Black Creek Township residents' concerns weren't eased by testimony Thursday from a wind power company that plans to construct 22 turbines on the Buck Mountain ridge. ...Resident Edward Vergari said the township should collect more information and mandate that all applicable state, county and local permits be secured by Penn Wind prior to zoning approval.

The fight to keep wind farms out of southern Lambton County gathered ammunition this week with the release of a survey that found some people who live near the big turbines suffer serious health problems. ...The survey should grab the attention of government lawmakers, says Ann Towell, a resident in Dawn-Euphemia opposing a 35-turbine wind farm proposed for her township.

The fight to keep wind farms out of southern Lambton County gathered ammunition this week with the release of a survey that found some people who live near the big turbines suffer serious health problems. Fifty-three of 76 residents surveyed, primarily in the Kincardine area, said they suffer from headaches, sleep disturbance and depression. They said the wind turbines are having a significant negative impact on their lives.

Tom Lewis, planning and environment manager with IPC Energy, said his company takes the results of a Wind Concerns Ontario survey seriously, but pointed to an earlier survey that found an overwhelming number of Ontarians are in favour of wind energy. "I think there is a small number of people susceptible to health problems and I certainly empathize with them," Lewis said.

In an effort to make the Naples Town Board aware of the possible impact of Prattsburgh's wind turbines, two local residents were invited to present information about the Cohocton and Prattsburgh wind farms to the board during its April 13 meeting. The reports from Hal Graham and John Servo raised perennial questions about the hazards of wind turbines and the abrogation of property rights.

More people are coming forward saying they're experiencing sleep problems, headaches, and heart palpitations caused by living near windmills. ...The turbines don't appear to affect everyone equally and it is not clear what causes the health problems in some people.

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.

A group of concerned citizens in the Merigomish area have launched an investigation into the information Shear Wind has provided to the province as part of its environmental assessment.

Prolonged negotiations between the small Makara community and the electricity giant Meridian Energy have failed to reach agreement on a central issue: noise. The two sides have been having monthly meetings for a year and a half.

Noise and vibrations caused by wind turbines are causing sleep disruptions and other health problems among people who live nearby, some Ontario residents say. "I'm very concerned about the victims that we've got in Ontario because they're really suffering some pretty significant, adverse health effects," said Carmen Krogh, a retired Alberta pharmacist who is conducting a survey of people living near wind turbines.

As the state pushes wind energy and communities create guidelines to accommodate it, those living in the shadow of Mark Richey's wind turbine wonder if the effort is at their expense. The Richey turbine meets the general spirit of the state's guidelines as well as the city's current wind turbine bylaw, under which Richey received a special permit that allows a turbine in an industrial zone to be at least 300 feet from a residential zone. ...As the city takes a closer look at its wind ordinance, neighbors are arguing that the rules most officials are accepting as well thought out are out of sync with reality.

Jason LaCroix, 14 Hill St., told councilors of the "human effect" the turbine has caused in the neighborhood. He recently purchased and put in a new glass door on his house. He had to take it out after he saw the shadows of the turbine's rotors on his wall reflecting off the glass. On his rooftop deck, the turbine is "virtually eye level," he said. The flicker study done for the Richey turbine wasn't accurate and minimized what impact it would have on the Back Bay neighborhood.

Attention over the sound made by wind turbines recently erected in Cohocton has alerted those in nearby towns considering wind projects to the potential effects of noise. But questions remain about what action - if any - towns affected by the turbines should take to protect their citizens. One wind farm has been completed in Cohocton while projects are being considered in the towns of Prattsburgh, Hartsville and Howard.

In early January, the blades in the 53-turbine First Wind project in the town of Cohocton began to spin. It was the first project in Steuben County to generate renewable energy and one of five under consideration in the county. Within weeks, dozens of Cohocton residents went to the town board in neighboring Prattsburgh to warn that the machines were proving to be noisy and harmful. "Don't let (the developers) buffalo you," Cohocton resident Hal Graham told the Prattsburgh Town Board in late February.

Roger Mills County resident Scott Shillingstad said the noises emitted by wind turbines on a neighbor's property are worse than annoying. They're unbearable. "It sounds like we have an international airport next door to us," Shillingstad said. "Our health is being threatened. We're about ready to abandon our property."

The town board sent an open letter to the media Monday afternoon outlining its intentions on monitoring noise generated by the 50 wind turbines erected in the town in 2008 following complaints by residents and leaseholders involved with the project. ...Under the town's wind law, the letter states, there is a distinction between participating landowners - like Graham, who has several turbines on his property - and non-participating landowners. ..."Participating landowners are viewed under the Town's local laws as, in essence, First Wind's co-applicants."

Muriel Ritchie says at one time she thought she and her husband, Malcolm, would have to move from their Mount Pleasant home because of the noise from the nearby windmill. "There's a vibration, a humming, and at first it bothered me terribly.

A Blair County judge has upheld all but two civil charges brought against two wind companies by a Juniata Township couple, who have complained that 40 wind turbines on Blue Knob Mountain are noisy and cause light to flicker in their home. ...Milliron refused to strike a charge of fraudulent misrepresentation against Gamesa and a similar charge, plus others, against Allegheny Ridge.

Charles E. Ebbing, retired engineer with Carrier Corp. with nearly 50 years' experience, explained the source and stress effects of low-frequency noise to the committee, which met Tuesday night. Low-frequency noise ranges from a few thousand hertz down to nearly zero hertz. "A house shuts out all high-frequency noise and allows in only low-frequency," he said. "The noise level of low-frequency can be greater inside than outside, because of the resonance inside buildings."

Weighing in were Dr. Albert Aniel, an internist at Rumford Community Hospital, Dr. Michael Nissenbaum, a radiologist at Northern Maine Medical Center, former Gov. Angus King, a partner in Independence Wind and Dr. Dora Ann Mills, director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state's chief medical officer. Aniel and Nissenbaum would like the state to place a moratorium on future wind projects until more research on the effects of turbines on people can be gathered and analyzed.