Doug Ewert also spoke with emotion. Ewert is owner of ETek Group Inc., and expressed concern at the concept of placing tall structures so close to residential homes. "I'm a company owner, I build communication towers," Ewert said in a voice thick with emotion. "I know what these things are about. I know that they're dangerous." Last winter's ice storm ripped down several communication towers in northwest Kansas, and left Ewert picking up debris from communication equipment scattered 2 miles away, he said. "In not one location that I've ever put a (400-foot-tall) tower would I put a tower next to a residential community," Ewert said. "It's amazing that this is even being evaluated for that area because of the community that's there. That community should be protected by Ellis County.

A steel cylinder weighing more than a herd of elephants tumbled off a truck here Thursday and snarled traffic all day, prompting state officials to halt all such future shipments. Bound for a wind farm in Iowa, the 55-foot section of windmill fell onto the road shortly before 10 a.m. as startled onlookers watched in the center of the village's downtown business district. The colossal cargo came to a rest at Main St. and Appleton Ave., both state highways, where it blocked traffic throughout the day until about 9:25 p.m. and left downtown merchants cut off from their customers.

Marshland St James is an isolated, functional, centre-less village, little more than a ribbon of houses along a country road surrounded by farms. In the far west of Norfolk, close to the borders with Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, it is a place that locals describe as "bandit country". It is not a place you expect an issue of national importance to find its focus. But on Monday, just a few days before the government released its white paper on energy, a local farmer was found dead in a drainage canal close to his home. A statement from his family linked his death to a battle over wind farms that has torn the village apart.

Most in the neighborhood are uneasy about the turbines - and the issue took the forefront in town politics when attorney Ann Ponichetera DeNardis ran for the Board of Selectmen. Led by Mrs. DeNardis, neighbors signed a five-page petition asking Town Meeting to vote the proposal down last Tuesday. A raucous Town Meeting decided otherwise, supporting the renewable energy project seen by most as a benign way to help the town's economy and the environment. But negative feelings run high.

IKATA, Ehime Prefecture - Though wind turbines offer the exciting promise of a clean source of energy, they also create another form of pollution - noise. Residents here have complained that noise from newly installed wind turbines perched atop a ridge of the Sadamisaki Peninsula has been rattling their homes and plaguing them with sleepless nights.

The Ontario Municipal Board wrapping up the second week of hearings into the Enbridge Wind Farm project in Kincardine.

FAIRHAVEN - WindWise Fairhaven has released a video about the adverse noise and flicker impacts of the Hull wind turbines, but the proponents of a similar project in Fairhaven have released studies showing impacts will be acceptable locally.

Plans to build a windfarm on the moors above Littleborough have suffered a setback. An application for the five turbines located just over the border in Yorkshire has been recommended for refusal by Todmorden Town Council. Coronation Power hopes to build a total of 12 125m turbines at Crook Hill, seven of which are located in Rochdale. Councillors recommended refusal because they felt the windfarm would damage the moorland, affect walkers, horse riders and cyclists and destroy peat bogs.

Appalachian states lack strong and detailed guidelines to regulate the continued growth of wind power facilities along the Mid-Atlantic highlands, according to a new study by the National Academy of Sciences. A team of academy experts concluded that wind power can help offset the greenhouse emissions caused by coal and other fossil-fuel energy sources, but the projected growth of wind power in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania creates potential threats to bird and bat populations that are not fully understood, the academy study found. Windmill "farms" also can cause other environmental problems and create legitimate aesthetic concerns for local communities - ranging from damage to scenic vistas to noise and "shadow flicker," a strobe-like effect created by rotating turbines, the report found. "The United States is in the early stages of learning how to plan for and regulate wind-energy facilities," says the report, compiled by the National Academy's National Research Council. The report said the cumulative effects of continued growth in wind power are unclear, and that further study is needed.

State regulators indicated Wednesday that they plan to pay closer attention to potential noise levels generated by wind farms proposed within the Unorganized Territory. Members of the Land Use Regulation Commission said the state should learn from the noise concerns that have arisen since a wind farm in the Aroostook County town of Mars Hill became operational earlier this year.

Throughout the lengthy debate, the couple remained on the fence and were largely untroubled about the prospect of having a wind farm practically on their doorstep. But for the past eight months, Julian and Jane say the repetitive thumping of air and humming of electric has blown away their peace. "It's very hard to describe how I'm feeling after nearly a year of living next to the turbines," says Mr Davis, 42. "The biggest problem is the low frequency noise these things produce. "It is not immediately noticeable, but once you hear it and feel the vibration, it begins to drive you mad. "It's just that little bit faster than the noise of a heartbeat, so your body is constantly racing to catch up. We've had friends who come to stay with us who don't notice the noise and vibration at first, and think we're exaggerating. "It's only after a couple of days that it becomes a constant irritation which you just can't shake off.

Wind power companies offering farmers lucrative contracts for turbine sites are driving a wedge between some country communities as neighbours are forced to "pay up or put up" with noise disruption and possible health problems. Three farmers involved with new wind farms told Rural News that power company negotiators tell farmers there will be no potential noise or health problems from turbines, in spite of contrary evidence from international researchers. One farmer says he signed up for 14 turbines, to earn $140,000 per year for 40 years, after being told by the power company that the turbines would be "ecofriendly". Now he thinks he should have done more research.

Executive director of the RTÉ Transmission Network Mick Kehoe has claimed some wind farm developers were completely ignoring the impact they could have. Continuing problems with reception are being reported in areas such as Rockchapel, Co Cork, and Kilgarvan, Co Kerry. Mr Kehoe called for a coordinated approach to the problem by the planning departments of Cork and Kerry county councils. Siobhan Griffin, of the Kerry County Community and Voluntary Forum, said some of the areas affected by poor reception had large numbers of older people for whom television services were very important.

The Environment Court has ruled in favour of Maori spiritual values over an energy company's bid to erect dozens of wind turbines on a Hawke's Bay mountain range. The court said the 37 turbines would go against Maori spiritual values, including the site's history, water and sacred areas. Judge Craig Thompson said it was impossible not to absorb some of the depth of emotion expressed about the attachment of people to the area. Such rulings have in the past been subject to ridicule from business developers and politicians.

The decision-making process has begun on the Motorimu wind farm proposal, but the hearing has not yet been declared closed. Motorimu Wind Farm Ltd has applied for consent to place 127 wind turbines in the Tararua foothills on the border of Horowhenua and Palmerston North. While the public is excluded from this part of proceedings, chairwoman Dinah Williams has given an update on their progress. "We still haven't closed the hearing. We sought further clarification from the noise experts."

The Maori Party has today welcomed the findings of the Environment Court in ruling against the erection of 37 turbines along Te Waka Range skyline on the Napier-Taupo Road. "The site of the Te Waka -Titiohanga-Maungaharuru range is a distinctive feature of the Hawkes Bay" said Maori Party Co-leader, Dr Pita Sharples. "It creates an unique skyline which has great value as a landform, as a recreation resource, and a milestone landmark".

A woman forced to rent a second home to sleep in after being kept awake by noise from wind turbines will speak at an event in Angus organised by a windfarm protest group. Jane Davis claims she has been unable to get a good night's rest since eight turbines were erected half a mile from her farm in rural Lincolnshire. Mrs Davis, who has spoken on Radio 4 and GMTV about the problem, will talk about her experiences tomorrow at a meeting organised by Friends of the Forest, a group opposed to plans for windfarms at Montreathmont Forest, near Brechin, and Rossie Moor, near Montrose.

A family who live in the shadow of a wind farm in Lincolnshire say they have "lost everything" just because of the noise it makes. Farmer Julian Davis, his wife Jane and their teenage daughter have already had to rent a separate house to sleep in because they are kept awake by the sound of the eight turbines. They claim their home, formerly worth £170,000, cannot be sold because it is so blighted by noise pollution but they may abandon it anyway. http://www.windaction.org/documents/7337

The majority of people living near wind turbines believe that the noise they make is ruining their health and quality of life, a report has revealed. Neighbours also claim that the constant hum and the loud "whooshing" sound made by the blades in high winds is destroying the value of their homes. A survey of people whose homes are situated within 1.2 miles of turbines has shown that three-quarters of them feel that the noise has damaged their quality of life while four out of five say it has affected their health.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township council is sending a letter to the Ministry of Environment asking for an immediate response to a report on the affects of noise from wind turbines. At council's March 20 meeting, Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek said the township still has not received a response back from Minister Laurel Broten who they met while attending a conference in Toronto in late February. Coun. Doug Miller said it was the minister, herself, who said the ministry would respond to their questions and a report by Dr. Vandenberg,