Category Archives: fighting big wind.
No recourse: Ontario’s green energy dream has turned into a nightmare
No recourse: Ontario’s green energy dream has turned into a nightmare|Ottawa Life Magazine, July 28, 2022|By: Mckenzie Donovan
“Wind farms are more than just an eye sore. Turbines also produce light pollution at night, as they are required to have bright lights to warn off aircraft. They taint the countryside with irritating noise and are causing or amplifying health problems such as insomnia and more severe issues, including hearing impairment and cardiovascular issues. In 2018, the European Environment Agency, based on information provided by the World Health Organization,stated that noise disturbance causes these health issues.”
READ ARTICLE HERE:
No recourse: Ontario’s green energy dream has turned into a nightmare
When the fiction of green energy met with the facts it led to misery for a North Stormont, Ontario family.
Wind Turbine Noise Impacts Ordinary Persons
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE
COMMON LAW DIVISION
MAJOR TORTS LIST
No. S ECI 2020 00471
B E T W E E N
NOEL UREN and another
Plaintiffs
-and-
BALD HILLS WIND FARM PTY LTD
Defendant
Filed on: 08/10/2021
3. John Zakula is now in his seventh year of enduring the nuisance. The noise is so bad for him that he has bricked in his bedroom window and takes to sleeping in his car when he just cannot endure another night of sleeplessness. Mr Zakula — a qualified engineer — has meticulously logged the noise disturbances from the wind turbines year after year. But no matter how many letters he sent reporting the noise and deaf to the messages Mr Zakula left on the Defendant’s phone hotline complaining of the noise, the Defendant has not curtailed a single turbine in response to Mr Zakula’s particular complaints. Nor has it repaired the faulty gearboxes which affected its turbines, despite knowing of tonality defects for years and years.
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10. …..First, there is evidence that nineteen neighbours were affected in a similar fashion to the Plaintiffs2 (Contrary to the Defendant’s Submissions,3 Mr Soler was one of the persons whose ability to sleep was affected.) Seven of those neighbours gave evidence in the proceeding. They presented as witnesses of ordinary fortitude. It was not put to them that they were hypersensitive. Save in the case of Mr Jelbart 4 it was not even put to them that their opposition to the wind farm might have affected their perception of the noise. On the balance of probabilities, it should be accepted that the seven neighbours’ evidence illustrated the effect of the wind farm noise on ordinary people. It is clear from the Plaintiffs’ lay witnesses and the complaints in the Defendants’ records that the Defendant’s turbines tend to be so noisy that they annoy neighbours during the day and frequently wake them up at night, particularly in cooler weather.
(Extracts and bold for emphasis)
Plaintiffs’ Closing Submission:
Blown Away: The People vs Wind Power
Esther Wrightman’s testimony and her tears will rip your heart out.
Wind Warriors rise from ongoing trauma due to the siting and operations of industrial wind complexes. We are still here and remain engaged in the fight of our lives.
(Video has been blocked over allegations of use of copyright material without consent)
Echauffour wind ORDERED to SHUT Down
Echauffour wind operated by Voltalia has been ordered to shut down its 5 industrial wind turbines based on findings found in an acoustics report produced by Venatech. The report highlighted persistent non-conformity. The wind project began operations in 2019 and is located in Normandy, France.
Christine Royer, the sub-prefect of Argentan acting as Mortagne-au-Perche made the decision which specified that the restart of the installation will be conditioned only with the realization of the installation meeting its obligation to operate within standards. Such a decision maybe a first in France.
The project has been the subject of complaints from adjacent residents since it began operations.
Echauffour. Le parc éolien est mis à l’arrêt par décision préfectorale; January 22, 2021
“To go mad or mad”
Annick Bouttier, a resident of Echauffour, testifies to her health problems:
“For a little over a year, I have been subject to many health problems like many other Echauffouriens, in particular vertigo (hospitalization in February 2020, because vertigo more and more violent), tinnitus 24 hours a day, even pains in the ears (I no longer know the silence), my nights are summed up to about 3 hours (fatigue and exhaustion are there, impossible to recover), headaches … well, I am very healthy. gone to a glass of health!
Since March 2020, confinement requires, and teleworking, the problems have intensified, in June 2020 a videonystagmographic examination (VNG) did not detect anything abnormal, and there we start talking to me about my environment, my place of life to come up with a possible “wind syndrome”, some people are supposedly more sensitive than others. To go mad or mad. And still what am I complaining about, I’m not in Val Soubry! “V.C.
Wind turbines. “Echauffour is the archetype of the environmental scandal”, August 10, 2020
Children received payment for illness claimed caused by wind turbines
thejournal.ie|by: Aodhan O Faolain|February 26, 2020
Three children receive €225,000 settlement over alleged illnesses caused by windfarm near family home
THREE SIBLINGS WHO claimed their family had to abandon their home due to illnesses allegedly caused by a nearby windfarm have secured €225,000 as a settlement of their High Court damages claims.
The awards, were part of settlements made without admission of liability, made to Laura, David and Jack Kelleher.
The siblings claimed that they, along with their parents, had to leave their family home at Gowlane North, Donoughmore, Cork in late 2016 several months after a ten-turbine wind farm went into operation.
They claimed that the noise, vibrations and shadow flicker from the turbines, located just over 700m from their family farm, resulted in them suffering from various illnesses.
These included nosebleeds, ear aches, skin rashes, swollen and painful hands, loss of power in their limbs, sleep disturbance, and headaches.
Through their father Valentine Kelleher, the three siblings sued Green Energy Supply Ltd, which owns and operates a wind turbine installation known as Knockduff Wind Farm in Cork.
The actions were also against company director Michael Murnane of Gortyleahy, Macroom, Cork, who is the owner of Green Energy Supply….
Wind Warrior Signs in Lowbanks
New signs by the Lowbanks Wind Warrior of Haldimand County
K2 Wind “farm” ordered to reduce Noise
CTV London|May 27, 2019
The K2 Wind farm in Huron County needs to make some changes, the Ministry of Environment has ordered.
The wind farm operators must fix noise issues with their turbines, after noise testing found some of the turbines were “out of compliance.”
The order is vindication for Mike and Carla Stachura, who have been complaining about noisy turbines near their Dungannon area home for more than four years.
K2 Wind, which consists of 140 turbines, must now fix the noise issues either by limiting the hours the turbines operate, de-rating the turbines to reduce sound levels, or change when they use the turbines in relation to wind speed or direction.
They have until June 14 to have a plan to fix the noise problems. They also have the ability to appeal the provincial order.
The owners of the K2 Wind Farm, Axium Infrastructure, say they take “their responsibility to operate within the established guidelines of the Renewable Energy Approval permit very seriously, and we will continue to work closely with the ministry to resolve any operational issues that may arise.”
Lake Erie Groups Rev Up Opposition
Lake Erie groups rev up opposition to Cleveland wind turbine project, as developers negotiate with state
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The project has been on the horizon for a decade and a half: six wind turbines erected in Lake Erie, in the first freshwater wind project in North America.
But fervor over the issue is revving up now among boaters, as the developer, the nonprofit Lake Erie Energy Development Co., works through stipulations with the state.
The Lake Erie Marine Trades Association — made up of boat dealers, clubs and other enthusiasts — opposes the $126 million, 20.7-megawatt project dubbed Icebreaker, planned for 8 miles north of Cleveland. So does the nonprofit Lake Erie Foundation.
Both LEEDCo. and its opponents point to hundreds of pages of documents they say prove their points.
The fight is not so much over the six turbines up for state approval right now – but for the wind farm it could precipitate: thousands of spinning blades the Lake Erie Foundation fears will desecrate Lake Erie.
LEEDCo. CEO Lorry Wagner says there are “currently no plans” for more turbines. “You can have all the dreams and aspirations you want, but until you climb that first hill and see what’s out there, you better focus on that first hill.”
But Icebreaker is a pilot project, with a $40 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. LEEDCo. has partnered with Norway-based Fred Olsen Renewables, and its website says “we can build an industry and supply chain in Northeast Ohio that will creation 8,000 new good paying jobs and pump nearly $14 billion into our economy by 2030… as the industry grows here.”
An expansion would require more studies and more approvals.
Said foundation board member John Lipaj: “You cannot treat this as a six-turbine stand-alone project. We have to be realistic and treat it for what it is.”……
NextEra Facing Potential Class Action
NextEra Energy is on the receiving end of a proposed class action lawsuit in which a Nebraska homeowner alleges the electricity provider’s wind turbines placed near residential communities are a “nuisance” and effectively deprive homeowners of the use and enjoyment of their property.
READ MORE AT: ClassAction.org
Kohmetscher_v_Nextera_2019-03-01
Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. 