Agriculture Canada says it has yet to decide what to do with a noisy wind turbine in P.E.I. that was shut down less than three days after its blades started spinning because a nearby resident claimed it was making her sick. The turbine, set up to provide power to an Agriculture Canada research station north of Charlottetown, started operating in January. Department spokesman Mike Hennigar confirmed the $200,000, 30-metre turbine in Harrington was shut down less than three days later, after a woman living a few hundred metres away complained of migraine headaches.

Amaranth Township has scheduled the evening of March 3 and all day Saturday, March 4, as public meeting dates to review proposals for 23 wind-turbine sites.

The conclusion of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the Amaranth portion of the 132- megawatt Melancthon II wind farm is being scheduled for the township offices at Laurel on Feb. 27 and 28. ...At the earlier hearing, Mr. Jackson indicated his dissatisfaction with an earlier Certificate of Approval for the first of two 230 kV transformers at a time when neighbour Paul Thompson and others said they were still unhappy with the noise abatement.

PUGWASH - Opponents of a proposed wind farm on the Gulf Shore got more fuel for the fire Friday night. Mark Harris, a pastor from Bridgewater, Maine, spoke Friday night at the Ground Search and Rescue in Pugwash about how a wind farm in Mars Hill, Maine has terrorized locals. He bought property in Mars Hill roughly 1200 feet away from the turbines, but hasn't done anything with it because of how unbearable the sound and strobing from them is. "Many of the mills we have, on certain days when the wind comes from a certain direction and the humidity is such and such, it will be all but silent at 1200 feet away where my home site would be. But come back the next day and it'll pound until you can't tolerate being there and there's no predicting when that will happen," he said. He said the wind farm has wreaked havoc on the town, with many people now dealing with health complications allegedly caused by the turbines' sounds and shadows.

It was another restless night in a long string of interrupted sleep. Amaranth's Leo Mendonca didn't feel quite right, like something was wrong, but he didn't know what, or why. When he got out of bed, he was struck by a wave of nausea. ...Thinking some fresh air may do the trick, he headed out to the garden. There, he looked up and saw what he now believes is the source of his troubles ... an industrial-sized wind turbine about 600 metres away, and many more within sight.

Windmills, and wind turbines, are harmless. Or are they? Centuries after Quixote's fictional fight, the question of wind-power safety is at the centre of a battle between homeowners and an energy firm 150 km southeast of Calgary, where hundreds of wind turbines are planned. Two farmers living close to the Blackspring Ridge Wind Project say they are worried about long-term health impacts -- something the company, Greengate, says has no basis in fact.

A father of six children in Pubnico Point, Nova Scotia said he and his family had to move from their home earlier this year because of health problems from nearby wind turbines. Daniel d’Entremont and his family moved out of their house in February 2006, and moved in with d’Entremont’s in-laws about half an hour away. He said there are 17 turbines near his property. The fisherman personally sent the accompanying pictures on this Web page to illustrate the proximity of the turbines to his home. He said the turbines were installed and running by February 2005. D’entremont said everyone in his family had trouble sleeping once the turbines began operating. He said he’d sleep four hours, and then a “hum” or “vibration” feeling inside of him would wake him up.

Experts agree that LFN, at sufficient levels, may be a health concern for those who are sensitive to its effects. The effects of inaudible levels of LFN have not been sufficiently studied to date to rule out the possibility of health effects, but commentators have weighed in on each side of the debate. Setbacks and noise surveys are common requirements imposed on new wind farm developments, in part to minimize the risk of wind turbines causing health effects on local residents.

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.

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.

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.

P.E.I. has hired a consultant to review the level of noise coming from wind turbines at the new Eastern Kings Wind Farm. Some people living in the area complain the noise is keeping them up at night. One resident says he may move if the noise problem continues. “We’re going to have monitors set up right at the wind farm, another monitor probably halfway between the wind farm and the individual’s house and then we’ll have the third one at the individual’s house — outside,” Environment Minister Jamie Ballem told CBC News Wednesday. “We’ve also asked the people to record or keep a diary. So that way we can find out if it’s wind conditions, are the turbines even turning, which direction is the wind, so we can really narrow down what the issue is here.” The government has hired the consulting firm of Jacques Whitford to do the study. The final report will be presented to the government in a few weeks with any recommendations for change.

In March 2007, the [Ministry of the Environment] MOE initiated a review of its noise policy for wind turbines. To support the review, the ministry retained a noise expert to review recent findings relating to noise impacts, including a 2006 dissertation by Van den Berg. Attendees at this first session on Oct. 15 in Toronto will hear the first draft findings, as well as ask questions and offer feedback on the draft.

Ontario officials aren't receptive to a councillor's call for the province to halt new wind farms for 18 months until a study can assess whether the green-energy installations pose health risks. Rideau-Goulbourn Councillor Glenn Brooks was going to ask council to direct the city's chief medical officer of health to do the study, but the officer says it would be too expensive and time-consuming for his office.

A Yarmouth County couple who claim they were driven from their home by one of their neighbours - in this case a giant electricity-generating wind turbine - are now out shopping for support. Daniel d'Entremont and his wife Carolyn spent about nine hours behind an information table they set up in the Yarmouth Mall one day last week in an effort to publicize their plight. ...Wind turbines produce a thumping, pulsating kind of noise that is more audible at night, Dr. Pierpont said in a study dated March 2, 2006. "The noise is louder at night because of the contrast between the still, cool air at ground level and the steady stream of wind at the level of the tur bine hubs," she wrote.

There's no scientific proof wind turbines make disturbing levels of noise and, although more study is needed, Ontario's guidelines are sound, a long-awaited consultant's report for the ministry of the environment says. The report by Ryerson prof Dr. Ramani Ramakrishnan was finished in December 2007 but was only posted on the government's Environmental Registry website on Monday.

A few studies will proceed immediately to see if wind turbines are appropriate for Caledon. The studies Caledon council wants undertaken are for setback, noise and flicker effects. The results will be brought back to a public meeting. Councillors spent more than three hours on the issue at last Tuesday's meeting. They heard presentations from concerned residents living near a potential wind project site, as well as a representative from Windy Hills Caledon Renewable Energy.

The large house in Lower West Pubnico is now empty and abandoned, d'Entremont says, because inaudible sound from the 17-turbine wind farm made his family sick.

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.

The managing director of the company behind two Oxford County wind farm proposals suggested the speakers at a recent "Wind Energy Information Night" overstated the alleged health risks of industrial wind turbines. Bart Geleynse of Prowind Canada Inc. said the speakers at the Hickson Central Public School meeting were claiming a causal relationship between wind turbines and health risks without any compelling evidence. ...Both David Colling, an electrical pollution consultant, and retired pharmacist Carmen Krogh were adamant about the link between wind turbines and a number of adverse symptoms, including dizziness, nausea, headaches and tinnitus.