Dozens of wind turbines west of Boardman are so noisy, nearby homeowners say they're keeping them awake at night and even making them ill. "It's not healthy for us," Dan Williams said of the 240-foot-tall turbines he can see from his hilltop home. "It's like a freight train that's not coming or going." Dozens of wind turbines west of Boardman are so noisy, nearby homeowners say they're keeping them awake at night and even making them ill. "It's not healthy for us," Dan Williams said of the 240-foot-tall turbines he can see from his hilltop home. "It's like a freight train that's not coming or going." Williams is among neighbors along Oregon 74 demanding that Morrow County enforce state noise regulations on the Willow Creek Wind Energy Project or revoke its land-use permit.

When contacted by the Herald in February about the noise complaints, Noble's Project Manager Brett Hastings said the town's attorney, "suggested that we have done what we need to do according to the contract." ...Hastings also commented on rumors that the wind farm company was in financial trouble, and that the company was for sale.

Now Williams is ready to pack up and move. When he looks out his window, he sees a forest of wind towers. Behind his home, about a half mile away, another six turbines sit idle. Williams fears the day they start rotating, because, often, the sound of turbines already roars through his house like a freight train at top speed. "It's like a jet airplane that never takes off," said Sherry Eaton, another neighbor of the Willow Creek project. Eaton and her husband, Michael, are in despair over the wind project, which they say has ruined their chances for a peaceful life in the valley.

Nearly 40 jobs at a Holsworthy yoga centre could be lost if plans for a neighbouring wind farm go ahead. The British School of Yoga, which chose the site at Dunsland Cross because of its tranquility, says the calm of the centre will be shattered and it may be forced to move. Bolsterstone Plc, a North Midlands-based property development and investment company, wants to put up four 105 metre wind turbines.

Dr. Albert Aniel will share his concerns about health risks associated with wind turbines with selectmen when they meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the municipal building auditorium. Interim Town Manager Len Greaney said Wednesday that Aniel asked to be placed on the agenda to share issues he broached at a Feb. 18 Maine Department of Environmental Protection hearing on a proposed Roxbury wind power project.

Newburyport has its own laser light show, or an equivalent thereof, from an unlikely source: the new industrial-sized wind turbine that recently was turned on in the industrial park. At night, from the middle of the northbound lane of Route 1, the twirling blades catch the red beacon light atop the massive structure, and the light shoots out along the blades. It's pretty spectacular, but not if the light is shooting right into the window of your home.

"It's clear that the majority of sound energy from a turbine is in the low-frequency range, but none of the information from a wind developer ever describes that fact," Mr. James said. "None of the data for the lower frequencies is collected or figured as part of their tests." Mr. James said communities should have their ambient-noise levels tested by qualified engineers before a wind farm is developed.

CH2MHill, did a good job showing the sound levels in the proposed wind farm area, Mr. Carr said. It found the ambient noise levels to be as low as 28 decibels. And it said that adding the turbines would increase the noise levels by around 15 decibels at residences in the wind farm area. "That is intrusive," Mr. Carr said. "Unless you put people who are non-leaseholders in a bargaining position to give noise easements to the developers." He also warned against making short setbacks from roads and participating landowners. "Public health and safety should not be a measure of a project's success," he said.

Several Cohocton town residents want to know why they have to call wind developer First Wind to complain about noise from wind turbines instead of town officials. ...According to Joe Bob, one of the town's code enforcement officers, the town's wind law specifies exactly how much noise can be made at a certain range. ...Graham said he thinks he was lied to when First Wind, then called UPC Wind, offered to place turbines on his property.

Ontario's noise regulations for wind turbines are among the weakest in the world and current distance setbacks from homes should be tripled or more, a public meeting was told Monday. About 200 people crowded the Essex Civic Centre to hear experts from across the province debate the health effects of wind turbines. Using teleconferencing, some spoke from as far away as the United Kingdom. The meeting got a little rowdy at times with some Town of Essex councillors trading barbs with taunting spectators.

The Cohocton Wind Farm Controversy continues -- this time, over print reports the turbines were not producing power. ...Local print reports quoted an official from the New York Independent Service Operator saying even though the turbines are spinning, the energy wasn't actually going into the power grid.

Wind turbines will disturb your peace and quiet, neighboring town residents warned the Prattsburgh town board last week. "It's like a jet engine landing right behind you," Hal Graham, of Cohocton, said. "It's constant noise." Graham leased land to First Wind for its 50-turbine wind farm in the town of Cohocton. Tuesday, he spoke during the Prattsburgh board's public hearing on a wind energy facilities permit there. The permit will stipulate certain terms and charge a building permit fee for any wind facilities in the town.

The 10-member committee discussed material presented at the Feb. 12 meeting by Gregory C. Tocci, principal at Cavanaugh Tocci Associates ...Among his recommendations were that the town adopt a law that uses a certain number of decibels above ambient noise as opposed to the current flat allowed rate of 50 decibels. The state Department of Environmental Conservation recommends no more than six decibels.

A Town of Cohocton man tells us that he has a turbine on his property and that there is a wind turbine next door, and because of the turbines, he has trouble sleeping at night. He says he has asked the wind companies to turn the wind turbine off, and he says they won't.

Local property owners and residents addressed Jack County commissioners during the public forum portion of Commissioners Court Feb. 9 to petition them for assistance with noise abatement for the 60-turbine Barton Chapel Wind Farm. Tom Fillene pleaded with commissioners to take a trip down to the area and listen for themselves to the "obnoxious noise" coming from the 400-plus foot "monsters." Fillene stated he was speaking on behalf of other family members who lived under the wind turbines and were experiencing health issues due to the noise coming from the giant towers.

As Maine preps for wind power, medical staff at Rumford Hospital say turbines may make people sick. Others beg to differ. The phrase "vibroacoustic syndrome" started him Googling. The worrisome set of symptoms - allegedly caused by exposure to low-frequency noise and linked by some to wind farms - sent him on a mission he didn't anticipate. This week Dr. Albert Aniel, an internist at Rumford Community Hospital, mailed a letter to Gov. John Baldacci. He visited the Mexico Board of Selectmen. He's contacting every town manager in the River Valley.

Havas, who studies environmental toxicology at the university in Peterborough, has added her voice to the call by Dawn-Euphemia Township council and others who want Ontario to study the impact of the growing number of wind generation projects sprouting up across the province. "Why would you want to put a lot of these wind turbines near people, have some percentage of them get sick, and then have to deal with that afterwards?" Havas asked.

When Carmen Krogh talks about the health effects of wind turbines, she speaks from experience. She shared that experience with the councillors of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Township at last week's regular meeting. Extra chairs had to be pulled out of storage to handle the large crowd that came to hear her presentation to council. ...Her symptoms came on quickly, she said. She experienced bad headaches, dizziness, queasiness, a heart rhythm sensation and a vibration inside her body. Her health improved when she and her husband, who was not affected, left the area. She decided to research the issue.

"They are very noisy," said Jan Sageman, who lives in the village of Ubly near some of the turbines. While she didn't mind seeing her community jump into the world of renewable energy, her opinion has changed because on certain cold nights with a light wind, she can hear them loud and clear. "You would have swore a train or a jet was coming through the house," she said.