Dwayne Bailey has some simple advice for Gulf Shore residents fighting a proposed wind farm in their area, don't give up the fight because they may regret the consequences. Bailey recently abandoned his Elmira, P.E.I., home because noise from a nearby wind farm was becoming intolerable. It kept the family awake at night and impacted their health with headaches and vision problems. "Don't let them put up the windfarm, it's way too close to the houses. It chased us out of our house and it could happen to someone else. We didn't have much a choice and it resulted in us leaving our home," Bailey said, adding his parents also abandoned their home.

PUGWASH - The head of a citizens group fighting a proposed wind farm in the Gulf Shore area is asking the province to stop the project until its safety can be proven. "Please err on the side of caution and call a moratorium of all wind power developments that are any closer than two kilometres of a residence until independent and government research has been done to establish the safe and healthy distance from a turbine people should be living," Lisa Betts said in a letter to Premier Rodney MacDonald.

SEI, the school for renewable energy and sustainable housing technology, won approval June 4 from the Board of County Commissioners for its bid to erect a 106-foot-high tower on its year-old Paonia campus. The tower will support an electricity generating turbine with blades spanning 12 feet to be used for class instruction and to produce power for the school's use. The BoCC, sitting with commission chair Jan McCracken absent, voted 2-0 in favor of the schools proposal after hearing comments from neighbors both in support and opposition of the plan.

Hays - Jacinta Faber is just the kind of person you would picture advocating wind energy. She and her family buy organic food, recycle and even use low-flow toilets to conserve water. While Faber likes the concept of wind energy, she doesn't particularly like the idea of the almost 400-foot-tall wind turbines looming on a ridge about 2,000 feet from her house southwest of Hays. She fears there could be health repercussions from the constant noise of the low-frequency whooping sound that the spinning turbines make and the strobelike effect from the blades' shadows.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Twp. Council recently received a letter of response back from the Minister of Environment, Laurel Broten, following their meeting in February. The letter from Broten states, "The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) is involved with setback distances between wind turbines and points of reception for the purpose of compliance with the ministry's noise limits. Wind turbines require a Certificate of Approval (Noise) under section nine of the Environmental Protection Act (EP A) unless the project is specifically exempt.

Bedford Borough Council rejected the scheme saying the scale of the turbines would impact on nearby homes, historic park land and an ancient monument.

A recent report published by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has said large wind farms such as proposed here are not the way forward for New Zealand, the significant adverse impacts are avoidable by harnessing wind power using smaller clusters of small turbines servicing remote towns, and this will be better for the country. Unfortunately this report was published just after our hearing was completed.

Walkers opposed to a wind farm development in the Ochil Hills are set to take part in a protest hike. The campaigners are angry at plans to site a 13-turbine wind farm on Burnfoot Hill, near Tillicoultry. Clackmannanshire Council backed the project put forward by Edinburgh company Wind Prospect Developments in March. The council said the 102m high (334ft) turbines would not be visible from most surrounding towns.

In a report to councillors, David Rush, development control quality manager, said the decision came down to a balance between support for renewable energy and the harm a wind farm would do to the landscape. He said: "I do not consider the economic, climatic or ecological benefits accruing from the scheme outweigh the substantial harm caused by the scale of this proposal."

Mayor Herb Arbuckle and other members of the council expressed concern that land taken up by wind turbines could have detrimental effects on economic growth and development, property values because of obstructed views, noise or light pollution and possible electronic and radio interference that could affect emergency radio signals. "We've got to look 20 to 30 years down the road when we consider this," Arbuckle said. Council member Dick Jones said looking down the road, he can see the turbines harming residential property development west of town.

A proposed plan for a wind farm at the western end of Brome-Missisquoi has been modified, but the community remains divided on whether it should exist at all. Several of the 300 people who packed into Bedford's community centre Monday night called for a moratorium on windmills, or a referendum. While a number complained of a lack of transparency, others commended Groupe SM International and the municipalities on their efforts to inform the population. "The support of the municipalities and the MRC will be helpful in getting the project approved by Hydro Quebec," said Arthur Fauteux, warden of the Brome-Missisquoi MRC. He said the MRC will take a final position on the windmill issue at the end of August.

The appellants of the Enbridge Ontario Wind Power project wrapped up their portion of the turbine noise arguments at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing last week. The hearing reconvened after the holiday weekend on May 23, with testimony by meteorological and atmospheric specialist Dr. Jim Young, who sat for part of Thursday as well. He was followed by acoustic engineer John Coulter later that day, with Enbridge and the Municipality cross-examining him on Friday. Both were arguing that there will be unwanted noise impacts to local residents, if the turbines remain in their current proximity to homes; the closest of which is 450 metres.

Attorney Glen Stoddard, representing Focus on Monroe County’s Future submitted written testimony accusing the Monroe County Planning and Zoning Committee of a majority bias in favor of Invenergy at the Wilton public hearing last Thursday. The Planning and Zoning Committee has set a 9 a.m. meeting for June 5 at the Monroe County Courthouse to make a decision in granting Summit Ridge Energy a conditional use permit to build wind turbines in the town of Wilton.

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.

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

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.

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.

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,

FAIRHAVEN - While the developer that wants to erect two wind turbines on town land is offering free bus trips to see operating turbines in Hull, members of the WindWise Fairhaven group questioning the project say they are paying for a noise study. WindWise member Kenneth Pottell made the revelation last night as the Board of Selectmen discussed the issue in the wake of a wind power forum last week. "It's really important that the town does it right," Mr. Pottell said. "We're not asking for something other towns haven't done."