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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 La Porte County Board of Zoning Appeals approved the request of La Crosse Farms Wind Project LLC to install the second tower at a meeting Tuesday night.
The towers will collect data over the next few years to see if the area would support a wind turbine farm.
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.
Planners at Cannock Chase Council have had to fork out the cash for a report about the noise impact the three proposed turbines for Bleak House open cast mine site would have. The decision on the application for the site between Heath Hayes and Chase Terrace has now been delayed until next year because the noise consultants require more information from Harworth Power.
Local laws leave wind farms out to pasture
November 20, 2008 by Sean Ryan and Paul Snyder in Daily Reporter
November 20, 2008 by Sean Ryan and Paul Snyder in Daily Reporter
Lawmakers will rally again for statewide regulations on wind farm development in the upcoming legislative session, and, if the standards pass, local regulation could be a thing of the past.
"We will push for the (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin) to create uniform standards and regulation of wind energy for all projects," said Curt Pawlisch, an attorney with Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP, Madison. Pawlisch is revising wind farm standards that failed to get out of legislative committees last session.
"I wouldn't say local regulations would be for naught," he said, "but the PSC would determine what works and what doesn't."
Medical Society seeks delay in wind farm for health investigation
November 19, 2008 by MIke Carson in The Guardian
November 19, 2008 by MIke Carson in The Guardian
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."
Heartland Wind LLC will lease land from the city and Glen Stalsberg on a 1,300-foot elevated ridge on the west edge of the city ...As part of the agreement, the city of Westby and the Stalsbergs will not be allowed to plant trees or construct buildings on the leased property because they could interfere with wind flow.
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."
On November 13, the Union town board unanimously voted to adopt regulations governing noise limits and setbacks pertaining to industrial scale wind turbines.
With this vote, the board brought to a close a controversial issue involving the safe placement of industrial turbines within the town of Union. The vote comes just months before the expected intense political wrangling by some members of the State legislature who seek to assign all wind siting authority to the Public Service Commission, leaving local governments out of the process.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning|
Wisconsin]
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.
Filling what it argues is a void in the state's vetting of wind-power projects, the town of Union is marking its turf with a proposed ordinance essentially outlawing such projects.
"I think the state of Wisconsin has shown it's going to do what (wind-farm development) companies want," said Tom Alisankus, Union municipal judge and resident. "I think they look at these big wind-farm projects and just hope there won't be enough resistance at the local level to slow them down.
"But I think they'll find there's fight in some of these places, and Union is one of them."
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning|
Wisconsin]
Members of the committee formed to produce a zoning amendment to deal with wind farms want specifics.
During a meeting Thursday afternoon, the committee agreed to ask the acoustical engineering firm Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., to evaluate the noise-measuring methods in different laws. That firm panned Hessler Associates' ambient noise study in BP Alternative Energy's draft environmental impact statement for the Cape Vincent Wind Farm.
"My request would be that these documents should be sent to Cavanaugh and Tocci for their review," said Richard Macsherry, Tibbetts Point.
The Town of Union Plan Commission unanimously approved a recommendation for an ordinance regulating wind turbines Thursday. ...Plan commission member Doug Zweizig expects the board to take action on the ordinance after the hearing.
The ordinance prohibits construction of turbines within a half mile of occupied structures, Zweizig said. The setback may be reduced to 1,000 feet with permission from property owners or neighbors, he said.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning|
Wisconsin]
We Energies submits application for Columbia County wind project
October 27, 2008 in International Business Times
October 27, 2008 in International Business Times
We Energies filed an application today with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) for authorization tobuild the Glacier Hills Wind Park. The proposed wind park would be located in the towns of Randolph and Scott in northeast Columbia County -- approximately 45 miles northeast of Madison.
Current plans call for the project to consist of up to 90 wind turbines that would generate as much as 207 megawatts of electricity.
Invenergy, one of the large wind energy firms proposing to erect large windmills in the area, is bypassing the town and the ordinance it enacted to regulate wind farms.
Morrison town zoning administrator Joy Koomen said Invenergy is seeking permits from the state rather than going through the town. ..."I am not happy," town chairman Todd Christensen said.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning|
Wisconsin]
The turbine turmoil: South Berwick residents, officials discuss pros and cons of wind energy
October 23, 2008 by Jason Claffey in Fosters Daily Democrat
October 23, 2008 by Jason Claffey in Fosters Daily Democrat
[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.
Group of concerned citizens opposed to Summerside, P.E.I., wind farm proposal
October 21, 2008 in Amherst Daily
October 21, 2008 in Amherst Daily
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.