Category Archives: Noise

Adverse Health Effects, Noise

Township considers sound expert to deal with turbine complaints

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West Lincoln committee mulls having technician on retainer

After an exhausting search, township officials have turned up at least one way to protect residents from industrial wind turbines.

Staff was directed by the previous council to undertake a review of township bylaws, as well as those of other municipalities, to determine if any additional regulations can be put into place that would protect residents from wind turbines.

As far as the township’s existing bylaws go, there is little that can be done. But a look to Plympton-Wyoming may have turned up one way to protect residents from the nuisance noise associated with turbines.

The Municipality of Plympton-Wyoming, near Sarnia, Ont., has passed a bylaw that requires an expert in decibel reading to deal with noise complaints. Should a noise exceed the allowable limits of the municipality’s noise bylaw, a fine can be applied. The municipality’s CAO confirmed to township staff they have a sound engineer on retainer to address complaints under the bylaw, should any occur. Continue reading Township considers sound expert to deal with turbine complaints →

Health, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, Ontario Wind, Protecting our children, The problem with Wind Turbines, Uncategorized

The Negative Health Impact of Noise from Industrial Wind Turbines: The Evidence

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Today’s post, the second of three installments, reviews the major research findings linking low-frequency noise and infrasound from industrial wind turbines with effects on health and quality of life.[1]  

By Jerry Punch, PhD, and Richard James, INCE, BME

jerry punch

Evidence that industrial wind turbines (IWTs) negatively impact human health is vast and growing. Although that evidence acknowledges that the exact exposures needed to impact health and the percentage of the affected population are still unknown, there is indisputable evidence that adverse health effects (AHEs) occur for a nontrivial percentage of exposed populations. Here, we give an overview of that evidence.[2]

Wind turbine noise is not known to cause hearing loss. Interestingly, though, individuals who have hearing disorders may be more susceptible than persons with normal hearing to AHEs from wind turbine noise, and people who are deaf can suffer the same ill effects as those who have normal hearing when exposed to wind turbine noise. The latter finding supports the view that infrasound, not just the audible whooshing, low-frequency noise emitted from wind turbines, is the cause of many of the health complaints.

Richard James

The anecdotal evidence, documented on internet blogs, innewspaper articles, in expert testimony in legal proceedings, and recently in the documentary movies Windfall and Wind Rush, is compelling and illustrative of the similarity in symptoms. These adverse symptoms appear when people are exposed to operating wind turbines, and disappear when the turbines stop operating. These observations resemble single-subject research experiments, in which individuals serve as their own controls while being subjected to alternating conditions or treatments. Dr. Carl Phillips, noted epidemiologist, describes the use of adverse event reporting as a first step in establishing the existence, prevalence, and spread of a variety of health conditions, as well as adverse reactions to such agents as medications and environmental pollutants.

Reports that many families abandon their homes after IWTs begin operation make the anecdotal evidence particularly compelling.

Studies conducted in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, where residents have many decades of experience with IWTs, collectively indicate thatwind turbine noise differs from and is more annoying than other sources of noise, including community, transportation, and industrial sources.

Continue reading The Negative Health Impact of Noise from Industrial Wind Turbines: The Evidence →

Health, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, The problem with Wind Turbines

Adverse Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines

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wind turbine noise health

Adverse Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines  Jerry Punch PhD  Richard James INCE, BME

This article, the first of three installments, provides a broad overview of the topic. The second installment will review the major research findings linking low-frequency noise and infrasound from industrial wind turbines with effects on health and quality of life, and the third will discuss the relationship between various health effects and the processing of infrasound by the ear and brain.[1]

Cary Shineldecker was skeptical about the wind project the Mason County, Michigan, planning commission was considering for approval. His home, two miles from Lake Michigan, was located in an area where nighttime noise levels were around 25 dBA, with only occasional traffic and seasonal farmland noises. The rolling hills, woodlots, orchards, fields, and meadows surrounding his property contributed to its peaceful country setting. He voiced his skepticism about the wind turbines repeatedly in community meetings held beforeConsumers Energy was finally granted approval to construct 56, 476-foot, turbines that would place one turbine 1,139 feet from his property line (Figure 1), six within 3,000 feet, and 26 that are visible from his property.

He and his wife Karen started to suffer symptoms of ear pressure, severe headaches, anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbance, memory loss, fatigue, and depression immediately after the turbines began operating.

Gradually, as sleep disturbance turned into sleep deprivation, they felt their home was being transformed from a sanctuary to a prison. Deciding to sell their home of 20 years, they put it on the market in March 2011, and it has remained unsold for 3-1/2 years. For the past 1-1/2 years, their nightly ritual is taking sleeping medications and retreating into their basement to try to sleep on a corner mattress. They received few offers to buy their home, and recently accepted an offer that would mean a substantial financial loss. They are scheduled to go to trial against Consumers Energy, and if their case goes to settlement without a trial, they will likely be forced into a confidentiality agreement about their case.

Similar complaints of adverse health effects (AHEs) associated with living near utility-scale wind turbines have become commonplace in the U.S. and other developed countries. Energy companies in the U.S., motivated by lucrative tax subsidies available for developing wind resources as a form of green energy, are pushing aggressively to install more wind turbines, typically locating them near residential properties. Many rural residents now have one or more industrial machines that stand over 40 stories tall on the property alongside their home. Complaints about noise from people living within the footprint of wind energy projects are very similar to those experienced by the Shineldeckers.

Those who have never visited a wind project or who visit one only during the daytime often leave believing that the complaints of noise are unfounded, and commonly assume them to be psychologically motivated or a form of NIMBYism [1]. Those living near wind turbines say that unless one is willing to spend several nights in the area they have not experienced the noise that causes the complaints.

Article can be read here.

Health effects from wind turbines, How to Fight Big Wind..., Noise

Finally the truth about health impacts from industrial wind turbines are being exposed!

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Finally the truth about health impacts from industrial wind turbines are being exposed!

DUKE ENERGY’s Shirley Wind Turbines Declared a “HUMAN HEALTH HAZARD”

It seems the neighbors who are too close may not be crazy or making things up after all. Finally a governing body with the courage to acknowledge what the neighbors have been saying all along. We are suffering in various ways from Hoosac Wind, along with EVERY community in Massachusetts, indeed the World that has IWT’s located too close to neighbors. It’s been almost 2 years, or about 725 days have passed from when Hoosac Wind fired up and we are still missing freedom to enjoy our properties and quality as life before Hoosac Wind.

Here in Massachusetts most of the studies so far have been sound monitoring that has been a farce at best (including inappropriately placed monitoring equipment). With limited monitoring IWT’s have been found to be substantially out compliance at Hoosac Wind, yet the neighbors are still suffering. The responses so far from you you have been few and far between. Don’t you care, or please explain why we haven’t heard from you very much? You may be busy or maybe it’s not your responsibility, yet this is important to the neighbors. I feel it’s hopeless that any of you have sympathy enough to reach out personally, or maybe you don’t believe us or believe we should have sympathy? I’ve been informed by MassDEP personnel, some are fearful of loosing their jobs if not careful. I’m sorry, but the neighbors lost far more, and through no fault of our own. Sooner or later the facts will be known by more than just the neighbors, and I hope we will ALL be able to sleep. How are you all sleeping?

According experts advising us, the proposal to serrate the edges of the turbine blades will still have the neighbors of Crum Hill being pummeled by NOISE and infra sound.That modification typically only lowers sound levels by 1-2 dBa. Additionally, will not lower noise levels by the 7 dBa that Hoosac Wind was documented above state regulation, and maybe propaganda to make it seem that Iberdrola is concerned about the neighbors. We are informed the only realistic way for the Hoosac Wind to comply would be to curtail operations when the project is too loud and that continuous monitoring is necessary. The neighbors don’t have official evidence as yet, but we are aware of that even higher sound levels are bombarding our neighborhoods from the project. Seemingly the neighbors of Bakke Mountain side of the project are hopeless as MassDEP informed us there is no evidence Hoosac Wind is out of compliance and no plans to monitor. How will facts be known if no measurement is taking place? Iberdrola is receiving millions of taxpayers subsidies for this project yet and we are left to pick up the broken pieces on our own. Health and quality of life are some of the things taken from the neighbors because of Hoosac Wind.

For your reference a list of impacts the neighbors are experiencing. Sleep loss is the most common complaint from the neighbors resulting in various symptoms, and it’s well known to negatively affect health. Other symptoms reported, anxiety and feelings of stress, headaches, sinus issues, tinnitus, ear aches, numbness, irritability, palpitations of the heart, increase in blood pressure, fatigue, and lapse of memory. This list is in no particular order and by no means complete. Additional complaints from the neighbors, property value loss, wells not providing same quantities of water before blasting of the ridges, silting and addition of mineral materials in wells, and stream flows disrupted on properties. Many of us no longer enjoy being outside our homes when the turbines are noisy or in them for that matter. Indeed it’s beautiful in this area and not being able to enjoy our yards has no value limits. We just want to enjoy what’s legally our right, to pursue happiness in our homes and properties and not be subjected to human health hazards and other impacts from the nearby wind turbines at Hoosac Wind.

Sincerely Larry Lorusso
Clarksburg MA

PS I’m not the only one!

sourse FB: https://www.facebook.com/HoosacWindWatch?hc_location=timeline

fighting big wind., Health, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, Ontario Wind, Shadow Flicker

Plymptom Wyoming, Ontario, Mayor, Council, Issue Groundbreaking New Wind Turbine Noise By Law

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turbine noise Canada Free Press,  By Guest Column Sherri Lange  October 18, 2014

Mayor Lonny Napper of Plympton Wyoming, Ontario, with his Chief Administrative Officer, Kyle Pratt, led his council to a “game changer” bylaw last week.  The wind turbine noise bylaw crafted by council and vetted with Toronto lawyer, Eric Gillespie, references Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise (ILFN) and pulsing barometric pressure changes that are now recognized to damage health around the world.

The bylaw references charging fees to developers if ILFN causes residents problems.  Common effects are from chronic unrelenting noise, sleep disorders, hormone level disruption, increased risk of disease, diabetes, hypertension, depression, heart arrhythmias, and possibly even cancer. (Carmen Krogh and Dr Robert McMurtry, both of Ontario,  recently published a case definition that accepts inner ear disruption, sleep disorders, hypertension, mood disorders, nausea, tinnitus, as part of the presenting complaints combined with proximity to wind turbines.)

In  Plympton Wyoming, complaints will lead to investigations and hefty fines. This is the first bylaw directly referencing ILFN and demanding fines of between $500 to $10,000 per day, and which may be, the bylaw states, in excess of $100,000.
While over 80 Ontario municipalities have called for a moratorium, declared themselves unwilling hosts, and have called for the resignation of the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arlene King, as well as variously creating new bylaws for longer setbacks and decommissioning costs, the Green Energy and Green Economy Act 2009 (GEA), subjugates most Ontario law under its wings, leaving communities scrambling to find ways to protect themselves.  Mayor Napper and his council have likely found the idea remedy: one that is not subsumed into the GEA.  Health issues cannot be found to be contrary to the GEA or “frustrate” the efforts of the laws to perpetuate wind turbine factories, or so-called “renewable energy platforms.”

“When I took an oath to protect my community, I took it very seriously,” continues Mayor Napper.  “The information about what other communities are suffering, disruption, noise, degradation of precious landscapes, seriously divided communities, and to see that this possible devastation is in my full view, for my residents, something has to give.”

Thank you Mayor Napper and Plymptom Wyoming council. Read the rest of the article here.

Children Affected, Health, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, Ontario Wind, Protecting our children, Shadow Flicker, Stray Voltage

Diagnostic criteria for adverse health effects in the environs of wind turbines

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Summary:

In an effort to address climate change, governments have pursued policies that seek to reduce greenhouse gases.  alternative energy including wind power, has been proposed by some as the preferred approach.  Few would debate the need to reduce air pollution, but the reduction is important not only for efficiency but also for health protection.  The topic of adverse health effects is the environs of Industrial Wind Turbines (AHE/IWT) has proven to be controversial and can present physicians with challenges regarding the management of an exposure to IWT.  Rural physicians in particular must be aware of the possibility of people presenting to their practices with a variety of sometimes confusing complainants.  An earlier version of the diagnostic criteria for AHE/IWT was published in Aug 2011.  A revised case definition and a model for a study to establish a confirmed diagnosis is proposed. 

[The healthcare practitioner applying the criteria must be licensed to take a medical or health history and to make a diagnosis.  Physicians should consider that children are also affected but in ways sufficiently different from adults}

Read the entire report here:

Diagnostic criteria for adverse health effects in the everons of wind turbines..

Animals and turbines, Corruption, Destruction from turbines, Direct Effects, Environment, Government corruption, harm to wildlife, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, Turbines and Tourism, Turbines run on Subsidies

“Absolute Corruption”

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ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCHER: WIND INDUSTRY RIDDLED WITH ‘ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION’

Written by James Delingpole, breitbart.com

A Mexican ecologist has blown the whistle on the corruption, lies and incompetence of the wind industry – and on the massive environmental damage it causes in the name of saving the planet. wind turbines

Patricia Mora, a research professor in coastal ecology and fisheries science at the National Institute of Technology in Mexico, has been studying the impact of wind turbines in the Tehuantepec Isthmus in southern Mexico, an environmentally sensitive region which has the highest concentration of wind farms in Latin America.

When a project is installed, the first step is to “dismantle” the area, a process through which all surrounding vegetation is eliminated. This means the destruction of plants and sessilities – organisms that do not have stems or supporting mechanisms – and the slow displacement over time of reptiles, mammals, birds, amphibians, insects, arachnids, fungi, etc. Generally we perceive the macro scale only, that is to say, the large animals, without considering the small and even microscopic organisms…

….After the construction is finalized, the indirect impact continues in the sense that ecosystems are altered and fragmented. As a result, there is a larger probability of their disappearance, due to changes in the climate and the use of soil.

The turbines, she says in an interview with Truthout, have had a disastrous effect on local flora and fauna.          Read more.

Direct Effects, legal challenges, Noise, The problem with Wind Turbines

“So the fight about turbines went on for years and we never took a side.”

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This will be the story for many of our residents in West Lincoln if the NRWC wind farm is placed.  Have YOU taken a side?

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This is why setback distances are so important but really why are these monsters still being built?

Below is a frightening comment to a story in the Batavia, NY newspaper-It was sent by Mary Kay Barton of Wyoming County which is where Orangeville is located. Wyoming County is located just east of Buffalo, NY. Wildlife and wildlife habitat gone with the wind.

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READ the SAD TESTIMONY (below) of another couple now stuck living within Invenergy’s Orangeville, NY wind factory, who unfortunately, did not heed our warnings and get involved in fighting the wind mess prior to the wind factory being built. Can they expect ANY HELP from our elected “Public Servants”? Can they expect any coverage of their problems by the local newspapers & media? Time will tell, but it’s not hard to figure out why the world is in the sad state of affairs that it is in, when people in our own small towns are willing to throw their neighbors under the bus for a few bucks while those who were elected to ‘serve & protect’ them continue to ignore the situation – all in pursuit of a complete FRAUD.

From “sdamike” on Batavia Daily News story about new Orangeville lawsuit (link below):

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I would like to chime in here, being located in Orangeville myself.we never took a side

Where we live, we are surrounded by more than 6 turbines with in 1/4 to

1/2 mile I’d guess. it may be more turbines than that im just going by
how i can see easily.  We moved to orangeville about 5 years ago and were
totally neutral to the whole wind turbine issue.  We figured lower
property taxes would be nice and that how bad can the turbines be?  So
the fight about turbines went on for years and we never took a side.

Then the turbines started being built. It was a mess and you dont absorb how big a turbine is until you see 1 blade being trucked in on a semi with a double length trailer bed. Months later after all the mess, they were done and running. First thing you notice is no more clean night sky, now there is always blinking red lights and if its foggy, the whole sky blinks red.

Then we noticed water vibrating in our barn and in our house. Now we have lived here 5 years and never seen that before. And it happens In Just a plain old water bottle, the water vibrates… like in the movie jurrasic park when the t-rex is coming…its just like that just not as severe.

Then as the weather changed for the worse or if the wind was stronger, we noticed the water vibrations get worse and we also noticed the wind turbines make much more noise.In our house we actually get a type of thumping in the right conditions. Its pretty terrible. I will close windows, turn fans on, turn the a/c on, turn the tv on just to drown out the noises. It also gives me a “I need to get out of here” anxiety feeling…and well, there no getting out of anywhere…its where you live!  And we also run our business from here, so no escape at work!

On the bad nights it effects my sleep, I just cant fall asleep. I even
tried ear plugs…which will work sometimes.

Thats another thing, forget having your windows open for the most
part…especially at night, that seems to always be when the turbines
make the most noise. But they can have noisy days if the weather is
right.

The one time it was like 3 days of constant thumping and noise...we
called the invenergy rep to complain and they sent out some lady…didnt say much and didnt help much either.

We had another instance where she and some head guy from Chicago came…I showed him what the water was doing on a video i had on my phone that I took, and also showed him in person, but he didnt even really acknowledge it. All they care about is the DB meter which is really not a fair measurement of what is going on here. Overall we probably called invenergy 5 or so times to complain over the past 5 or so months. But after a few times it just seemed like the same song and dance and then there doesn’t seem to be a point in calling to complain anymore.

I will say now, i am getting headaches more frequently...not sure if
its related, but it has increased. And i feel like i never really get
good sleep...probably because the noise they make takes you out of REM sleep would be my guess.

But its the thumping and noise that i cant deal with. Forget open
windows, forget enjoying outside. Unless its just the right day with no wind or barely any and the turbine are barely even moving or are just not moving at all…you will hear them.

Looking back now, I would rather pay the higher taxes then have the wind turbines here. They really have changed life in a negative way and i dont think anyone deserves that.

To all that think Im making this stuff up, go live by some turbines…esp. these huge ones we have here in orangeville that are even bigger than the sheldon ones, for at least a month or two, and then tell me what you think.

I wish i would have know about this lawsuit as maybe it will help fix
something, the more people the better as there is strength in numbers, but how were we supposed to know about it to get on board?

$40 Million Dollar Lawsuit Filed by Orangeville, NY citizens against
Invenergy: http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_326873a8-2a7a-11e4-8f8b-001a4bcf887a.html

Canada Wind, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Children Affected, Direct Effects, Health effects from wind turbines, Noise

Wind Turbine Noise – What Audiologists Should Know

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 The voices of those from around the world who have spoke up are finally starting to be heard over the noise of the Industrial Wind Turbines.  It truly is sad that a precautionary approach was not taken before exposing so many to Turbines.  When will  it be up to the Government to PROVE to US that IWT’s do not have a “Direct Casual Link to Adverse Health Effects on People” before being allowed to put up more in populated areas? Will it take another 10 years of suffering?

[Noise from modern wind turbines is not known to causunnamede Hearing Loss, but the wind turbines may have adverse health effects on humans and my become an important community noise concern]

Guinea-pig-and-wind-farm-2-447x30410 year Guinea Pig!!

[ Start with some “sleep deprivation” then add “cardiac arrhythmias, stress, hypertension and headaches, give that a stir and you have “Vibroacoustic Disease” or VAD. Which is occuring in persons who have been exposed to high level infra and low-frequency noise. (ILFN) for periods of “10 YEARS”!!! or MORE!

It is believed to be a systemic pathology characterized by DIRECT TISSUE DAMAGE to a variety of BODILY ORGANS and may involve ABNORMAL “Proliferation of Extracellular Matrices”]

images[The energy generated by large wind turbines can be especially disturbing to the “vestibular systems” of some people, as well as cause other troubling sensations in the head chest or other parts of the body.]

[ Most relevant research has been conducted in Europe by “wind turbine manufacturers who typically don’t share with public.]

[…reports of the distressing effects on people living near utility scale wind turbines in various parts of the world are becoming common.]

READ THE ENTIRE PAPER HERE: WindTurbineNoise

 

Children Affected, fighting big wind., Health effects from wind turbines, Noise, Protecting our children

Wind farms: Are they a good thing?

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Sophia, 7, wrote during school.

“You may think wind turbines are good but when you have 50 by your home…you can’t sleep in your own room and you try to sleep but you can’t because of the wind turbines (noise). I had to move into a mobile home because my mom, dad and brother plus me couldn’t sleep.”

What do you think?

sophia1Phil Hartke predicts that in 10 years, the public will see advertisements from law firms offering representation for people to receive compensation for ill health effects from wind turbines.

The past president of the Illinois Farm Bureau in Effingham County spoke at the Rural Coonhunters Club in rural Greenwich to a group opposed to the construction of wind turbines in the area.

Hartke spoke to more than 100 people over two days at an event hosted by Greenwich Neighbors United.

The global wind energy development company Windlab’s has applied to construct a windpark that would cover about 4,650 acres of privately leased land. It would include 25 wind turbines with a total generating capacity of up to 60 megawatts of electricity.

Final decision on the project’s status rests with the Ohio Power Siting Board, a separate entity within the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

The board’s next meeting is Aug. 25, and the matter may come up for a vote.

While Hartke wouldn’t be affected by the project, he spoke about his and his family’s own experience with wind turbines.

A 495-foot tall, 1.6 mW turbine sits 1,665 feet away from his home.

He handed out a packet, which includes a drawing and paragraph his daughter, Sophia, 7, wrote during school.

“You may think wind turbines are good but when you have 50 by your home…yousophia2 can’t sleep in your own room and you try to sleep but you can’t because of the wind turbines (noise). I had to move into a mobile home because my mom, dad and brother plus me couldn’t sleep.”

Said her father: “Our enjoyment of the backyard, garden, outbuildings, treehouse and creekbed has been taken away and replaced with nausea, headaches, irritability and stress.”

Hartke compared the noise to a diesel truck parked outside one’s bedroom, with the sound increasing as each blade rotating.

“I don’t think kids should have to put earmuffs on to sleep,” Hartke said.

read more: Norwalk Reflector, AARON KRAUSE GREENWICH AUG 16, 2014