www.windaction.org | Impact on Landscape

NH Senate rejects energy project moratorium
March 27, 2013 by Morgan True in Associated Press

Lori Lerner and her husband purchased a second home on Newfound Lake more than a decade ago and loved the area so much that they moved in for good. Now, she worries the construction of wind turbines on the ridges above the lake might stop others from following in their footsteps. "Who wants to invest their hard-earned money in an area that's being over taken by these monstrosities?"

Also filed under [ Impact on People| New Hampshire]

Rural Mainers turn out in force to back bills that would change wind energy law
March 27, 2013 by Robert Long in Bangor Daily News

Testifying neither for nor against LD 616, Patrick Woodcock, director of the Governor's Energy Office, urged legislators not to shy away from trying to improve the 2008 Wind Energy Act. He reiterated LePage's intent to streamline energy permitting processes in Maine, but in a way that does not favor one industry over another, which he said the current law does.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Maine]

Cherokee officials hear from windfarm opposition
March 26, 2013 by William Thornton in AL.com

Leesburg Mayor Edward Mackey addressed the commission before it voted on a few routine business items. "There are just too many red flags with this," Mackey said of the project. "Why should we have them here in the first place?" His short address drew applause from the crowd, several of them standing in the back of the room with the crowd spilling out into the hallway

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Alabama]

Highland wind farm plan axed after 2 year fight
March 22, 2013 by Alistair Munro in The Scotsman

Developers Falck Renewables Wind Ltd has announced they will not appeal the decision last month by Highland Council to refuse planning permission. Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, said: “I am very glad that Falck have recognised the considerable opposition to their plans, and decided not to proceed with this development.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Industrial Wind Turbines: Scars on the rural landscape
March 21, 2013 by Denny Manchee in Watershed Magazine

"In Ontario, Canada, there is a suspension of critical appraisal and due process regarding industrial wind turbines. The lack of confidence in the political and regulatory systems will persist if governments and industry continue to deny the existence of adverse impacts from human exposure to industrial wind turbines...The negative psychological effect of disempowerment interacting with the adverse health effects attributed to industrial wind turbines has intensified the negative synergy of justice lost."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Canada]

Concern over wind farms and fires
March 13, 2013 by Tiffany Grange in Yass Tribune

Aeroplanes couldn't fly within one kilometre of a stationary turbine, and weren't allowed within five kilometres down wind of a moving turbine. Wind farm company Epuron said turbines wouldn't stop fire fighting aircraft from assisting during an emergency.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Australia / New Zealand]

War graves risk fear: Wind farm to be built on site of First World War battlefield
March 13, 2013 by Martin Fricker in The Mirror

Energy firm InnoVent wants to build 10 turbines - each twice the height of Big Ben - on the site of the 1915 Battle of Loos, near Calais, where tens of thousands died. ...Local conservationist Bruno Schmit said InnoVent had taken no account of the site's historical importance.

Also filed under [ UK]

The Price of Green Energy: Is Germany killing the environment to save it?
March 12, 2013 by Markus Dettmer, Peter Müller and Cornelia Schmergal in Der Spiegel

The German government is carrying out a rapid expansion of renewable energies like wind, solar and biogas, yet the process is taking a toll on nature conservation. The issue is causing a rift in the environmental movement, pitting "green energy" supporters against ecologists.

Also filed under [ Germany]

Councillors raise concerns over wind turbine development
March 12, 2013 in Dorset Echo

Fears have been raised by councillors over a wind turbine development that could lead to ‘open season' for Dorset. Puddletown parish councillors voiced strong concerns at a meeting over the proposed nine-turbine complex.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Picturesque village is facing wind farm 'catastrophe'
March 11, 2013 by Auslan Cramb in The Telegraph

"However, the area is now under imminent threat from wind farm developers. Separate plans from five different companies, if allowed to go ahead, would see the village encircled in a virtual ring of steel, which would devastate the local environment and put the villagers' way of life in peril."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Where the wind blows
March 9, 2013 in The Economist

But in Britain, a crowded and windy island with high rates of home ownership and an appealingly romantic view of its landscape, the conflict is exceptionally rancorous. It has also, unusually, become a national issue.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Wind turbines violate City of Canyon ordinance
March 8, 2013 by Mari Samarripas in KVII-TV

"In 2009, we passed an ordinance that stated, wind energy turbines would only be allowed in commercial and industrial districts," said Danny Cornelius Canyon Code Enforcer Director. Even then, a specific use permit must be approved by the planning and zoning and city commission.

Also filed under [ Impact on Views| Texas]

Wind farms are widespread and persistent threat to the countryside, warns National Trust
March 7, 2013 by Nick Mcdermott in Daily Mail

Chairman Sir Simon Jenkins yesterday singled out the proliferation of wind turbines as he highlighted concerns about the Government's planning reforms, which he said would cause ‘warfare' in local communities if not delayed.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Tories at war over wind farm bid in Old Romney
March 5, 2013 by Paul Eccleston in Romney Marsh Herald

"As I see it this scheme fails on all three counts, with all the benefits going to one person and the detrimental aspects suffered by the local people at large."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Gilead project wind turbine appeal hearings begin
March 4, 2013 in County Live

"Gillespie's opening statement outlined the reasons for the PECFN appeal of the project approval. He noted Ostrander Point was recognized by local, provincial and national and international organizations as the worst site for wind turbines and that Ostrander Point is in the middle of the PEC South Shore Important Bird Area.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Canada]

Landowners '£1 billion wind farm boom'
February 21, 2013 by Simon Johnson in The Telegraph

He suggested the wealthiest Scots are benefiting from the spread of wind farms at the expense of consumers, who have to heavily subsidise the technology in their energy bills. Among the landowners named in the book is the Duke of Roxburghe, who, he estimated, could earn £1.5 million a year from turbines erected in the Lammermuir Hills.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Tax Breaks & Subsidies| UK]

Wind turbines impact on balance and distribution of species
February 17, 2013 by Kate Ravilious in The Guardian

Extra drafts, created by swishing turbine blades, can change the weather. As well as extracting energy from the wind, wind turbines swoosh air around. Fernando Portée-Agel, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, and colleagues, investigated the impact of the extra drafts, measuring changes in temperature and humidity beneath a scale model of a wind farm, situated in a wind tunnel.

Bronte heritage put before green energy in key wind turbine ruling
February 16, 2013 by Tom Whitehead in The Telegraph

The brooding West Yorkshire countryside that inspired classics such as Wuthering Heights has been protected from plans for more turbines because of the importance of the famous sister writers. It is believed to be the first time the literary significance of an area has been put before the need for green energy.

Also filed under [ Impact on Views| UK]

Nevada Supreme Court declares wind turbine a nuisance
February 15, 2013 by Cy Ryan in Las Vegas Sun

Building a 75-foot-tall wind turbine adjacent to a quiet subdivision is a nuisance because, in part, it ruins the scenery and creates noise, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled.

Also filed under [ Nevada]

DEP tests seep near Hoosac Wind Farm turbine, finds ground water and no oil
February 12, 2013 by Phil Demers in North Adams Transcript

The concerns of a nearby resident led to four sampling tests being taken recently from a seepage near one of the Hoosac Wind Farm's turbines. The consensus says a four-foot long, one-inch deep pool of a suspicious-looking liquid is benign -- made up of groundwater, sediment and organic materials.

Also filed under [ Pollution| Massachusetts]