Before the turbines have been fully placed online, the first noise and shadow flicker complaint was brought before the Cohocton Town Board Tuesday night by David Hunt of Kirkwood Road. Hunt complained that the noise of the turbines, which he said has a constant high-pitched sound like a train whistle, an occasional roar and a loud whooshing sound, has regularly kept him awake at night since the blades started spinning in August.

Murphy said one of the major concerns of residents was noise. He said the city has now modified its plans to bring the noise level below 45 decibels - a standard that will address the noise issue. Residents were also concerned about the closeness of the turbines to property lines. Murphy said the setback requirements go hand in hand with noise levels so by reducing the noise levels generated by the turbines, the structures can remain located as planned.

The residents of North Gower who crowded into a small community hall to hear about the wind farm proposed for their backyard know the time for green power has come, but that didn't stop worries about the impact of giant turbines on their health and property values. ...Many of the 300 who filed through the three-hour information session supported the idea of moving to more renewable fuels, but questioned how the sight and sound of the turbines would affect them and drive down the value of their properties.

New documents filed in an ongoing civil lawsuit by a Portage-area couple against the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm say that wind energy experts duped local officials into believing the turbine sound was insignificant. Todd and Jill Stull of the Blue Knob area say that developer Gamesa Energy USA and owner Babcock & Brown misled local officials by supporting development of an ordinance addressing higher noise levels.

Scott Rueter is fed up with the wind turbines that are near his home and with the company that owns them. Rueter, who was scheduled to voice his complaints to the board of supervisors at their last meeting but canceled because of illness, spent about an hour with the board on Tuesday. He said that the noise from the 2.5 megawatt turbines which are located near his home just east of Harris is overwhelming.

Blair County Judge Daniel Milliron on Friday dismissed the counts against Gamesa, which made and installed the turbines, but left intact the lawsuit against Allegheny Ridge because he believes the complaints deal with operational problems. Allegheny Ridge operates the wind farm.

A local doctor and his wife have filed a lawsuit against the operator of a nearby wind farm saying they are losing sleep from the the constant ''whooshing'' and ''screeching'' caused by the wind turbines. Blair County Judge Daniel J. Milliron on Friday concluded his initial review of the lawsuit brought by Todd and Jill Stull of Portage RD, Blair County. Milliron kept the lawsuit largely intact although he dismissed several counts of the legal complaint including one that charged Gamesa Energy and its subsidiary, Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm LLC, with creating a public nuisance.

When the state of Michigan commissioned recommendations to help formulate wind energy policies, acoustic expert Rick James saw two problems with the commission. The commission lacked both the expertise of an acoustic engineer and a medical doctor. Without these two perspectives, a major concern of wind turbines - their potential physical side effects due to the sounds they emitted - were overlooked.

Jill Stull from Portage says her life and farm have turned upside down ever since some unwelcome neighbors moved in 2006. "We want the noise to stop. I want my husband to be able to sleep in our home," Stull said. The noise she's referring to is from the six turbines surrounding her 100-acre farm. At least once a week, Stull says she can hear and feel the turbines humming, and it's a sensation she says comes at irregular intervals.

The town wind law committee created to produce a zoning amendment to deal with wind farms added a sound measurement protocol and changed setbacks from roads during its meeting Thursday afternoon. The sound protocol came from recommendations from the acoustical engineering firm Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., based on a wind development zoning law written for the Association of Towns and rules for noise studies written by Cape Vincent resident Clifford P. Schneider.

Opponents of a proposed four-turbine wind farm in North St. Eleanors have received the support of the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island to delay the project pending a health investigation. In a letter to the city's mayor and council, long-time Summerside physician Paul Kelly made formal application to city officials that they delay the project calling for four wind turbines on the former landfill site in St. Eleanors. ..."The Medical Society of Prince Edward Island has been asked to address the issue of setback distances associated with wind turbines," he said.

Andrew Randall lives in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, with his pregnant partner Rachel Barford and one-year-old daughter Aimee, just 100 yards from the towering machine. He said the constant noise from the turning blades is causing sleepless nights and stress for Rachel, who is four months pregnant. Mr Randall (23) said: "Rachel's stressed all the time and she can't cope with the lack of sleep. I'm concerned about the health of the baby. ..."We've got a hot tub in the back garden, but it's a waste because we can't go out there, it's just too noisy."

Construction of the 35 windmills in the second phase of what will be one of Pennsylvania's largest wind farms is completed and should be in operation before the end of the year, an official with Gamesa Energy USA said. News of the anticipated startup comes as sound experts working on behalf of Portage Township completed the study setting the level of the existing - ambient - noise at and near North Allegheny Wind Farm, which is adding nine turbines to the skyline in the Blue Knob area of the township.

Wind energy is the latest rage in going green and in shifting the United States away from fossil-based energy supplies. And more wind turbines are coming to Oregon. It is even required by law. But with giant wind turbines now looming nearby, the Eaton's fear the rapid move to clean energy will come at the expense of their health. The problem is something called "Wind Turbine Syndrome."

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.

[T]here are some negatives associated with the increasingly popular form of alternative energy, according to a University of New Hampshire expert. But the cons - mainly noise and vibrations from the rotating turbines - are generally things people can live with, UNH assistant professor of geography Mary Lemcke said. In South Berwick, a 300-foot-high ridge across from Marshwood High School is being eyed as a possible location for a wind farm. A Cape Neddick-based alternative energy company is conducting a yearlong wind study there with the hopes a wind farm would be viable. For Wisconsin resident Gerry Meyer, however, the sound of five 400-foot-tall wind turbines located within three quarters of a mile of his home is simply unbearable.

As the government of P.E.I. prepares plans to triple wind-power generation on the Island, grassroots opposition to the developments is growing. Many of those wind turbines are planned for West Prince, the area that currently has the largest wind energy production in the province. Monday night, about two dozen West Prince residents gathered to discuss strategies for lobbying the province to take more care about where the turbines are placed.

A delegation of concerned citizens is asking the city of Summerside, P.E.I., to reconsider plans for a new wind farm development. Spokesman Keith Tanton says there are too many questions about health and property issues for the plan to go ahead in its present form.

Nova Scotia's environment minister wants more information about a proposed $150-million wind farm in Pictou County before he will give it the go-ahead. Mark Parent sent a letter last week to Shear Wind, developer of the Glen Dhu wind farm near Merigomish, Pictou County, asking for details on the proximity of the wind turbines to nearby homes and the anticipated noise levels. "During the review, many local residents expressed concern about the potential for noise from the wind farm," Mr. Parent wrote last Wednesday in a two-page letter to Ian Tillard, Shear Wind's chief operating officer.

Headaches, disrupted equilibrium and inner-ear ringing are typical symptoms of a night on the town. But they may be the result of a night spent at home-if you live near high-powered wind turbines, according to a study by Dr. Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician. Pierpont's book "Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural Experiment"-due out this fall-details the adverse health effects of wind turbines. Her report is based on a study of 10 families living near turbines in Canada, England, Ireland, Italy and the United States.