To the champions of wind power, the resistance is benighted and intolerable. "In a state that prides itself on its progressive renewable standards," says Eric Callisto, chairperson of Wisconsin's Public Service Commission, "getting our wind resources stymied at the local level is not acceptable." But to wind power critics, those restrictive local ordinances are enlightened and appropriate. Cartoonist Lynda Barry, a fixture in the Reader for years and now a Wisconsin resident, says she used to support wind power but believes its partisans have shut their eyes and ears to its victims, to people suffering physical ailments caused by living near the turbines.

About eight months ago, Melissa Smedema got wind of We Energy's plans to set up a 90-turbine wind farm in the Columbia County towns of Scott and Randolph. She said she went door to door in Wisconsin communities where wind farms already exist, and heard stories of noise, vibrations, headaches, dizziness and sleepless nights.

As wind-power generation has ramped up, so have concerns about the health effects of living near wind farms. Although major environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the National Resources Defense Council have voiced strong support for wind power, opposition from a few grassroots anti-wind power groups potentially could hinder development in populated areas.

Not long after the wind turbines began to spin in March near Gerry Meyer's home, his son Robert, 13, and wife, Cheryl, complained of headaches. They have trouble sleeping, and Cheryl Meyer, 55, sometimes feels a fluttering in her chest. Gerry is sometimes nauseated and hears crackling. The culprit, they say, is the whooshing sound from the five industrial wind turbines near the 6-acre spread where they have lived for 37 years.

Two brothers-in-law, a country road in northwest Missouri, a fistfight ...Surely it's happened before, but probably never over wind energy. ...At the heart of the dispute: Just how healthy is the noise from wind turbines? ...In Rock County, Union Township residents studied medical and scientific research for months before drafting their wind ordinance, which says a setback of at least a half-mile from inhabited structures is needed to avoid health problems. Tom Alisankus, chairman of the committee that drafted the ordinance, said committee members found in their research that the state of Wisconsin had no medical or scientific data to back a model ordinance with a 1,000-foot setback. Proposed legislation that would have allowed the state's Public Service Commission to set statewide siting standards failed to reach a vote before the session ended last month. Doctors in other countries, including Canada, England, France, Australia and New Zealand, have written papers about similar illnesses in people who live near wind farms. ..."Does noise bother people differently? Absolutely," said Smith, the area audiologist. "It can have a very debilitating effect." But, he said, before anyone can conclude that the wind turbines are harmful, a major study must be done.

What constitutes protection of public health and safety for siting and operating 400-foot industrial wind turbines with capacities of 1.65 to 2 megawatts? That question stirred lots of activity and animosity in Calumet County in 2007. ...Among the common themes were unacceptable noise levels that disrupted sleeping and other activities, shadowing and flickering inside residences, health problems and attitude changes in their families, loss of property value, interference with television reception and Internet services, and refusal by wind energy system owner/operators to deal with complaints. Concerns specific to Calumet County included protection of groundwater in a very sensitive geological area, flight corridors for medical helicopters between Chilton and Fox Cities hospitals and sheriff and state patrol microwave relay pathways.

Wind energy has become a divisive issue for Trempealeau County's residents over the past 14 months. The county board will vote Monday on a third draft of a wind ordinance they've been wrestling with since investment group AgWind Energy Partners approached the board in September 2006 with a request to look at three potential sites to build four to six turbines. The proposed ordinance is stricter than the previous two. It would require turbines to be at least a mile from all habitable structures and a half-mile from property lines. Among more than 30 other restrictions is a requirement that the noise from the turbines can't exceed 40 decibels when measured at any residence.

There has been very few wind projects built in the state since 2000, though more are planned in the next 12 to 24 months, said Ed Blume, spokesperson for the nonprofit environmental group RENEW Wisconsin. ...According to Blume, the biggest challenges to increasing wind power in the state are more at the local level. The largest complaints in regard to wind turbines are noise level, moving shadows created by the blades and harm to birds. The state typically requires turbines to be 1,000 feet from homes, with noise levels varying on the speed of the wind and how close a home is to the turbine. Bjurlin said the turbines at the Springfield site are loudest in 18 mile per hour winds, with winds over that amount being louder than the sound of the blades.

CHILTON - Life near wind turbines is hell, a panel told about 500 at a forum Wednesday organized by residents worried that proposed wind farms would affect public health and property values. "The noise produced by turbines is intolerable," Kewaunee County homeowner Mike Washechek said. Washechek has lived about ¼ mile from a wind farm for the last seven years. "My wife thought the dryer was on and there was a tennis shoe in it."

The Brownsville Diary: Entries of a noise log kept by a Brownsville, Wisconsin family living 3/4 miles east of South Byron in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin. The new wind turbines have just gone on line there.

The Brownsville Diary: Entries of a noise log kept by a Brownsville, Wisconsin family living 3/4 miles east of South Byron in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin. The new wind turbines have just gone on line there. This log covers the time period from Apr 28, 2008 to May 13, 2008.

This letter was sent to Jim Lepinski of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. The letter captures the anger and frustration of people living within a quarter-mile of industrial turbines.

This ordinance was adopted by the Trempealeau County Board in a 10-6 vote (see: http://www.windaction.org/news/13246 ). The ordinance distinguishes between three types of wind turbines including hobbyist, personal, and commercial. Commercial turbines include a 1-mile setback from habitable structures. The ordinance provides a comprehensive section on noise level limits for the turbines including specific requirements pertaining to pre- and post- construction noise studies. The adopted ordinance which can be downloaded below was sent to IWA by the Trempealeau County Clerk Paul L. Syverson.

The State of Wisconsin Task Force on Wind Siting Reform is reviewing guidelines for the siting of utility-scale wind energy facilities, including development of a model wind ordinance. Noise experts Richard James (E-Coustic Solutions) and George Kamperman (Kamperman Associates, Inc.) submitted comments to the task force. The deadline for comments was December 14, 2007. The Wisconsin draft model wind ordinance can be accessed at http://www.windaction.org/documents/13190.

Noise measurements were conducted at eight locations in the vicinity of the Lincoln wind turbines during four different seasons over the course of a year

Do you live inside an industrial wind farm? I do. I live within the Forward-Invenergy project. It is a tremendous invasion of our life style and a horrible happening to our area. My wife, our 13-year-old son and I have experienced headaches, nausea, light headedness, lack of sleep because we hear them in all rooms of our house ...I trusted the elected officials of the town and county and the state's public service commission. That was a terrible mistake. If you allow large industrial limits closer than the set backs I mentioned above you will regret it. It will divide your community.

I finally decided to write my opinion on the wind turbine towers. Actually it's more my personal experience. ...I would challenge anyone who thinks wind turbines make little or no noise to live next to one 24/7 for two weeks straight. Then they might be qualified to speak accurately on the subject. The wind turbines are noisy!

Wind turbines are noisy a lot of the time - very noisy. There are two sounds, a motor drone and an intermittent whooshing sound. The noise is constant, loud and penetrating. This noise penetrates my house; especially my bedroom at night, when it is at its loudest because of the cool air at ground level. This noise is with my windows closed. Disturbing your sleep, yes; good for your health, no. Your comment that this is a noise crickets can drown out is wrong. The sound from the turbines drowns out the noise of the crickets. It's obvious you have not experienced turbine noise in your bedroom.