbine sounds at the computer.

10:10 AM I can hear turbine sounds between words on the TV.

February 18 –

5:20 AM There is darkness and snow so I can not tell wind direction, but I can hear a lot of sound from a whoosh to a jet taking off from a runway.

11:05 AM Wind N, 12 knots, 18.3 rpms, dba 50.2, dbc 66.9. Loud, loud, loud. It sound like we are outside the terminal a O’Hare airport with no exaggeration. This is a horrible day☹ As we left for town my wife said, “Oh my goodness is that (turbine # 4) loud”. She also said she could not hear the garage door opener
because the turbine drowned out it out.

1:20 PM Wind NW, 18.3 rpms. Very loud jet sound. We are leaving to go to Appleton. Just walking to the garage my wife started to get head ache.

12:05 AM Wind NW, 14 knots. Very loud jet sound Turbines 4 & 6 sound like they are tearing the sky apart. I hear the turbines as I write this (in the house). The sound is audible in all parts of the house, upstairs and downstairs.

February 19 –

6:45 AM Wind NW, dba 46.4, dbc 65.5. Very Loud jet sound from turbines 4 & 6.

9:10 AM I just talked to a friend, Ron A., that lives in this wind farm, 4 miles to the west. His TV
reception was bad so Invenergy agreed to put in satellite service. The satellite service
charged two payments at a time plus had to take his statement to Invenergy for reimburse-
ment . This was a hassle so he is doing the best he can with the turbine interrupted, flicker TV
service. His girlfriend used to be a high energy person, but now is unmotivated and has head
aches and other health issues. He also mentioned he no longer sees a red tail hawk that used
to frequent his house/barn/shed area. That is not a surprise because wildlife including large
birds no longer are present near my house.

5:50 PM Wind NW It has been loud with turbine noise all day from loud whooshes to jet sound from turbines 4 & 6. 9:00 PM Wind NW, 11 knots, dba 45.5, dbc 62.6. Loud whooshing sound. We can hear turbine sounds and hum or vibration in the house even with the TV on in the front room and back room. The sound is
especially loud upstairs in the sewing room.

February 20 –

5:00 AM I was woke up at 1:30 & 3:20 AM. I would think by low frequency noise or vibration emitted from the large industrial wind turbines. Of course no dreams. No dreaming is the case every night now.

6:20 AM Wind NW 14.3 rpms. Loud whooshing and I can hear turbines 4 & 6.

3:45 PM No wind. Turbines are not turning except one or two very slowly. The peace, quiet and tranquility is wonderful and relaxing. Thank you God for a break in the action (noise) I feel like going outside and sitting in a lawn chair even though it is below freezing.

10:55 PM Wind S, 3 knots, 15.3 rpms. Motor hum and loud whooshing sound.

February 21 –

7:10 AM Wind NW, 15 rpms. Loud whooshing sound.

12:40 PM Wind N, 13 knots, 18.3 rpms. Loud jet sound from turbine 4.

6:10 PM I was upstairs sewing. Earlier it was relaxing there, but now the thumping sound of the turbines is aggravating and stressful.

9:20 PM Wind NW Loud jet sound.

11:10 PM I can hear the turbines thumping while watching Grease 2 on TV. Wouldn’t you think that is pretty loud?

February 22 –

6:55 AM Wind NW Jet flying over sound from Turbine 4, 3a, 6 & 73.

1:10 PM Wind NW Loud whooshing sound.

9:10 PM Wind NW Jet sound. During late morning/early afternoon I could hear thumping turbine sound while upstairs sewing. 10:15 PM The turbine sounds are loud upstairs where there is not TV to over ride the obnoxious sound.

February 23 –

5:15 AM Wind NNW, calm. Slow turning turbines, but still annoying sound with motor hum and whooshing sound. I had restless sleep last night.

8:50 AM Wind N, calm, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet yet certainly audible from 1560’ away.

1:30 PM Wind ? Sunny and turbines not turning.

9:15 Wind SSW, 11 rpms, whooshing sound.

February 24 –

6:25 AM I have not been outside yet, but I hear the thumping of the industrial wind turbines in our dining room, computer room and family room. Last 2 rooms are opposite ends of the house. In the back room I hear turbine 6 which is ¾ mile away.

6:50 AM Wind SE, 7 knots, dba 51.5, dbc 75.7. Loud jet sound and I hear 4, 3a, 6 & 73. The air is filled with turbine sounds like a vibration. The air is tense.

9:15 PM Wind S. Loud jet sound from turbines 4, 3a, & 73.

10:40 PM We hear turbines in the back room while watching TV.

February 25 –

5:30 AM I did not sleep well at all last night. There were turbine sounds in the bedroom. I felt a little nauseated. I woke up several times and I was just plain restless. Yes, I’m sure this is from the 5 industrial turbines 1560’ to ¾ mile from our house. Wind S, 8 knots, dba 45.8, dbc 71.3. Loud jet sound from 4, 3a, 73 & 6 in order of loudest. Hats off to our town officials who supported this without regard to the health and safety of residents in the name of $$$. This also goes to the county, state and PSC. I believe the DNR had a hand in this as this government organization is co-writer of environmental impact statement. After I wrote this entry my wife was up and told me she did not sleep well. She was up due to the sound and or low frequency noise and read a book for part of the night. She said it was really loud in the back room. I don’t always include my wife’s testimony. She has problems every night sleeping.

11:25 AM Wind S, 12 knots, 18.3 rpms. Misting. Loud jet sound. I just got home from O’Hare (airport) and heard the sound like a low flying, lifting a heavy load helicopter. In the house there is thumping sounds everywhere especially upstairs in the sewing room. Very tense and sickening.

February 26 –

6:30 AM Wind S. Jet sound. My wife said she had a restless night. Our 14 year old son also said he did not sleep well. That is not a surprise as the turbines sounds were loud last night when we went to bed.

9:30 AM wind N 20 knots, gusts to 27. I can hear the turbines over the sound of the strong wind.

9:10 PM I hear turbine thumping coming from the east side of the house. That could be because the air outside is just plain saturated with sound and vibration or because the only turbine east of the house is 7/8 mile away and unusually loud.

11:05 PM. I’m still hearing the thumping sound of the industrial wind turbines from inside our house.

February 27 –

6:50 AM Wind N, 18.3 rpms. Loud jet sound even over the strong wind.

9:40 AM Loud thumping sound upstairs where I am trying to sew even with a portable radio 16” from my foot. Not a relaxing atmosphere while trying to sew.

9:45 PM Wind NE. Loud jet sound.

It was this way all day as well.

February 28 –

6:40 AM Wind N, 8 knots, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet whooshing sound yet certainly audible and having an affect on the body.

10:15 AM Wind N, 11 rpms. Fairly quiet sounds.

5:10 PM Wind N, calm. No turbines turning. For those tuning in to reading my daily diary; When the turbines are not turning there is a whole different feeling than when they are turning slow or at 11 rpms. At 11 rpms there still is low frequency noi8se or a vibration that still affects a person’s body and health and well being. When there is more wind and more rpms the noise is much louder and often over 50 decibels dbA and more important 75 decibels dbC which measure the low frequency sound that often is not heard yet felt by your body. Those times are next to unbearable. The only time there is peace and a good feeling and the mood to smile is when no turbines are turning for a while. Those times are extremely rare in winter. Winter is worse than summer because there are not leaves on the trees to suppress or absorb the sound. Snow is hard and reflects the sound to make conditions worse. Don’t believe the statement, “Snow is an insulator and will absorb the sound”. Snow insulates the ground, but does not absorb sound.

The worst days in winter are after freezing rain is on the trees and ground. On those days the air is filled with loud turbine sounds worse than any other day. While working outside this late afternoon I felt really good and uplifted. I noticed all 86 turbines were not turning.

8:50 PM Wind N, 13.6 rpms. Sound is like that of a motor under a heavy load.

X is for FIX what's broken: Why these Johnsburg and Malone wind farm residents are asking for help -- UPDATE

Blue Sky Green Field Windfarm 2008.

The wind developers and the PSC assured the people of Johnsburg and Marshfield that the turbines sited 1000 feet from their homes would not be loud enough to bother them or keep them up at night, that shadow flicker would not be a problem, that they would suffer no negative health effects, that there would be no impact on wildlife or property values for that matter.

Over a year later it's clear to residents of yet another PSC- approved Fond du Lac County wind farm that none of this is true:

Wind farm concerns

Contributed by Bob Nelson-KFIZ

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :80)

From the Wisconsin Radio Network

The message Marshfield Town residents gave the Town Board Monday night was clear; they don’t believe their concerns about a local wind farm are being addressed. WE Energies operates the 88 turbines of the Blue Sky Green Field Wind Farm in Fond du Lac County’s Calumet and Marshfield Townships. Among the concerns expressed at the meeting were problems with noise from the turbines, shadow flicker, radio and television reception, dead bats and water fowl and more.

At the meeting was State Senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac). He says he’ll certainly keep the comments in mind as policy workers in the Capitol look at expanding alternative forms of energy.

Town Attorney John St. Peter will pass along the concerns to WE Energies officials and get back to the Board on what remedies they might have. He says without the benefit of a local agreement called the joint development agreement with the utility company they wouldn’t be able to do that.

Someone who lives among the turbines doesn’t feel the local elected officials are doing anything to address their problems. “We need to get new Town Board members because I believe that would be a huge benefit to look out for our best interest, rather than look out for WE Energies best interests,” says Bruce Dalka.

About 70 people attended the meeting in Mt. Calvary.

Contributed by Bob Nelson-KFIZ

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :80)

Wisconsin Radio Network

3 March 2009

RED ALERT: This week, Wisconsin State Senator, Jeff Plale, (D-South Milwaukee) will introduce a bill which could hand over all siting of wind turbines to the PSC. The PSC approved the siting of turbines 1000 feet from homes in the wind farm. Residents are having a hard time living with the results. After you read this post, please go to the phone and call your legislators and ask them not to support Senator Plale's turbine reform bill.

Several residents living in the wind farm pictured above went on the radio today to talk about problems they are having with noise, shadow-flicker, loss of TV and radio reception, and the run-around they've been getting from when they ask for help.

Click here to listen: “Interview of Malone and Johnsburg residents, KFIX, March 2, 2009″ (22-minute mp3).

A transcript of this interview is provided below. All pictures in this post are of the windfarm where these residents live.

Bob Nelson: Hello everyone — This morning on the Morning Show with Bob Hoffmaster [Bob Nelson is filling in], we’re going to spend some time talking to a group of residents from the Malone and Johnsburg area [Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin].

They'll be appearing at the Marshfield town board, at 8:00 on Monday evening, and the group is concerned about--- well-- they have some issues with wind farms in the area. Let's start out with Bruce first of all.

Bruce, maybe you can just make some opening remarks if you would.

Bruce: First, I'd like to thank you Bob, for letting this group come into the show and inform other residents regarding the concerns that we have been continuously dealing with the wind turbines and the town board: television reception, noise, flight for life, setbacks, just numerous situations that have been brought forth to the residents in the area ... and as we stand right now, we are in desperate need of the town board, local and state government to step forward and make major decisions on behalf of the residents, to see that not only us, who are affected already, but other local communities, do not get the same situation that we have been forced into.

And we actually have been forced into this. We've asked for referendums regarding the circumstance and we were turned down, straight out, point blank.

And we're asking for the residents in the near by area to come forward to this meeting so that they can be educated [about] the circumstances that we are forced to deal with.

And these things are not going to go away. They are here to stay. This is a life-term commitment to the residents that has devastated numerous things in our life and we need to have the other residents in the surrounding areas be aware of what they could possibly be looking forward to from the wind farm developers.

Bob: You already have the wind turbines there, what's-- why speak out now?

Bruce: How I see it, we've been bamboozled from day one. The wind farm developers snuck around, got gag orders signed from farmers, for the last-- probably close to three years.

Our town board never informed us properly of the possible situations, investigations were never done [about] the possible and known problems that could exist.

And for the residents, including me, the noise is just horrendous.

I got one 1012 feet from my house and three to four nights a week I am woken up on a regular basis. The noise, the shadow flicker, the health issues, low frequencies, and these things are devastating and they just destroyed my livelihood out there in what used to be a peaceful-- --you [could] open the window at night-- beautiful landscape. And that is no longer allowed.

Bob: We also have Chris, Larry, Jim and Elizabeth with us and maybe if one of you wants to talk-- Bruce had mentioned the shadow flicker do any of you—all right--Chris maybe you could talk about the impact that's having on you and on your life.

Chris: That issue directly affects my life. In about two weeks it will really being affecting my home.

What shadow flicker is basically it's when the sun rises up in the morning and gets right behind the blades. The blades kind of cut out the sunlight, if you will, and create this shadowing effect.

So when you're inside a home or even on the property it's as if there is a strobe light going on. And it can occur for about two hours. That's what I've experienced. You can't tolerate it. I can't tolerate it. Within a couple of minutes I become almost disoriented, nauseous, I have to leave the property.

Bob: Headaches?

Chris: No. I do not get the headaches. Some people have claimed that they do but no, I do not get the headaches. Just the disorientation, dizziness and the nauseousness.

And it does take hours to recoup from that. It's not like once you walk away, you're good. It takes a few hours to recover from it.

Bob: Have you had to go to see a physician for any of those problems?

Chris: I have not. Because I 've just opted to not be there when it's occurring. I know what the problem is. But what am I to do? I can't shut off the turbine.

Bob: Any of the rest of you have problems with the shadow flickering?

Jim: I've had shadow flickering happen. Generally it will happen for half an hour at a time. It wakes me up in the morning because it'll come up with the sun. Very early in the morning for probably a good half a year.

And I've also experienced my birds losing production and eggs and that kind of stuff. You can't recoup from that. And how do you tell a bird to ignore it. You can't.

And I can't be there to put a shade in front of it to block out the sunlight and then open the window back up, because I'd have to take a lot of time out of my day to run home from work and back to work again.

Bob: Bruce mentioned the noise. Do you find a problem with that too?

Jim: Yeah. I've had a lot noise. During the summer I have to shut the windows and turn the air conditioning on in order to overcome the problems and I take sleeping pills to help sleep at night.

Bob: You have anything to add over there, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: Yes I do. This last week or so we've been getting a lot of grinding sound on the turbines. Along with the wind I woke up [from] a dead sleep, and I couldn't get back to sleep anymore.

It is just-- I don't know what word to use to describe the noise that it makes. And it's just continuous. It just doesn't stop at all.

Bob: Does it cause any kind of electrical problems at all?

Elizabeth: Not that we're aware of yet. We have a lot of problems with our TV.

I have yet to watch TV without being interrupted. There are times it will black out, and I'll call Dave, Dave Ransom, to come and fix it, and he'll tell me to reboot it and I have to disconnect it for twenty minutes and then I can watch my TV show again.

But in that twenty minutes, I miss my TV show.

So yes.

Bob: Is that a satellite?

Elizabeth: Yes. I had just satellite up and that was not good. So he put two more up.And he thought that would take care of the problem.

But that didn't take care of the problem either. So he put in another receiver, and he said that should take care of it. Well, that hasn't either.

So the other day, Monday, I was watching the weather and the screen just turned all yellow. Then it came back in a few minutes again. That was it.

Bob: Larry, we haven't heard from you yet. Maybe you want to pipe in.

Larry: I live out there also and I've got towers on all four sides of me.

We did have a lot of trouble with the TV. He has fixed it. it seems to be working now.

We get the flicker--just to get a perspective on the flicker, if you've driven down a road with a bunch of trees next to it and the sun is coming through the trees and it's an on/off thing-- that's what the flicker is but with 1.4 second frequency.

You get the shadow for a jiffy and then the light and then the shadow and the light. It's very distracting.

Bob: It's doesn't sound like you're going to get much time to talk to the town board about what you want to say. If you had the chance to do that here, what would you tell them? Who wants to start? Bruce?

Bruce: Regarding the town board. I don't know if they have been bamboozled as much as we have.

I know some officials on our town board do in fact have wind turbines on their property, which the town board has to realize-- that this is a serious issue.

And we're hoping that the town board, local, statewide, will see to it that the possibility of the town board being biased in any way shape or form for or against future wind turbines and-- the possibility of more coming into the area-- that they should not be allowed to vote for the wind turbine project to be developed.

This must go to a referendum to the residents in the area. Along with when we do have an issue that we're begging the town board to please help us.

We need to come to them for help because when we call the wind farm developer, WE Energies, we get shuffled around,

we have to make long distance phone calls on a regular basis, then we get shuffled from-- this is the problem with the TV issue,--OK, we'll come out, take a look at it, --he'll sit an watch TV for three hours, OK, then he'll change one wire around, OK, then he wants to come back and sit and watch TV again.

I'm on my third receiver.

There's absolutely no sense to what we the residents have to put up with when the town board virtually forced us, with no opposition what-so-ever, any say-- now we're coming to the Town board for their help.

And I hope and pray they will give us the time that we deserve, and honestly, deep-down inside understand that this is an issue that is not going to go away.

Bob: Who is actually benefiting from the electricity produced by the wind turbines?

Bruce: Numerous stories that I was told-- that who is actually benefiting -- we could talk for hours regarding that.

The farmers are benefiting. They've signed contracts to lease the land to the wind farm developer.So they are benefiting but they are losing just as much as we are because they have to tolerate everything that we have to tolerate, let alone the loss of their crops for the mega-driveways they put in, the turbine land itself.

I don't think they are benefiting as much as they should have benefited, like the turbines down south, the farmers down there are benefitting close to twice as much as the farmers around where we are.

We're not looking to benefit, as residents around here. We discussed this through the residents. We just want the things that are broke to be fixed.

And according to my understanding, WE Energies, it is their responsibility to see that these things are fixed and they are not fulfilling their responsibility.

Bob: I don't know what kind of remedy you guys are trying to get. Are you asking the board to kind of act on your behalf?

Bruce: Yeah. I think an awesome solution would be the Town Board has to step in and put someone in the middle between the town board and WE Energies to oversee the issues and be a separate entity to go around and get actual true facts from people and go to WE Energies and say

'these are the problems, these are the issues from this person, this person, this person. And these are on record and we need something done to remedy this.'

And that has to be followed through by the town board to keep a regular agenda of the issues .... so that they don't fall through the cracks.

I believe, I honestly believe, they think we're just going to forget about this and we're going to go away. Well. We're not going to go away. We're there just as long as the wind turbines are.

Bob: Have you tried to approach any of our state legislators about this?

Bob: Yes sir. Senator Liebham has come to a meeting in Pipe. A very nice gentleman.

He understands our issues. Has been to numerous visits in our area. He is working on legislation to make certain ordinances law, which they have to be. [Issues about] Setbacks are huge.

I have documentation from WE Energy that states none of their employees are allowed to be within 1300 feet from a wind turbine that is running. If one of the turbines catches fire, anyone within 1300 feet is mandatory-evacuated. I have documentation right straight from them.

... And I don't see --If they don't feel their employees are safe within 1300 feet from any running wind turbine--- how they can allow to have these things 1000 feet from any someone's house. It just don't make no sense. Let alone you got kids running around out playing in the yard.

Possibility of ice throw that's been documented. Wildlife has been destroyed around us. This whole thing has--

I think WE Energies has opened up a huge can of worms. They did not, were not aware of all the issues that [have] arisen. You know.

We're not here to beat up WE Energies or the town board. We just want the issues repaired. That's the only thing we're asking for.

Bob: Again, the meeting is Monday night at eight, Marshfield town board, and where do they hold their meetings?

Bruce: They generally only have a very small crowd. It might be just the board or maybe maximum of five people attending. This is the reason we appreciate you having us on here.

Surrounding areas, in my opinion, it's mandatory you come to this meeting, and find out how these things can devastate your life not just by the sound and shadow flicker and wildlife going away, but in this economy, Bob, it's hard to identify the loss of value of a property but if you got property, similar house, we've got documentation from people saying the aint gonna build or buy anyones house near a wind turbine.

To prove it now with the economy it's hard to do. Common sense tells you that if you're living a thousand feet from a wind turbine that sounds like a jet on a regular basis, they're not going to buy the house. You're going to have to drop the value of your house, twenty, thirty thousand dollars to get rid of it.

Bob: Again, where is the meeting going to be?

Bruce: It's the Marshfield Townboard meeting and it's in the Town of Mt. Calgary, it's on the east side of town, on Fond du Lac Avenue, the address is 999 Fond du Lac Avenue, I believe. At the fire station.

Bob: Before we wrap things up any of you want to add something, maybe I didn't ask a question you wanted to bring up?

Chris: I'd like to just add onto what Bruce is saying. Basically, what we are trying to do is raise awareness. When we talk to people that are not from the area, they are surprised that they make noise. "Really, the wind turbines make noise?" They are just so surprised at that.

We want to make clear to the residents too that we were never told about Flight for Life not being able to land as they once were.

We were told there would be minimal interference with our televisions and radios, and it's obviously different than we were told.

And we're hoping that people who are having problems, or are not aware of the Flight for Life issue, that's a huge issue, we hope they'll come out and just listen to Bruce and some of us talk and maybe learn something.

Larry: We were also not informed about the red lights. And I suppose they can see that from town, maybe. But out there it's pretty obnoxious.

Bob: You mean on top of the turbines?

Larry: They're not on top of all of them, but they are around the perimeter. We were also informed that the sound would be equivalent to a refrigerator in your bedroom. Well, I don't have a refrigerator in my bedroom, but it's a lot noisier than the one I have in my kitchen, the towers are.

Bob: Jim you look like you wanted to add something there so we're gonna throw it to you for a second here.

Jim: We'll, I do a lot of work in my shop at home and the biggest problem for me is the radio reception because now I cannot listen to some of my favorite radio programs. Like I said, TV reception, I've had people looking at my TV receiver for the dish and there's no fix for it. And what kind of life will you live if you're not able to enjoy your home values

Bob: Elizabeth, you want to pipe in one last time?

Elizabeth: Yes I would. I was wondering how about if we have all this interference how are we going to get any signals through when there is a distress time?

You know if we had a tornado or something?

I don't get the waves coming through to have my TV or like you said, even the radio.

How are we going to get anything to take care of that? What are we going to have for that? What will we need?

Bob: Do you have sirens in the area?

Elizabeth: Yes we do.

Bob: Can you hear them over the wind turbines?

Elizabeth: I don't know.

Bob: Well let's hope you don't find out this coming spring and summer.

Elizabeth: But I would like to know an answer to my question.

Bob: Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for being on the show.

March 2, 2008
KFIX, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

kfiz.com

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD: Click on the image below to watch someone all the way across the country telling the same story. Unexpected noise and other trouble and the run-around from the developer and the town board. There are more and more stories like this every day.

Click on the image below to see examples of wind turbine shadow flicker in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin.

W is for Wildlife: What we now know about bats and industrial wind turbines, and a candid look at how post-construction bat and bird mortality studies are being conducted in the Forward Energy wind farm.

                             UPDATE: March 7, 2009: Click here to read latest story on bats and wind turbines.

RED ALERT: This week, Wisconsin State Senator, Jeff Plale, (D-South Milwaukee) will introduce a bill which could hand over all siting of wind turbines to the PSC. The PSC approved the siting of scores of turbines alongside the Horicon Marsh. This bill could giving them the power to continue to approve such environmentally disastrous siting. After you read this post, please go to the phone and call your legislators and ask them not to support Senator Plale's turbine reform bill.

Click on the image above to learn more about Wisconsin's Horicon Marsh, the largest cattail marsh in the U.S, and about the Forward Energy wind farm sited alongside it. [You can also see the video by clicking here]

The developer wanted to site turbines just 1.2 miles from the marsh.

Environmental groups asked for setbacks of at least four miles.

In its final decision, the PSC chose two miles as the setback and agreed to reconsider the 1.2 mile set-back some time in the future.

(CLICK HERE FOR MARCH 7th 2009 news story)

LOOKING FOR A GREEN JOB?

In August of 2008, one of the 'green jobs' to be had involved walking six acres around five industrial scale wind turbines in the Forward Energy wind farm, looking for dead bats and birds.

The job paid $10.00 an hour plus mileage.

Click on the image above to see a video shot by some one who has this green job, telling us what her mornings near turbines were like, and gives us an candid look at just how post-construction avian and bat mortality studies are being conducted. UPDATE: Since we posted this, the video has been pulled. However, there is a transcription of the video below.

The video is called, "What has been keeping me busy?" and does not appear to anything but an amiable personal video intended to update friends and interested parties. The dull roaring in the background is the turbine sound. It is sometimes faint, but always present.

The image below is the site map of the project. The two blue circles are the locations of specific turbines she mentions.

We offer this transcript incase the video gets pulled:

"Good Morning.
It is now five am.
I'm going to show you what I've been doing lately that I haven't been on line. It's been awhile since I've been here, but I want to show you what I'm doing so you'll understand.

I don't know if you can hear the noise behind me but I am at..... I will show you... hold on a minute... we're going to go up, and we're going to go up, and we're going to go up, and you see those blades?

I am at the wind turbines.

There's one over there you can see a little better. And I am looking for dead birds and bats. And they've been finding bats lately. So we got some areas to walk and check for dead birds. And, let's go.

There's more wind turbines. More wind turbines. I'm checking the roads to see if there's any dead birds or bats. The sunrise is starting to come. Pretty.

But I get up at three thirty, every morning. Seven days a week. Get paid ten dollars an hour plus mileage. Let's look over here. Let's see if we can see those wind turbines over there. Just fields and fields of them.

So let's start looking. And if I find anything, I'll let you know.

There's a turbine I am checking. And what we have to do is, they have plowed or mowed areas for us to walk and we check both sides, and they go -- oh, four or five of them that we have to walk down and check for the birds. They have been finding a lot of bats. So that's what we're looking for.

Look at the sunrise. Beautiful. So peaceful out here in the morning.

Well we didn't find anything here, so we head to our next turbine. See you when we get there.

All right. We are at wind turbine 83. That last one we were at was 96. So we're going to check around here and see what we can find. And there's a lot more turbines up in this area so I can show you those.

They're going to build a hundred and thirty-six turbines...... the hill is just filled with them here....
there's one there, a whole field of them over there.

We're going to be looking in corn this time. Last time we were looking in soy. So let's head to the cornfields.

That turbine is pretty close to this one. Look at those blades. We're right under them. Yes, we're right in the middle of a corn field. This is sweet corn.
You can tell by tassels on top. They're whiter. Field corn is a darker brown. So this is sweet corn we're in. And you can hear the birds chirping.

And there's the wind turbine I'm checking right now.

I got to walk all the way down there. Actually at each turbine, you're walking six acres. Getting a lot of exercise.

There's my next turbine.

I know I look a mess. It's 95 percent humidity out there and right now it's 84 degrees. And with my hat on I was sweating up a storm. But I need to call Steve. He's a gentleman from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. And he's the one that hired me. They're doing a study for bats and birds by the wind turbines.

And we're also working with Forward Wind Project. And they're really nice guys.

OK I got a couple of more turbines to check-- and I'm going to say good-bye now and unless I find something I'll see you later. Buteverybody have a great day and we'll talk to all of you later. Bye.

(Later)

Good morning everyone..... I'm out doing another search this morning, and I'm actually having a lot of fun. Getting a lot of exercise. Walking six acres each turbine, times five, it's 30 acres I'm walking. So I'm getting a lot of exercise and I'm enjoying it.

I got a bat yesterday but my camera battery was dead so, sorry, couldn't get it to you. But, um, the wind turbines do not hit the bats with the blades.
If you're squeamish, and don't like to hear things happening to animals, skip the next 30 seconds.

[She pauses]


What's happening to the bats is they are getting sucked in and their insides are imploding. So. Yeah.

They are not getting hit by the turbines, they are getting sucked in by them and their insides just explode... imploding. So that's what's happening to those bats.

I haven't found any regular birds yet, but when I do they'll check those out too. They'll autopsy those.

The gentleman I'm working for, Steve, is working on his masters at the University of Madison. And his roommate who he's living with now is also going to school for wildlife...... preservation.

And he's doing a study on bats, so he's the one who did the autopsies on the bats and told us what is happening, actually. He is not finding any blade marks on them.

They kind of figured that's what's happening, because of what's happening, they found out they are imploding when they did the autopsy.

Yeah. How weird.

They are just getting sucked in and the pressure is so much that that's what's happening.

So I am on my way to my next turbine, and if I do find anything today, I'll show you.

Researchers say a pressure drop created by turbines can cause bats' lungs to burst
March 1, 2009 by Gerry Smith in Chicago Tribune
The mystery was alarming to wildlife experts: large numbers of dead bats appearing at wind farms, often with no visible signs of injury.

Researchers now think they know one reason: Wind turbines cause bats' lungs to explode. More specifically, a sudden drop in air pressure created by the blades can cause fatal internal hemorrhaging, researchers at the University of Calgary said in a study.

The toll taken on bats highlights a delicate balance facing the wind industry-how to be "green" without causing other unintended environmental consequences.

Some of the best sources of wind-coastlines and mountaintops-also happen to be in the path of migratory birds. Wind farms installed on mountain ridges also have triggered fears over soil erosion, and some environmental groups-citing land use laws designed to keep Mother Nature unspoiled-have fought proposed wind farms.

With the deaths causing a stir among wildlife advocates, an unusual partnership called the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative is seeking ways to strike a delicate balance between protecting the bat population and meeting the nation's growing demand for renewable energy.

"We support the development of clean energy, but to make it 'green' we have to do everything we can to minimize the environmental impacts," said Ed Arnett, project coordinator for the cooperative.

Some wind experts dismiss fears over turbines' impact on wildlife. They point to a 2007 study by the National Academy of Sciences that concluded far more birds and bats have been killed in collisions with vehicles and buildings than in collisions with turbines.

But wildlife experts are particularly protective of bats because the mammals have low reproductive rates, meaning even small numbers of fatalities can affect their populations.

"Once you start taking a small number of bats out of the general population, the risk of endangerment or extinction vastly increases," said Joseph Kath, the endangered species project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Thus far, there have been no reports of endangered or threatened bat species being killed at wind farms in North America. Most bats felled by turbines have been migrating species like hoary bats, eastern red bats and silver-haired bats.

The concern over bats is fairly recent. Since the 1980s, when wind farms were in their infancy, wildlife biologists have been more worried about protecting birds from spinning turbines. Bat deaths at wind farms largely went unnoticed.

Then in 2003, researchers stumbled upon an estimated 1,400 to 4,000 bat carcasses at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center in West Virginia and recorded extensive bat fatalities at wind farms in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Wildlife experts were taken by surprise.

"These are unforeseen circumstances," Arnett said. "Most of us didn't anticipate this being a problem."

Since then, the chorus of voices calling for greater protection for bats at wind farms has grown louder. Last summer, the American Society of Mammalogists called for wind farms to avoid "bat hibernation, breeding and maternity colonies."

Still, the explanation for why bats with no external signs of injury were being found dead at wind farms was largely a mystery until August.

That's when researchers at the University of Calgary reported that 90 percent of bats felled near one wind farm showed signs of barotrauma, or fatal internal hemorrhaging, of the lungs that occurred because of drops in air pressure near the spinning blades.

The condition affects bats more than birds because bird lungs are more rigid and can withstand sudden changes in air pressure, according to the study, which was published in the journal Current Biology.

The study may explain why bat fatalities often outnumber bird fatalities at wind farms. In Illinois, it is estimated three times as many bats (93) as birds (31) died during a year at the 33-turbine Crescent Ridge Wind Farm in Bureau County, a consulting firm reported last year.

The firm, Curry & Kerlinger, deemed the findings "small and not likely to be biologically significant."

But given a decline in several bat species in the eastern United States, "the possibility of population effects, especially with increased numbers of turbines, is significant," the National Academy of Sciences study stated.

Illinois is expected to increase the number of wind farms dramatically in coming years. The state has mandated that 25 percent of its electricity be generated by renewable resources by 2025, with about 75 percent of that renewable energy coming from wind. Illinois has 915 megawatts of capacity installed with the capacity to build 9,000 megawatts.

Arnett said the cooperative doesn't discount the Calgary study but has conducted studies of its own, using night-vision cameras, that found bats also have been killed by collisions with turbine blades.

There are several theories as to why bats might be flying close to turbines. Some think bats might confuse turbines with large, dead trees because many species found dead use such trees to roost. Others hypothesize that turbines may attract insects, which attract hungry bats.

The cooperative has been looking for ways to bring down the death toll, including studies of the effectiveness of ultrasonic sounds that would deter bats and curtailing the spinning of turbines until it's too windy for bats to fly.

Arnett said the latter step may have some economic consequences. But he expressed confidence that the wind industry can continue to grow without harming bat populations.

"It's not choosing one or the other," Arnett said. "It's finding a balance, and I'm convinced we can solve this problem."

Web link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/g...

 

EXTRA CREDIT:

Here's how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website describes the Horicon Marsh:

"At over 32,000 acres in size, Horicon Marsh is the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States. The marsh provides habitat for endangered species and is a critical rest stop for thousands of migrating ducks and Canada geese. It is recognized as a Wetland of International Importance, as both Globally and State Important Bird Areas and is also a unit of the Ice Age Scientific Reserve."

The Wisconsin DNR says:

"While this marsh in renown for its migrant flocks of Canada geese, it is also home to more than 290 kinds of birds which have been sighted over the years. Due to its importance to wildlife, Horicon Marsh has been designated as a "Wetland of International Importance" and a "Globally Important Bird Area." Horicon Marsh is both a state wildlife area and national wildlife refuge"

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, it its decision to allow Invenergy's Forward energy project to be sited just 2 miles from the marsh, acknowledged studies which confirmed that "birds visit the wind farm site very heavily during migration seasons, and that the proximity to the marsh could cause greater than average avian mortality." (Docket 9300-CE-100 PSC Ref#37618, p.16)

But the financial concerns of the wind developer trumped the protection of birds and bats, citing the wind developer's fast-approching production tax credit deadline and concluding that more comprehensive pre-construction avian studies were not necessary or in the public interest. (Docket 9300-CE-100 PSC Ref#37618, P. 17)

The PSC also gave the developers a pass on bat studies, though one of the largest bat hibernacula in the state is located not far from the marsh.

The wind developer's paid witness, testified that pre-construction bat studies had not been required elsewhere, but at the Buffalo Ridge project in Minnesota no relationship between bat activity and mortality could be observed. (p.21)

The PSC agreed, and no pre-construction bat surveys were done. Instead, the PSC offered this trade off:

"The commission... finds that post-construction mortality research will advance scientific knowledge about the potential impacts of wind farms upon bat poplulations"

They now a have plenty of dead Wisconsin bats to work with.

V is for Vibro-acoustic disease (VAD): What is it, what does it have to do with the siting of industrial-scale wind turbines, and why isn't the state of Wisconsin paying attention?

RED ALERT: Even with growing concern from the medical community about the safety of siting industrial-scale turbines too close to residences, Wisconsin State Senator, Jeff Plale, (D-South Milwaukee) says he is about to introduce a bill which could mandate the hazardous 1000 foot setback and 50 decibel noise limit for the entire state. In a recent news report, Plale declined to give concrete setback and noise limits, saying those things were "still being negotiated."

With who? More wind developers?

An open records request from the Town of Union study committee to the PSC revealed that no medical or scientific data was used to establish the thousand foot setback.  The PSC could not produce a single document.

It appears they depended instead upon recommendations of power companies, wind developers,wind lobbyists, and others with vested interests.

The result?

The disastrous siting of turbines too close to homes in the town of Byron.

The state continues to ignore or dismiss the suffering of Byron residents who have been forced to live with the noise and flickering shadows of the PSC-approved wind farm in Fond du Lac County.

The thought that Senator Plale will introduce a bill which will force the entire state to do the same should make all of us go right to the phone and call our legislators and ask them not to support Senator Plale's turbine reform bill.

Our legislators have assistants whose job it is to answer your call, listen carefully and politely, record your concerns and pass this on to your Senator or Representative. We've found them to be consistantly courteous, professional and helpful.

You can also ask questions. You can ask your legislator if they happen to know what setback and noise-limit is Senator Plale is endorsing, and what it's based on.

If turbine siting reform is to happen, let it be based on the Town of Union ordinance.[Click here to download] Union's 2640 foot setback and 5 decibels over existing sound limit is solidly backed by scientific and medical data, and is the result of 22 months of hard work and research by both citizens and elected officials, and, because it utilized the very latest research and reports as of November, 2008, is considered to be the most up-to-date and defensible ordinance in the state.

What are some of the concerns we're hearing from the medical community about living too close to wind turbines?

Documented in a press release dated May 31, 2007 from the Vibro-Acoustic Disease (VAD) research group in Portugal, people living in the shadow of industrial wind turbines have moved a step closer to understanding the nature of the Wind Turbine Syndrome many of them experience and complain about. [source]

Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira (an acoustical engineer) and Dr. Nuno Castelo Branco (a surgical pathologist) recently took numerous noise/vibration measurements within a Portuguese home surrounded by four (4) industrial wind turbines. The closest turbine is nearly 1000 feet (300 meters), from the affected home. The turbines have been operating since November 2006. The scientific report on this research will be formally presented at Internoise 2007, to be held on 28-31 August in Istanbul, Turkey. May 31, 2007 by Mariana Alves-Pereira, PhD

Excessive exposure to infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN, defined as all acoustical phenomena occurring at or below the frequency bands of 500 Hz) can cause vibroacoustic disease (VAD).[1]

Research into VAD has been ongoing since 1980, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and led by pathologist Nuno Castelo Branco, MD.

In March 2007, and for the first time, the Portuguese National Center for Occupational Diseases attributed 100% professional disability to a 40-year-old flight attendant who had been diagnosed with VAD since 2001. Two other VAD patients have also been attributed a similar disability status.

Initially, only ILFN-rich occupational environments were investigated. However, over the past several years, many individuals and their families have approached our team because of the ILFN contaminant in their homes. The sources of residential ILFN vary from industrial complexes, to large volume highways, to public transportation systems, etc.

In a case study published in Proceedings of Internoise 2004 (a annual scientific meeting dedicated to all aspects of acoustics), one of the first documented cases of environmental VAD was reported in a family of four, exposed to the ILFN produced by a port grain terminal.[2]

Over the past three years, several families have contacted this team complaining of noise caused by the proximity of industrial wind turbines (windmills). However, only within this past month has this team obtained detailed acoustical measurements within a home surrounded by 4, recently installed industrial windmills.

This acoustical data was essential in order to compare in-home, windmill-produced acoustical environments with the residential, ILFN-rich environments that are known to be conducive to VAD.

The levels of ILFN inside the windmill-surrounded home are larger than those obtained in the home contaminated by the port grain terminal.

The scientific report will be formally presented at Internoise 2007, to be held on 28-31 August in Istanbul, Turkey.[3]

These results irrefutably demonstrate that windmills in the proximity of residential areas produce acoustical environments that can lead to the development of VAD in the nearby home-dwellers.

In order to protect Public Health, ILFN-producing devices must not be placed in locations that will contaminate residential areas with this agent of disease.

Mariana Alves-Pereira, PhD
School of Health Sciences (ERISA), Lusofona University Portugal Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, New University of Lisbon Portugal

Nuno Castelo Branco, MD
Surgical Pathologist President, Scientific Board Center for Human Performance (CPH)

The Center for Human Performance is a civilian, non-profit organization dedicated to research in vibro-acoustic disease. CPH was founded in 1992 has been the organization which coordinates all the different teams that work on vibro-acoustic disease research, and that include (in Portugal) the cardiology and pulmonary departments of the Cascais Hospital, the neurophysiology department of the National Institute of Cancer, the department of human genetics of the National Institute of Public Health, the department of speech pathology of the School of Health Sciences of the Polytechnical Institute of Setúbal, among several others over the past 25 years.

Contact: Professor Alves-Pereira, vibroacoustic.disease@gmail.com

All photos in this post were taken by wind farm resident, Gerry Meyer. Fond du Lac County, WI, Winter 2008

Vibro-acoustic Disease in the News:

Turbine noise dissected; Expert says low frequencies are produced

February 27, 2009 by Nancy Madsen in Watertown Daily Times

Web link: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/2009022...

LAFARGEVILLE - At its meeting Tuesday night, the Orleans wind committee got confirmation from an expert that turbines produce low-frequency noise and could cause health problems.

The committee held a conference call with Richard R. James, principal consultant at E-Coustic Solutions, Okemos, Mich. Mr. James has more than 35 years' experience and worked on revising the International Electrotechnical Commission's standard for measuring turbine sound levels. He worked with George W. Kamperman, consulting engineer in acoustics at Kamperman Associates Inc., Wisconsin Dells, Wis., on creating a guide to siting wind turbines for local governments.

Mr. James said low-frequency sound and infrasound, the lowest-frequency sound, are felt, not heard.

"Typically, they are not even measured," he said. "They are not very common in nature, but a few examples are distant thunder and tornadoes."

In creating guidelines for siting, Mr. James reviewed noise standards and studies from around the world. Many noise regulations for wind turbines are based on measurements that weigh audible noise, or dBA.

"But there are still hundreds of complaints of low-frequency noise annoyance in those communities," Mr. James said. "We decided we needed to include a low-frequency noise measure in the standard."

In their siting guide, Mr. James and Mr. Kamperman said audible sound from turbines should not exceed 5 decibels above pre-construction ambient noise levels. Low-frequency noise should not exceed 5 decibels above the pre-construction measurement. Those limits, they said, should be met at nonparticipating landowners' property lines.

"It's a standard for communities that could be enforced with instruments that most acoustic engineers have access to," he said.

He said walls and windows block audible noise well but do not block low-frequency sound.

Mr. James also said low-frequency noise causes health problems.

"We've known since the 1950s that sound outside the home can cause sleep disturbance," he said. "We also know noise, sleep and health are related."

He said that sleep disturbance, vibro-acoustic disease and wind turbine syndrome have been connected with low-frequency noise.

"It's clear that the majority of sound energy from a turbine is in the low-frequency range, but none of the information from a wind developer ever describes that fact," Mr. James said. "None of the data for the lower frequencies is collected or figured as part of their tests."

Mr. James said communities should have their ambient-noise levels tested by qualified engineers before a wind farm is developed.

The committee next will meet at 7 p.m. March 10 at the town office, when Keith D. Pitman, president and chief executive officer of Empire State Wind Energy, will present information on wind development and Charles E. Ebbing, facilitator and retired acoustic engineer with Carrier Corp., will talk about low-frequency noise and annoyance.

Web link: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/2009022...