www.windaction.org | Impact on Landscape

Groups lined up to intervene on Bowers Mountain proposal
February 12, 2013 by Nick Sambides Jr. in Bangor Daily News

Three groups and a professional guide will get to cross examine First Wind officials who want to build an industrial wind site on Bowers Mountain when the state's top environmental agency reviews the proposal in late April or early May, officials said Monday.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Maine]

Hoosac Wind Neighbors Complain of Turbine Noise
February 12, 2013 by Tammy Daniels in iBerkshires

Berne said the amplitude of the noise depends on the strength of the wind and its direction The wildlife has disappeared around his home, he said, and the humming and strobe-light effect of the blades wakes his grandchildren. ..."You just can't get away from them, they're constantly going," said Rosalyn Mullette, 75. "We're concerned about the future and being able to stay in this home."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Massachusetts]

Action group seeks regulations on wind turbines
February 11, 2013 in Berwickshire News

Action groups from across the Borders - and both East and West Lothian - have called for the current guideline of a minimum of 2km between wind turbines and homes and businesses to be made compulsory to mitigate the impact of wind farms on people's welfare.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Plans for wind turbine in beauty spot spark concern
February 9, 2013 in Northumberland Gazette

Coun Steven Bridgett, ward member for the area, said: "Having read the documents relating to this application and spoken to local residents, I will be objecting. The turbine is on a commercial scale and is the largest to have been proposed for the Coquet Valley."

Also filed under [ UK]

Campaigners' bitter disappointment over Mynydd y Gwair approval
February 9, 2013 by Liz Perkins in South Wales Evening Post

Opportunities might arise in the future to challenge the scheme as planning permission was sought for various stages of development. "At the moment we have to regroup and we will have to decide what we intend doing," he said.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Thousands of wind turbines to go up as subsidies cut
February 9, 2013 by Louise Gray in The Telegraph

"The UK's wind power deployment on and offshore is way ahead of the learning curve, and needs to slow down to a rational pace to avoid insupportable burdens on the consumer and the risk of major malinvestment the unwinding of which will be painful and embarrassing."

Also filed under [ Tax Breaks & Subsidies| UK]

Clarington riding school wants to buck wind farm
February 6, 2013 by Jennifer O'Meara in Durham Region

If industrial wind turbines start turning in Clarington, it's just a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt, predicts Barb King, who runs an equestrian school in Kendal and is concerned that proposed turbines are going to spook the horses and hurt a rider.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Canada]

Council to send strong message against wind turbine project
February 6, 2013 by Mary Riley in MyKawartha

Staff recommended that council ask the Province to refuse wpd Canada's application. Director of planning and engineering Ron Taylor clarified that energy companies apply to the Province under a provincial process; council does not approve the application, but may express concerns. A municipal council may offer support for an application, or ask the Province to refuse it.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Canada]

Turbine case in hands of judge
February 5, 2013 by Sean Teehan in Cape Cod Times

In the suit, six plaintiffs - all Falmouth residents who live near two turbines at the wastewater treatment facility on Blacksmith Shop Road - are challenging a 2011 ruling by the town's zoning board of appeals that affirmed building commissioner Eladio Gore's approval of the turbine without a special permit.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Massachusetts]

Wind farms could become 'monuments of a failed civilisation', top environmentalist claims
February 4, 2013 by Hayley Dixon in The Telegraph

"We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Wind taken out turbine plans amid concerns for the natural landscape
February 3, 2013 in Boston Standard

At an East Lindsey planning committee meeting, members voted unanimously to refuse an application for four turbines on farmland, from RWE npower Renewables Ltd. "If this went ahead, it would have a devastating impact on the landscape," said, Coun Terry Knowles.

Also filed under [ UK]

MP backs fight against Poppleton wind turbine
February 3, 2013 by Mark Stead in The Press

"Due to the size and scale of the proposed turbine, and being located only 300 metres from housing, my constituents believe this will have a detrimental impact on their residential amenity. The potential noise levels could also have important implications on their health and wellbeing."

Also filed under [ Impact on People| UK]

Solar development absorbing California farmland
February 2, 2013 by Tracie Cone in Associated Press

New applications for projects keep arriving. Developers are flocking to flat farmland near power transmission lines, but agriculture interests, environmental groups and even the state are concerned that there is no official accounting of how much of this important agricultural region's farmland is being taken out of production.

Also filed under [ California]

Battle lines drawn in Boulevard to fight massive energy projects
January 28, 2013 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine

Ocotillo's project also changed the hydrology of the desert to cause erosion and flooding. "Construction was an absolute nightmare," he added, citing dust storms, noise and floodlights all night long shining in his windows. When he complained, lights were directed at him even from places where no work was occurring, an action he suspects was malicious.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| California]

New western Maryland wind energy project in works
January 27, 2013 by Timothy B. Wheeler in The Baltimore Sun

The proposal is renewing concerns raised by some western Maryland resident about the state's first two wind projects, in particular the towering windmills' proximity to homes and their potential to kill birds and bats, including one listed as endangered in Maryland. Some also worry that construction of this project could clear a large swath of forest and harm the nearby Savage River, one of Maryland's premier trout streams.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Impact on People| Maryland]

Ban on large wind turbines on Hampshire County Council owned land causes storm
January 25, 2013 by Jeff Travis in The News

Leaders at Hampshire County Council, which owns around 21,000 acres, have ruled that they will not support big wind energy developments on their land. They say turbines could have a ‘very significant impact in terms of visual intrusion, urbanisation, damage to historic character and to tranquillity'.

Also filed under [ UK]

Wind turbines cause concern; Some worry about effect on tourism, birds
January 21, 2013 by James Proffitt in Port Clinton News Herald

"The role we've been involved in is the wildlife effects in this region," said Mark Shieldcastle, research director for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Carroll Township. He called land within three miles of the Lake Erie shore in Ottawa County some of the richest concentration sites of migratory birds in the nation.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| Ohio]

Natives protesting at wind turbine sites
January 16, 2013 by Monte Sonnenberg in Simcoe Reformer

As many as 30 natives in a convoy - some wearing traditional garb and waving native flags - interrupted work at several turbine and substation construction sites. ...Josie Hernandez, spokesperson for NextEra, confirmed that the protest was motivated in part by her company's removal of an eagle's nest near Fisherville two weeks ago.

Also filed under [ Impact on Wildlife| Impact on People| Canada]

The conversion of a pro-wind lawyer
January 13, 2013 in Stop These Things

"There wasn't much evidence around but I was struck by the countryside. The more we drove around on inspection the more convinced I was the turbines would have an impact. "I went past some time later when they were under construction and I was absolutely horrified to see the towers going up. They didn't have their nacelles (hubs) or blades on at that stage but I thought ‘what have I done to these people.'"

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

The betrayal of Boulevard: Can this happen to your town, too?
January 11, 2013 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine

Iberdrola, developer of Tule Wind, successfully fought to remove significant protections in Boulevard's Community Plan during the County's General Plan Update--changes that made it easier to build massive energy projects. Supervisors approved those changes in August 2011, tossing out years of planning by Boulevard residents. Those changes appall the vast majority of those who live in this quiet rural community.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| California]