Three months after the Ripley Wind Farm went online in December, 2007, Dave Colling's phone started ringing. Three of his neighbours were seeing doctors about recurring ear aches. They knew Colling, a former dairy farmer who lives within two kilometres of the turbines near the southern Bruce County community, had an interest in and could test for what he calls "electrical pollution." "It's like living inside a microwave. It radiates," Colling told more than 100 people Tuesday night in Keady.

A long-running campaign to build a wind turbine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn has been dealt another blow by councillors. The latest application to build an 80m turbine in the hospital grounds has been refused by West Norfolk's development control board ...This is the second planning application for the turbine which has been turned down.

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health directors are asking the recently launched Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion to investigate the effects of wind turbines. "We have written our letter specifically recommending that they consider large population-based health studies," medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer said yesterday. ...Increasingly, municipalities want higher levels of government to set standards and probe health concerns like noise and electromagnetic disturbances.

Bill Fish wants the Municipality of Chatham-Kent to investigate homemade windmills after his neighbour's device came crashing through his roof during yesterday's high winds. He was shocked awake around 3 a.m. when an eight-foot-long wooden blade penetrated the roof, before piercing through the ceiling and wall in a sewing room of his Dufferin Avenue home, located outside of Wallaceburg in Chatham Township.

According to Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., three to four barrels of diesel fuel were spilled around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fuel was being transferred between tanks on Sea Hound, a vessel operated by Nadro Marine Services Ltd., a contractor based in Port Drove, Ontario. Nadro Marine has been transporting wind turbines from Ogdensburg for the 86-turbine Wolfe Island Wind Project. ...Mark O. Mattson, president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, an environmental advocacy group based in Toronto, finds the incident ironic. "It's a bit of a shock. The whole purpose of the wind power project was to help the environment," he said.

[W]ind farm neighbors are worried, however, about the safety of the turbines, which can leak chemicals if they aren't maintained properly. Those who live in the hills say it happens, and they are worried that the chemicals could leak into their watershed. Bill Cunningham says he has contacted Horizon Wind Energy, and they have been extremely cooperative. He says they hired a private research company to study the wind turbines, and found they indeed were leaking. Although the company says it wasn't a large enough amount to be concerned with, they still hired private crews to clean up. Now, with more turbines being erected, locals continue to worry about future maintenance.

Although the 400-foot turbines can sometimes delay air medical rescues, emergency personnel are trained to cope artfully with such situations, said Claire Rayford, spokesperson for Flight for Life ...The pilot decides what is safe and makes a decision based on many different factors at the time of the incident, Rayford said.

Forty pages of health and safety information surrounding the proposed wind turbine project in town may never have been created had it not been for some anxious residents. Ron Pitt, chairman for the health and safety subcommittee that researched and wrote the report, said interested and concerned residents, including members of the group Citizens Wind Watch, should be credited for pushing forward the process of learning more about wind turbines and the issues that surround them. ...Mr. Russo said the recent health and safety report spelled a certain end to the likelihood the turbine would be constructed at the high school.

It's a plan, not everyone is thrilled about. On a stretch of land, just southwest of Fond du Lac, Curt Kindschuh lives near a windmill farm. It's an area where Flight for Life and Theda Star say landing could be extremely tough, and that's why pilots are being told to avoid it, even if there's an emergency.

The modern windmills may create clean energy but they are a clear and present danger to air ambulances. Milwaukee-based Flight for Life has notified first responders in Fond du Lac County that air ambulances will not land near the windmill clusters here. "They are up in the air," said Flight for Life's Claire Rayford. "We have to be aware of them. Depending on how high they are, they may not be lit."

The lives of young pilots based in Shropshire could be put at risk if controversial plans to build a wind farm get the go ahead, north Shropshire's MP has warned. Owen Paterson MP has written to defence secretary Des Browne calling on him to support objections to the proposed wind farm at Norton-in-Hales, near Market Drayton. In his letter, Mr Paterson expresses concern that the lives of young pilots based at RAF Shawbury could be put at risk by "unnecessary extra dangers" on what is already a demanding course.

The issue of wind turbines in Chatham-Kent continues to linger. Council put off the issue of setbacks at its May 5 meeting and asked the health unit for more information about the devices. Council has already approved a wind turbine project in the Port Alma area, but is looking to establish a policy in anticipation of future applications for turbines. The municipality has the potential to be host to 250 turbines.

NATIONAL security could be compromised by more wind turbines in the Swaffham area, but councillors have been recommended to grant permission. The Ministry of Defence warns the six new giant turbines would have "an unacceptable impact upon the air traffic control radar at RAF Marham and Lakenheath and also against the air defence radar at Trimingham". But Breckland councillors could give the go-ahead on Monday for the turbines to be built on an open farmland site between the A1065 Castleacre Road and Sporle Road in Swaffham and Sporle.

A contentious plan to build four towering wind turbines by a Norfolk coastal village has gone back to the drawing board to address strong fears over the impact of the structures on the countryside. SLP Energy has withdrawn its application to build the 125m high turbines at Hemsby, near Yarmouth, because it says it needs more time to revise its scheme to overcome a swathe of objections from residents, councils, the Ministry of Defence(MOD) and countryside groups. Concerns were raised that the turbines would loom over the village's skyline and blight its appearance and be detrimental to a nearby Site of Special Scientific Interest. Objections were also submitted by the MOD, which said the turbines would interfere with radar at RAF Trimingham and residents said they were worried the proposed site would hamper television signals.

At the heart of Halgren's complaint are a series of safety setbacks discussed by the PSC report, as well as several international organizations. One of those groups is the Word Bank. Halgren said international standards call for greater setback distances from roads and houses than those being used by NedPower and Shell WindEnergy. He claimed these standards were not included in the project's state permit because they were unknown to the PSC staff at the time. According to Halgren, international standards call for setbacks ranging upwards to 1,025 feet. In contrast, he said six turbine sites along Grassy Ridge Road are located from 123-323 feet from the pavement, and within 500 feet of homes. Halgren said the PSC staff favors an 820-foot setback between turbine towers and homes.

A popular skydiving site has been saved from the threat of closure after planners unanimously voted against a bid to build a wind farm. Peterlee Parachute Centre, at Shotton Airfield, feared it would have to put a stop to jumps if the go-head was given to install two 111metre-high turbines at Edder Acres Farm. ...All nine of the members on District of Easington Council's development control committee agreed with officer recommendations the application from A7 Energy should be refused because of the impact it would have on the centre.

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.

...a 350-foot wind turbine may be too much of a good thing for Mountain Hill Road residents. ...The planning board made its decision Monday night, despite stiff opposition from neighborhood residents who packed town hall to protest the plan. ‘‘It's not that we're against wind energy, but the drop zone for one of the turbines would be within 85 to 200 feet of our neighbors,'' Mountain Hill Road resident William Gould said. ‘‘These things are monstrous, and they are right on top of our neighborhood. The impact would be devastating. ‘‘The bylaw says five acres and wind is enough for a turbine. If this is approved, what neighborhood is next?''

John Rancich's proposed wind farm and set-back requirements have become issues of public interest at several town board and planning board meetings ...The wind debate in Enfield has primarily centered on the distance wind towers are set back from property lines. "I don't think it's proper to have windmills right on property lines," Fisher said. "I think there should be sufficient set backs for safety reasons."

Questions and concerns about a proposed wind farm in Rural Municipality of Cartier continue to stall a council vote on a zoning bylaw for the project. ... The bylaw passed first reading by a 5-1 council vote in June. Since then, set back guidelines for erecting the turbines changed from 500 metres from neighbouring property lines to 2,000 metres.