7/22/08 What do you get when you cross a dirty dealing wind developer with a dirty dealing public official? YOU GET SERVED!
THE BADGER WANTS TO KNOW! In Wisconsin, wind developers seem to be everywhere. In their play-book for wind development in our state (click here to download it) they are advised to work quietly and behind the scenes in our communities, to target townships with farmers on the board who can be easily approached, and to not let the rest of the community know what is going on until key relationships are secured. We believe developers have targeted board members in nearly every township in Rock County. Are members of Rock County township boards making deals with wind developers they're not telling their constituents about? The badger doesn't want to believe it! But if they are, and if it affects their vote on adopting a wind ordinance, it's not just dirty-dealing, it's against the law. Full disclosure and why it's important:
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO WIND POWER COMPANIES' CONDUCT ACROSS UPSTATE NEW YORK
Allegations of Improper Dealings with Public Officials and Anti-Competitive Practices
Subpoenas Served on First Wind/UPC Wind and Noble Environmental Power, LLC
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced today the launching of an investigation into two companies developing and operating wind farms across New York state amid allegations of improper dealings with public officials and anti-competitive practices.
Wind farms are clusters of large electricity-generating turbines powered by wind and connected to the electric grid.
Subpoenas were served on Newton, Massachusetts-based First Wind (formerly known as UPC Wind) and Essex, Connecticut-based Noble Environmental Power, LLC. They are part of an investigation into whether companies developing wind farms improperly sought or obtained land-use agreements with citizens and public officials; whether improper benefits were given to public officials to influence their actions, and whether they entered into anti-competitive agreements or practices.
In recent months, the Office of the Attorney General has received numerous complaints regarding the two companies from citizens, groups and public officials in eight counties alleging improper relations between the companies and local officials and other improper practices.
"The use of wind power, like all renewable energy sources, should be encouraged to help clean our air and end our reliance on fossil fuels," said Attorney General Cuomo. "However, public integrity remains a top priority of my office and if dirty tricks are used to facilitate even clean-energy projects, my office will put a stop to it."
The Attorney General's subpoenas seek, among other things:
All documents concerning any benefits conferred on any individual or entity in connection with wind farm activity.
All agreements, easements or contracts with individuals regarding placement of wind turbines.
Agreements between wind companies that may indicate anti-competitive practices.
All documents pertaining to any payments or benefits received from local, state or federal agencies.
First Wind has three operational wind farms and 48 others in development across the country, according to its web site. First Wind developed the Steel Winds wind farm in Erie County and has wind farms in development in Steuben, Chautauqua, Genesee and Wyoming (GenWY Wind) counties.
Noble Environmental Power, LLC, has three active wind farms and five in development in Allegany, Chautauqua, Clinton, Franklin and Wyoming Counties.
The investigation is being led by Assistant Attorney General Andrew
Heffner of the Syracuse Regional Office under the supervision of
Special Deputy Attorney General Ellen Biben, who oversees the Attorney
General's Public Integrity Bureau. Assisting in the case are
Investigators Thomas Wolf, David Bruce and Andrea Burnham.
To read about a similar story starting to play out in our neighboring state of Illinois, Click Here
To watch the wind turbine in Denmark which exploded last winter, click below. This is why we need safe setbacks.
The BPRC Research Nerd
7/21/08 How Green is a bat killing machine?
7/2108 Bat and Bird Update
When it comes to industrial wind turbines and bats and birds, the news continues to be bad all over the country. Bats are slow to reproduce and generally do not have many young. Because of this, any negative impact on the bat population is significant. The wind developers continue to downplay the negative effects on wild life but the truth is begining to surface.
Here are just a few of the many recent news stories on this grim subject.
Judith Gap Wind Farm taking toll on bats, birds
(Click here to read story at its source)
(Click here to read more about wind turbines and their impact on wildlife)
An estimated 1,200 bats, most of them probably just passing through Montana, were killed after striking wind turbines at the Judith Gap Wind Farm between July 2006 and May 2007, according to a post-construction bird and bat survey.
The number surprised Invenergy, which owns the farm, as well as government and private wildlife experts.
"It's killing 1,200 bats a year and that's a lot more than anybody anticipated," said Janet Ellis of Montana Audubon, a bird conservation group.
TRC Solutions of Laramie, Wyo., completed the survey work on behalf of Chicago-based Invenergy.
Frank Pizzileo, Invenergy's director of wind-asset management, said the study concluded this spring and is currently being finalized.
An estimated 1,206 bats, or 13.4 bats for each of the 90 turbines, were killed as they flew through the wind farm between July 2006 and May 2007, the study states.
The turbines are 262-feet tall with blades that sweep 253 feet in diameter.
The study estimates that 406 birds, or 4.52 birds per turbine, were killed during the study period.
The bird fatality rates are similar to those at other wind plants in the United States, the study states. But the estimated number of bat fatalities was higher than those reported at other wind farms in the Western United States, according to the study.
"It does seem to be a bit of a bat highway," said Allison Puchniak Begley, a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks native species biologist in Billings.
Ellis and Puchniak Begley serve on a technical advisory committee that Invenergy agreed to form to help monitor bird and bat mortalities after the facility opened in January 2006.
Judith Gap's turbines spread across 8,300 acres of private and state school trust land 125 miles southeast of Great Falls between the towns of Judith Gap and Harlowton.
For the study, bird and bat carcasses were collected monthly at survey plots at 20 of the wind farm's 90 turbines from August to October in 2006 and February to May in 2007. Carcasses that were found incidentally - outside of the official searches - also were included as part of the study.
A total of 62 carcasses were found - 36 bats and 26 birds.
The casualty estimates of 1,200 bats and 400 birds were calculated using a mathematical formula based on the sampling.
"We just don't know enough about bats in Montana, migration corridors or anything," Ellis said.
Wind farms in the Eastern United States have reported higher bat fatality rates than Judith Gap, but those wind farms were located on mountain ridge tops where migrating bats presumably were concentrated, the study states. The Judith Gap facility is on the plains.
Bats show an unexplained tendency to collide with the blades of wind turbines in some locations of the country, said Mark Wilson, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, adding there are 16 species of bats in Montana, including six that are "species of special concern," which means they are uncommon and need monitoring.
The hoary bat, a species that can have a wingspan of up to 16 inches, was the most common species killed, with 17 carcasses found in the study. Four of the dead animals were silver-haired bats. Another 14 bats couldn't be identified.
Both the hoary and silver-haired bats live in the forests of southern Canada and migrate through Montana in the late summer on their way to warmer climes.
"They are big pest-control species that eat their body weight in bugs every night," Ellis said.
The new information from the Judith Gap Wind Farm could be of help to developers in siting future wind farms, Puchniak Begley said.
"It's green energy, but it can be greener when it's better sited," she said.
Not much research has been done on bats in Montana, so there's little information available about their migration pathways, said Kristi Dubois, native species coordinator for FWP and the head of the Montana Bat Working Group.
With wind development on the rise, the impact of the turbines on bats is a major concern of biologists, she said.
Despite the bat fatality numbers, Judith Gap is a well-sited wind farm because it is close to roads and cropland and doesn't break up a lot of native land, Puchniak Begly said.
It's possible the effect on bats could be mitigated with some simple adjustments, she added.
For example, studies at wind farms in the Eastern United States showed that a large number were killed on nights when it wasn't very windy. She suggested starting some turbines at Judith Gap only after wind speeds pick up.
Invenergy's Pizzileo said the number of bats killed was higher than the environmental assessment completed before construction projected. The company is working with the technical advisory committee, state and federal wildlife regulators and conservation groups to determine what steps to take next.
"These next steps will be publicly available soon," he said.
Ellis said she is pleased the company is willing to work with the committee.
"They don't have to do that," she said.
The study comes as developers are prospecting for wind and planning wind facilities in a wind-rich zone between Great Falls and the Canadian border along the proposed Montana Alberta Tie Line transmission line route that would connect the electrical grids in the Electric City and Lethbridge, Alberta.
"We are concerned with possible significant bat mortality from wind power projects that are connected to the MATL transmission line," Wilson wrote in a letter to Anthony Como, the U.S. Department of Energy's director of permitting and siting.
Wilson's comments were part of the Fish and Wildlife Service's official comments on the MATL line to the DOE and the state Department of Environmental Quality, which are jointly preparing an environmental impact statement on the project.
A draft EIS conservatively estimated that 400 to 533 wind turbines could be constructed along the proposed line.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is encouraging wind farm developers to complete preconstruction bat monitoring using acoustic and radar detectors, in addition to post-construction monitoring.
"There's no getting around it, (turbines) do kill birds and they do kill bats," said Kevin Van Koughnett of Calgary-based TransAlta Wind, which has wind farms 250 miles north of Great Falls in Pincher Creek, Alberta.
However, he said it is important to keep the deaths in context. Far more birds and bats are killed by buildings and cars than by wind turbines, he said. The rule of thumb in the industry is that for every bird killed by a turbine, thousands more are killed in other ways, Van Koughnett said.
He added that his company is cooperating with bat research being conducted by the University of Calgary.
Web link: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...
Weather Influences Wind Turbine Fatalities
(Click here to link to source)Different wind energy installations within a region have documented similar timing in fatalities, suggesting that a weather pattern can have widespread influence.
Most bats that get killed at wind turbine sites are on their fall migration. Observations at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center in West Virginia reveal that bats don't just pass through wind turbine installations.
Bats actually investigate the turbines by repeatedly flying by and approaching the blades. The animals will follow a moving blade and some even become trapped in the air vortices near a blade's tip. Rotating blades end up smacking the more unfortunate bats. Hundreds of dead and injured bats have been found beneath the wind turbines at the West Virginia installation.
Bats that roost in trees, such as hoary bats, are the most frequent victims of this and 19 wind-energy facilities studied in United States and Canada. Some turbines are also death traps for female bats in spring. Pregnant Brazilian bats died at a wind energy site in Oklahoma and female silver-haired bats were killed by turbines in Tennessee and Alberta.
(To read New Scientist article called "Bats take a Battering at Wind Farms" click here)
(or, just Google "bats, wind turbines" and browse the multitude of results of that search.)
"Turbines Must Deal with the Birds and the Bats"
and it appeared in the Daily News Record of Harrisonburg, Virginia
(Click here to read this article at it's source)
The environmental impact of Virginia's first wind farm in Highland County could shed light on how successful such farms will be in the Valley, state officials say.
State agencies, led by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, will monitor the Highland New Wind Development LLC's 20 wind turbines to see how federally protected bats and birds are affected.
Biologists are concerned that inland wind farms on the East Coast could kill large numbers of common bats, and possibly affect the federally protected Indiana bat and Virginia big-eared bat, according to the State Corporation Commission.
The commission approved the Highland County project this week but required the developers to study its impact on the animals.
"We still have no experience in Virginia," said Ken Schrad, an SCC spokesman. "The Highland project, with its monitoring and mitigation program, will provide that experience for future projects."
Research in Highland County could reveal information on how and when bats are killed at the sites, and offer ways to prevent future deaths, said Richard Reynolds, a game department wildlife biologist.
"It looks as though any facility in the East will have high bat fatalities," Reynolds said. "The concern is that if we build thousands of turbines to provide renewable energy, [and] if we don't do something to minimize these impacts, they could have a significant negative impact on bats."
Not Enough Research
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service has seen more applications for wind farms from developers who want to get permitted in a shorter amount of time, said Thomas Chapman, a field supervisor with the department.
While the agency supports renewable clean energy, state and federal officials are concerned for species like the endangered Indiana bat, Virginia big-eared bat, federally protected bald and golden eagles, and the West Virginia northern flying squirrel.
"We've identified some fairly serious concerns as far as building [wind farms] in certain locations," he said.
This month, those worries led to the department's opposition of another wind farm proposed by an unnamed developer in Rockingham County in Virginia, and Pendleton and Hardy counties in West Virginia. The farm would cover large swaths of habitat for two endangered bats and the bald and golden eagles, as well as land in the George Washington National Forest.
The Fish and Wildlife Service recommended the unnamed developers voluntarily apply for an "incidental take permit" and a Habitat Conservation Plan, if they decide to move ahead with the project. The plans offset harmful effects the projects might have on the species, and the permits authorize the "incidental [killing, harming or harassing] of federally listed species," according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Although the SCC approved the Highland County project, its developers have not applied for an incidental take permit or developed a conservation plan, said John Flora, the attorney representing the project. The Highland County developers, Flora said, may pursue a conservation plan and incidental take permit in the future.
Learning From Highland
Biologists aren't sure how bats and birds in Virginia would be affected because no wind farm has yet been built in the state, Reynolds said.
High bat mortality, however, has been observed at wind farms in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, West Virginia and Canada, he said, indicating a risk.
At the Highland site, biologists will study bat activity in relation to climate conditions such as wind, weather and temperature, to identify when most bats are killed, he said.
For example, Reynolds said, most bats have been killed at wind farms during fall migration. During this time, biologists may slow down the turbines to protect the bats, he said.
"That will hopefully minimize fatalities to the bats and operational adjustments a facility would have to make," Reynolds said.
Students from James Madison University's College of Integrated Science and Technology may also work with state agencies to conduct research, Flora said.
"JMU has a very strong focus on green energy, how it works and what the impacts are," Flora said.
Without more research, Chapman said, common species of bats could be threatened in the future.
"As
more of these facilities are built across the landscape, more of the
common species may be at risk and more of those bats [could be]
federally listed," he said.
7/11/08 Brownsville Noise Log Update--- What have the turbines brought to the people who live with them?
Here is the most recent update of the noise log kept by the Wisconsn's Myer Family of Brownsville in Fond Du Lac County, where the turbines which surround their home have been on line since March.
(Download the entire diary by clicking here) We note the recording of a visit from Representative Phil Montgomery who sponsored an 11th hour bill for turbine siting reform which would have taken the power from local governments to regulate the siting of industrial turbines in their communities and given it to the Public Service Commission.
The Public Service commission believes 40 story turbines can be sited 1000 feet from our homes and make 50 decibels of noise. They approved the wind farm the Myer family and hundreds of others are now forced to live with.
The bill was tabled at the last minute but we expect there will be a push to pass it again next year. If you have any feelings about this, contact your legislators and let them know you don't want local control taken away, and that the PSC's 1000 foot set back is not something anyone should have to live with. You can find your Wisconsin state legislators by clicking here
EcoEnergy, the wind developer who has targeted Magnolia township for a 67 turbine wind farm has threatened to override Magnolia township's recently passed wind ordinance and go to the PSC, thereby forcing a wind farm on a community that does not want turbines 1000 feet from homes. EcoEnergy doesn't care how our community feels about it. They aren't going to live here. (Download the Magnolia Wind Ordinance by clicking here)
We thank the Meyer family for sharing their experiences with us and we send our thoughts and sympathy for the them and for others who have to live with what has happened to the once peaceful life their rural community.
May 27 – 5:15 AM Just sound from #4.
4:45 PM I can hear the turbines while we are in the yard loading our truck.
10:30 PM Fairly calm. Can hear the hum of #4.
May 28 – 5:30 AM No breeze. #4 moving quietly. Much of the day the turbines were not turning even thought there was wind.
10:30 PM Turning slow with quiet hum.
May 29 – 6:10 AM # 4 turning slow, however I can hear it in our dining room. Much of the day most of the 86 turbines were not turning.
4:30 PM slow and quiet.
12:00 midnight I just got home form a wind turbine planning meeting. The first sound I heard while still in my garage was the jet sound of turbine #4.
May 30 – 6:30 AM I can hear #’s 4 and 6 with the jet sound.
2:50 PM I got out of my car and I can hear the jet sound of #4.
4:25 Jet Sound.
6:15 Annoying jet sound.
10:35 PM Jet sound cutting through the night.
May 31 – I woke up with a headache.
5:45 AM I can hear the jet sound of #’s 4 & 6.
9:50 AM Turbines 4 & 6 are loud (jet sound) and annoying. I will try gardening again.
5:10 PM I can hear #4 while sitting at our dining room table.
6:40 PM Jet sound.
10:25 PM Slow humming sound.
June 1 – I woke up at 2:00 AM and 4:15 AM last night kind of anxious.
7:15 AM There is absolute silence. Not of of the 86 turbines are turning. WOW! What peace☺
3:00 PM Some turbines are turning.
8:15 PM Most of the turbine blades are set as not to turn. No wind, calm.
June 2 – 5:30 AM Almost all of the turbines are not making electricity. (translation-The turbines are not turning).
4:30 PM Turbines that are turning seem to be going slow. Turbine #4 is giving off only
a hum.
8:00 PM The wind is from the east. Quiet.
8:20 PM Wind from SW. Turbines moved to new direction and now the jet sound is heard.
10:20PM Wind N and now quiet
June 3 – 6:00 AM Fairly quiet. Our 13 year old son complained of a headache at breakfast.
I asked why. He replied, “The wind turbines”.
3 PM Turbine #4 not running but can hear #3a in it’s place.
10:30 PM Fairly quiet
June 4 – 6AM foggy. Can’t see the turbines. Quiet.
3:30 PM Still foggy and only a hum from #4.
10:00 PM Quiet from #4.
June 5 – I woke up at 4:45 AM to loud thunder. I had been awake for 1 ½ hours when I woke my wife up. She said “The turbines keep me awake yet I can’t wake up in the thunder storms”.
6:15 AM Slight wind and sound. 4 PM Turning slow and quiet.
8:15 PM I checked the garden and annoying hum from turbine 4.
10:35 PM The wind has picked up and I can hear # 4 and 73.
10:55 PM I can hear # 73 at the computer. The computer is in the house. Turbine 73 is 2480’ away from the house.
June 6 – 3:40 AM Loud jet sound from our porch from both turbines 4 and 73.
(Gone on vacation for 3 days)
June 9 – 5:00 PM We just returned from the airport. The first sound we heard getting out of the car was turbine #4. How annoying and aggravating.
10:10 PM I hear turbine 4 and 6
June 10 – 6:10 AM fairly quiet.
1:40 PM not turning.
2:55 PM Wind sw. Loud jet sound.
5:10 PM The jet sound continues.
7:30 PM Still the jet sound.
10:20 PM Jet sound is still loud.
June 11 – 6:10 AM I can hear turbines 4 and 6.
5:10 PM Windy and I can hear #’s 4 and 6 like a jet flying over.
11:10 PM. Still loud and I can hear turbines 4 and 6
June 12 – 5 to 7 AM. Turbines 4 and 6 are like a loud jet flying over.
Soon we are leaving for the NASCAR races in Brooklyn MI. The cars are loud but much better to hear than the constant sound of an industrial wind turbine.
June 16 – 1:20 PM We just returned home from 4 ½ days in MI. The very first sound I heard when opening the truck door was the jet sound of turbines. Specifically turbines 4 and 6. Turbine # 6 is ¾ of a mile from our house. How depressing and sad this has to take place day after day.
2:45 Still the jet sound
5:30 PM Still the loud jet flying over sound.
9:30 PM Still the annoying jet sound.
June 17 – WE woke at 5:15 AM. The first words my wife said was “I have a bad headache”. When I went out at 5:40 AM I knew why. Turbines 4 and 6 were loud with the jet flying over low sound. The wind was from the NW.
2:10 PM Loud jet sound from #’s 4 and 6. Just a reminder turbine 6 is ¾ of a mile away.
9:00 PM I went to the garden and turbine 4 (1350’ from the garden) is terribly loud and aggravating.
9:20 PM Neighbor GB called and talked for 30 minutes about his anger, frustration and is just beside himself over turbine # 6 1000’ to the east of him and turbine # 7 1000’ to the west of him.
June 18 – 5 AM I woke up this morning feeling great and upbeat. I walked out the door at 6 AM and not one of the 86 turbines was turning. I feel that had something to do with how good I felt when I got up with out knowing the turbines were turning.
4 PM Quietly turning away but audible.
10:30 PM Low volume jet sound
June 19 – 5:10 AM Much louder sound than yesterday. Wind from straight sw. This really is intruding on our health, well being and quality of life. How sad and what can we do about it?
2:15 PM I can hear turbines 4 & 6.
800 PM Most turbines stopped-no wind.
June 20 – 5:10 AM Not turning. We were gone for the day to a wedding. We got home at 11:20 PM. nw wind. Turbine 4 whoosh sound.
June 21 – 6:00 AM Wind from W. I hear turbines 4 & 6 ripping through the sky. It would not be a good time if we had a yard party. Of course you remember turbine # 6 is ¾ mile away. I would say this morning’s sound is like if you had your house built and were living in side and industrial park with a metal stamping plant on two sides of your home.
11.10 PM I just got home from an all day wedding. The first thing we hear upon arriving home is turbines 4 & 6
June 22 – 6:10 AM Almost no wind. The turbines are turning slow with only a hum for sound.
2:15 PM I am working in the back garden. I can hear turbine 4.
10:20 PM Turbines turning slow & fairly quiet.
June 23 – 6:10 AM Foggy and no wind.
9:10 AM Light nw wind but can hear turbine 4.
12 noon. Turbine 4 with some noise with the whoosh. Today at noon we had legislative visitors:Rep. Phil Montgomery Rep. Kevin Petersen Kristin Ruesch and Waylon Hurlburt-Office of Rep. Montgomery Amber Hodgeson - Office of Sen. Jeff Plale -Kevin Brady - Office of Sen. Roger Breske
They were sincerely interested in the sounds we are experiencing and gave us some ideas on information we could provide and how to do it to help our situation. Also in attendance Larry and Curt other affected neighbors as well as Bob and Ron concerned leaders in safe setbacks.
6:20 PM Most turbines are stopped.
11:30 PM Wind from south not too strong yet I can hear a vibration sound as I work at the computer.
June 24 – 5:10 AM The first thing my wife said is “I have a headache”. I feel it is connected to the
sound and/or vibration I felt last night before going to bed. Wind from SW. Light wind but I hear easily the turbines.
1:50 PM Wind SW. Turbines fairly loud, low jet sound.
10:55 PM I can hear
Turbines 73 & 4. Stronger jet sound than earlier.
June 25 – 5:10 AM Turbine #4 turning, but slow and quiet. Wind from S and light.
5:00PM. Turbines 4 & 73 moderate sound.
6:10 PM Turbines 4 & 73 Jet sound.
1:00 AM Turbines 4 & 73 loud jet Sound.
I can hear #73 at the computer. Wind is from S-SW all day.
June 26 – 6:10 AM Quiet. 
5:10 PM Wind S-SW Fairly quiet.
10:20 PM I can hear turbines 4, 6 & 73.
June 27 – 5:10 AM I can hear turbines 4 & 6. Remember turbine #6 is ¾ mile away from my house.
2:30 PM Moderate sound
10:40 PM wind from S and can hear turbines 4 & 73 like a loud jet flying over with a whoosh sound to it.
12:30 AM Turbines 4 &73 sound like a Chinook helicopter ripping the night sky apart. This is a very loud jet sound. I can hear turbines 4 & 73 at my computer and turbine # 4 in our family room with the TV on☹ Keep in mind our home is well insulated with a full 4” studs with R 19 fiber glass in the walls, full 1” sheeting board and 1” Styrofoam. How would the sound be in other house with out all the trees surrounding the home like ours has?
June 28 – 6:20 AM Slight wind from the W. The sound is not very loud this morning.
8:40 AM Wind W-SW with a loud ripping sound through the air.
6:20 PM Wind SW moderate sound .Even as I stopped the car to pull today’s mail from the mail box at home. I could hear at least one turbine. That is with the car running and the radio on. Does this seem acceptable to the PSC and other regulating bodies? I beg to differ if it does. We have been to Madison all day watching the ultimate Frisbee tournament part of Badger Games. Yes, we heard noise. Jets flying over, the tracks of bulldozers doing UW construction and the Flight For Life helicopter coming and going from UW Hospital. Those sounds are nothing compared to being surrounded by industrial wind turbines tearing the sky apart generally 24 hours a day. As I got out of the car I could hear turbines 4, 6 & 73 making a loud jet sound fighting hard to see which one could be the loudest. I have written before this almost constant sound gives me two forms of anger. Anger that our lives have been intruded upon by these loud, inefficient industrial machines and the anger of tenseness and anxiousness.
9:30 PM The sound is still a fairly loud jet sound.
11:50 PM More quiet.
June 29 – 6:50 AM Very loud jet sound from turbines 4, 6 & 73.
12:15 PM Still loud like a jet flying over. Very bad.
6:45 PM Fairly quiet. 11:35 PM Loud jet sound. I hear turbines 4, 6 & 73. The energy company people say with the new technology you only hear sound from one side of the turbines blades or head. I don’t remember which side it is and I can not tell because I hear the turbines from the north, south and northwest all at the same time so it must be another misrepresentation as is the fabrication that turbines make no or very little noise.
June 30 – 5:20 AM This is a quiet morning.
11:10 PM Slow and quiet.
July 1 – 6:10 AM Slow movement and quiet sound.
1:50 PM Much louder.
5:10 PM moderately loud jet sound.
10:15 PM I can hear #4 loud #’s 73 & 74a loud enough to hear while walking the dog.
July 2 -6:15 AM Very loud jet sound from turbines 4 & 73.
7:45 AM My wife called me at work to tell me that SV our neighbor on the road behind us (we share turbine #4) called us to say “Last night was a night from hell”. Translated that means the turbines were terribly loud.
3:40 PM Turbine 4 sounds like a jet flying over.
6:10 PM Our 13 year old son ate slow and very little. We asked him many times to eat. Finally with tears in his eyes he said “You don’t know what I am going through with the turbines”.
9:20 PM N wind I can hear turbines 4 & 73 equally and loud. Turbine 73 is 2480’ away. Tonight I think I can hear turbine # 70 which is one mile away. I went for a walk tonight. I could hear wind turbines the whole 45 minutes of the walk which caused the walk to be not very relaxing.
July 3 – 6 AM Moderate sound from turbine 4.
4:10 PM Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh☹
11:35PM Fairly quiet. Went to Town of Magnolia Town Board Meeting where they adopted a wind ordinance☺
July 4 – 6:50 AM Not turning. What a nice beginning to the 4th of July.
2:10 PM Quiet. The turbine heads have been stopped most of the day, but have changed directions a few times.
11:20 PM Turning but slow with loud hum.
July 5 – 6:55 AM very little wind from SW. Turning slow and quiet.
8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Today was a fairly quiet day. There was very little wind. The turbines were quiet.
11:10 PM NOW the turbines are VERY loud. I hear #’s 4 & 73 like a loud jet flying overhead. I can hear turbine 73 even with my garage in between me and the turbine while standing right next to the garage as a shield. I am at the computer (inside the house) and I can hear turbine 73. Remember turbine #73 is 2480’ or almost a half mile away. 
July 6 – 7:30 AM Wind S very low. I can hear turbines 4, 6 & 73 about equally from the back of our property Turbine 73 therefore would be over ½ mile or about 2940’ from me and #6 is just under ¾ of a mile from the back of our property. I have a small hand held sound level indicator and got a reading of 40db and at the moment the sound is fairly quiet but annoying.
7:50 AM I am reading a map at the dining room table and I can hear the turbines quite easily. The kitchen door is open. Again this is quite an intrusion on our normal life style and on our health.
8:00AM I can hear #73 while at the computer with music playing at the sound level of 30 on the computer. Turbine # 73 is 2480’ away. Sound audible in a well constructed, well insulated home should not be permitted by our government leaders including town, county, state and the PSC. I used to live in a peaceful rural area. Now thanks to the leaders we trusted we live in an industrial park type setting except we never moved. We were intruded upon. I doubt that a city planner would allow an industrial park to move into a residential area. My oldest son (age 33) just commented that at 2:00 AM he was going to “Have me call my legislator friends. They (turbines) were the loudest I have heard them”.
9:40 AM Turbine # 4 is fighting to see if it can rip the sky apart. It is very loud. Did you ever had to vomit but nothing came out but retching sound? You got the picture of what it is like at the moment.
5:10 PM S wind. I filmed # 4 & 6. They were loud and I could hear # 73.
6:55 PM Wind SW. The turbines are now turned a little SW from where they were 45 minutes ago. Now they are louder. The jet flying over loud sound with a pulse added. It is sickening. 11:30 PM. Turbine 73 is the loudest. Then #4. Then #6. Thumping and jet sound.
July 7 – 5:10 AM Wind S. Fairly quiet yet annoying.
9:00 AM Wind S. Similar sound as earlier.
5:20 PM Jet sound.
9:50 PM It is raining. Wind S. Sound is audible.
12:50 AM Wind S Turbines 4, 6, 73 and 74a are giving off the loud jet sound ripping the sky apart. I can hear 73 & 74a from the computer room. From our family room I can hear turbines 6 & 4.
July 8 – 6:15 AM The first words from my wife’s mouth were “I’m going to go back to sleep”;. “I didn’t sleep half the night and was up at 2:00 AM”. That is not a surprise considering when we went to bed we could hear the industrial wind turbines in all parts of our house.
5:15 PM Wind SW Jet sound from turbine 4.
11:15 PM wind NW. It is loud again tonight. Turbines 6 & 4 are a very loud jet sound with thumping sound from # 6. And.. how exciting (not really) that tonight I can hear an additional turbine #75a which is also ¾ of a mile from our house. If you have been paying attention you have figured our we have turbines almost in a 360 degree circumference of our house. It is getting worse. Not better☹
July 9 – 5:15 AM Our 13 year old son is up. He should be in bed sound asleep at this time. He said he has been up since 2:00 AM. He said he was woke up by the wind turbines. That is not a surprise considering how loud they were last night.
5:40 AM. I can hear # 4 & 6.
8:55 AM Wind NW. I can hear #4 whooshing and humming. The wind is not strong.
4:00 PM. Our son and I are leaving chess camp in Shorewood. Robert got sick. It was very unusual. He was very anxious and worried about his pulse, heart, blood clots, blood not moving in his body, he was sweating and thirsty, kept checking his stomach by pulling up his shirt. Remember in the beginning of this diary I commented that especially my wife was concerned as soon as she heard about turbines coming to our area the health effects it may have on our son due to the trauma he experienced before social services entered his life? I believe today is a direct result of the wind turbines affecting his life due to headaches, lack of sleep and just plain stress and anxiety created by the constant sound. Part of this sound is rarely mentioned which is the low vibration sound we may not even feel.
9:05 PM. Most of the 86 turbines are moving slow or are stopped. There is almost no wind from the W. My wife and I discussed where the wind is operating the turbines or are they being back fed with electricity to make them appear they are producing?
10:40 PM. There is not wind on the ground.
(Note from the BPRC Research Nerd: To read a recent article about some of the efficency troubles with wind power, click here)
7/8/08 READ ALL ABOUT IT! PSC spokesperson says Magnolia Township's Setback of 2640 feet safe and acceptable!
As reported in the July 7th edition of Milwaukee's Daily Reporter:"That's a pretty safe distance," and "It's acceptable to us."
That's why town Supervisor David Olsen said officials opted for a noncontroversial ordinance that should bode well for them if legal issues ever arise.
"We picked a half-mile setback distance because we felt it was very minimal standard," he said. "It's easily defendable, and we felt that if we ever had to fight a suit from a developer about it, we'd easily win."
It's a fair thought, said Tim Le Monds, governmental and public affairs director for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.
"That's a pretty safe distance," he said. "It's acceptable to us."
But the ordinance might not mean much to a 7,000- to 8,000-acre wind farm development proposed on the border of Magnolia by EcoEnergy Engineering LLC of Elgin, Ill. The PSC might get to make that call.
EcoEnergy's tentative plans call for a wind farm to produce more than 100 megawatts of energy. Its proposed size means the PSC would have final say as to whether the farm will be built.
Last month, town Chairwoman Fern McCoy admitted establishing an ordinance might be in vain, but Town Attorney Glenn Reynolds disagreed.
"You can't guarantee the PSC will do this, that or the other thing," he said. "The town has the right to act on behalf of its residents for health and safety, and it did."
But what's to come has yet to be confirmed.
EcoEnergy wind engineer Alex DePillis said the company hasn't given information on location or size of its proposed farm because it's still early in the planning process.
"We're only really still collecting wind data in the area," he said.
And DePillis said EcoEnergy will not overlook public opinion.
"Local approval is important to us," he said. "It's informed by who we are and what we do."
State approval and acquiring land with good wind also are important to the company. Magnolia has the wind resources and the state has a goal to get 25 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2025.
Neither DePillis nor Le Monds would say at what point public opinion is cast aside for bigger state and energy interests, but Le Monds said the decision ultimately rests with the PSC.
"We have the authority to approve, modify or deny any project," he said. "We try to strike a fair balance and do what will have the least amount of impact on the owners."
Le Monds said residents are allowed multiple opportunities to comment on projects that might affect them, yet Renolds pointed out "towns don't have the power to prohibit (wind projects)."