Lobbying from the wind industry could be likened to lobbying from the tobacco industry in the 1950s. We are now fully aware of the hazards of smoking tobacco but how long before our government stop accepting lobbying from the industry and wake up to the hazards of living near wind turbines?

“When a mistake is repeated, it is not a mistake anymore…it is a decision”- Paolo Coelho.

In the 1950’s, the tobacco lobby used medical professionals to insist that there was no medical evidence of harm from tobacco products. Indeed one advertisement, supported by research conducted by physicians, declared that “Phillip Morris” brand tobacco eased irritated throats and “every case of irritation cleared completely or definitely improved.” Phillip Morris soon became a major brand.

The tobacco lobby in the 1950’s could be compared to the powerful wind industry lobby today. Despite the growing body of peer-reviewed research demonstrating that wind turbines can cause serious adverse health effects in susceptible nearby residents, the wind lobby and Governments continue to dismiss this evidence.

However, in a recent groundbreaking study at Pacific Hydro’s Cape Bridgewater wind farm in the state of Victoria, Australia’s leading acoustical engineer Steven Cooper found that a unique infrasound pattern, which he had labelled “Wind Turbine Signature” in previous studies, correlates (through a “trend line”) with the occurrence and severity of symptoms of residents who had complained of often-unbearable “sensations”. These include sleep disturbance, headaches, heart racing, pressure in the head, ears or chest, etc. as described by the residents (symptoms generally known as Wind Turbine Syndrome (WTS), or the euphemism “noise annoyance”).
The acoustician also identified “discrete low frequency amplitude modulated signals” emitted by wind turbines and found the wind farm victims were also reacting to those. The Wind Turbine Signature cannot be detected using traditional measuring indexes such as dB(A) or dB(C) and 1/3 Octave bands, concludes his study. Narrowband analysis must be used instead, with results expressed in dB(WTS). He suggests medical studies be conducted using infrasound measurements in dB(WTS) in order to determine the threshold of what is unacceptable in terms of sound pressure level.

The findings are consistent with the official Kelley studies published in the US more than 30 years ago, which showed that infrasound emitted by early, downwind turbines caused sleep disturbance and other WTS symptoms. These studies were shelved, upwind turbines were designed and the regulatory authorities simply trusted the wind industry’s assertion that the new models did not emit dangerous infrasound. The Cooper study now proves they were wrong.

Another conclusion of his study is that the Danish method used for measuring low-frequency “noise annoyance” near wind farms is inadequate. So are the wind turbine noise standards applied to wind farms in Victoria, Australia and New Zealand, known as “New Zealand Standard 6808”. Just as inadequate are all other standards regulating “annoyance” near wind farms around the world including Ireland. They simply don’t take infrasound into account. Scores of medical practitioners and researchers from around the world are vindicated by this benchmark study, as are the residents reporting WTS symptoms themselves, many of whom have had to regularly or permanently abandon their homes.

read more: Wind Aware, Posted by admin | Government Policy | March 09, 2015

follow to watch NEWS REPORT : Windfarm warriors… The scientist told to keep silent while the community demand full disclosure and the coming clash with the local EPA

Port Ryerse is a beautiful, quaint village just SW of Port Dover. The Port Ryerse wind project was approved in August 2014 and appealed by 2 different residents to the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT). The ERT was delayed for 5 months when the presence of Barn Owls was documented in the project area. The wind developer, now Boralex, was required by MNRF to file for an overall benefit permit as the Barn Owl is Endangered on the Ont. Species at Risk list. MNRF had to write up the first Barn Owl permit for this project since Barn Owls are so rare and never been found in any other wind project area in Ont. As it says in the permit notice,

“The Endangered Species Act (ESA) allows some activities to proceed under a clause 17(2)(c) permit with specific conditions if: avoidance and reasonable alternatives have been considered; adverse effects will be minimized; and an overall benefit will be achieved for the species in Ontario. Providing an overall benefit to a protected species under the ESA involves undertaking actions to improve circumstances for the species in Ontario. Overall benefit is more than “no net loss” or an exchange of “like for like”. Overall benefit is grounded in the protection and recovery of the species at risk and must include more than mitigation measures or “replacing” what is lost.”

Continue reading Port Ryerse residents would appreciate your comments being sent in. →

Residents opposed to wind turbines in the community say council should make health a priority.

Representatives of West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group and Mothers Against Turbines Inc. were before council again last Monday, asking for assistance from council in their fight against industrial wind turbines. The groups are asking for $110,000 — $50,000 to assist MAWT in launching a judicial review of the Environmental Review Tribunal hearing in December, $40,000 towards a charter challenge both groups are part of as well as for the establishment of a noise bylaw and purchase of equipment to measure noise and another $30,000 for community outreach.

“The health is a priority,” said Caistor Centre resident Ed Engel, a member of WLGWAG.

Engel told members of council funding to mitigate health problems should be a “top priority” for the township. He said residents are already experiencing impacts on their health and more are destined to once Niagara Region Wind Corporation’s project is built and operational.

“Protection of public health should rate with fire protection and safe bridges,” Engel told council at last week’s budget meeting. Continue reading Wind groups seek township’s support →

What’s New

Toronto ON/ On April 9 the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) will release a report in Canada evaluating the literature on the impacts of wind turbine noise on human health called Understanding the Evidence: Wind Turbine Noise.

The group Canadians for Radiation Emissions Enforcement (CFREE) wants the endless reviewing of the literature on wind turbines and health to cease.

“The people of rural Canada don’t want any more expert reviewers reviewing other expert reviewers year after year”, says Shawn Drennan spokesperson for CFREE. “We are at a crossroads with the wind industry. We want action. The government of Ontario is plowing ahead with the planned 6000 industrial scale wind turbines while communities are desperate to be heard and protected.  Why is the Radiation Emitting Devices Act – a Law created to protect Canadians from acoustical waves such as those emitted by wind turbines – being ignored?”

“How many people in rural Canada need to complain and suffer from the operation of wind turbines before justice takes hold?” Drennan added. Continue reading “The people of rural Canada don’t want any more expert reviewers reviewing other expert reviewers year after year” →

Regional Town Hall Meetings

Have Your say:

There are several ways to participate.  Follow the link to find out how.

 http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page10990.aspx

The DACES (Durham Area Citizens for Endangered Species) Inc. judicial review of the MNRF (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) was heard in Brampton, Ontario, on March 19th, 2015.

The judicial review alleged that the MNRF failed to protect sensitive endangered species habitat from wind turbine construction in a protected area of Ontario. Primarily at issue was whether the Ontario Government, through its Ministry, allowed a for-profit corporation to “self-regulate” with regards to determining whether its construction activities would harm the habitat of an endangered species, the Redside Dace.

Judgement was handed down on March 25, 2015. The Court dismissed the DACES Inc. application, on the grounds that the decision made by the MNRF did not constitute a “statutory power of decision” which the Court could review judicially. Continue reading DACES (Durham Area Citizens for Endangered Species) Inc., Press Release →

A legal challenge of Suncor Energy and NextEra’s 46-turbine Cedar Point Wind Power project in Lambton County is moving on to the Divisional Court for Ontario.

Lawyers for Aberarder residents Kimberley and Richard Bryce filed an appeal of a recent Environmental Review Tribunal decision to uphold Ontario’s environmental approval of the project being built in Plympton-Wyoming, Lambton Shores and Warwick Township.

In a decision released in early March, the provincial tribunal rejected the Bryce’s appeal following a hearing where the family raised concerns about health impacts from wind turbines, and also argued the province’s approval process violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The appeal dated April 1 asks that the Divisional Court revoke Suncor’s provincial renewable energy approval for the Cedar Point project.

It also asks that the appeal be heard in London.

“The appellants felt strongly enough that they wanted to carry it forward,” said Santo Giorno, a member of We’re Against Industrial Turbines, Plympton-Wyoming (WAIT-PW), a group that has been fundraising in the community to help the Bryce family with legal costs.

As well as collecting donations, the group recently held a fundraising dance and auction at the Camlachie Community Centre.

read more:  Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer Friday, April 3, 2015

A new study of eagle mortality at a wind facility near Palm Springs may well prove frustrating to both supporters of wind energy and those concerned about the technology’s effect on wildlife. But if you look beneath the surface, the paper underscores a big problem with the issue of win energy and wildlife: we just don’t have the data we need to make smart decisions.

The paper by USGS research ecologist Jeffrey Lovich, to be published this month in the journal Western Birds, describes eagle mortalities at the Mesa Wind Project Site, which is part of the larger San Gorgonio Pass wind area near Palm Springs. Wind industry critics won’t find a smoking gun in the study, which documents just two eagle mortalities in the last 20 years, the most recent in 1997. And while wind partisans may try to find validation in Lovich’s study, that’s going to be difficult: Lovich carefully details a number of reasons why eagle deaths may be ongoing but undetected.

The big story here, though, is the existence of the paper itself. Why would a study that details two eagle deaths during the Clinton administration find its way into a peer-reviewed journal in 2015? The surprising answer emerges when you think about the way science is actually done.

ReWire, Chris Clarke April 2, 2015