Prince Edward County plans to be careful in how it approaches wind power. Council here voted Monday to ask senior governments to study the health effects of wind turbines to help it decide the fate of six windmill operations proposed for the county. A motion presented by Coun. Monica Alyea called for the agencies responsible for public health, energy creation and energy management to take on several tasks.

A lot of the literature surrounding the pros and cons of wind farms, "seems to be confusing in terms of differing opinions," he said. "Our council would like to ensure they are safe and safely regulated." It also wants to know whether setbacks established elsewhere in Ontario have proved to be adequate, Schnare said. "There are emerging issues coming from other areas of the province."

Council spent several hours discussing wind energy as part of a series of amendments to the official plan in order to bring Oxford's planning rules into compliance with provincial policy. ...The only speaker to this parcel of amendments was Joan Morris, neighbour to the proposed development in Norwich and founding member of the Oxford Wind Action Group. Morris led council through a presentation encouraging it to delay and defer any planning rules that would facilitate large-scale wind farms until epidemiological medical studies on their impact had been completed.

Both animal and human health is suffering from stray voltage that can cause catastrophic problems in the barn. But nailing down the precise causes and where the responsibility lies has proved a long and difficult struggle Driven out of business as a result of a raft of health and behaviour problems suffered by their herd, beef producers Ross and Darlene Brindley are suing Hydro One Networks Inc. and Edmonton Power Corporation (EPCOR) for a hefty $5 million. They claim that stray voltage from EPCOR's wind turbines not only destroyed their herd, but has also had a severe impact on their own health as well. And they are not alone.

Big Island residents want no part of a proposed wind farm development north of Picton, Prince Edward County council was told this week. Henri Garand and Ian Hanna presented council with a 112-signature petition asking the Big Island portion of the 66-turbine proposal be separated from the rest of the project. ..."All of us believe that Big Island is not an appropriate location."

A controversial high-voltage transmission line along a rural road near O'Leary is coming down after area residents protested the potential health risks associated with the line. Environment Minister George Webster confirms that a section of line, more than two-kilometres long, is being removed from the Howlan Road, near O'Leary.

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.

Scotian Windfields and Skypower have already revamped the map that was released at the municipality's council meeting on Nov. 10-showing the proposed locations of 20 wind turbines on Digby Neck. The new improved version shows the turbines originally planned for Red Head re-situated north of Highway 217 on properties owned by Fred and Sharon Ross and Jerry Schofield. The remaining 18 turbines are also north of the highway, as they were on the original version of the map.

Dave Colling regrets having leased some of his farm near Ripley to a wind energy developer. Colling is part of a group of neighbours who signed a three-year lease in return for a fixed amount of money a year, plus a percentage of the profits once the project is underway. "If I knew then what I know now, I never would have signed up," said Colling, whose farm will have wind turbines as part of the second stage of development near Ripley. ...Colling urged anyone thinking of signing up with a wind development company to find out as much as possible.

When Dawn and Dean Wallace moved to Wolfe Island 17 years ago, they fell in love with the peaceful, slow pace of life in the rural community. It quickly became home and they planned to retire on the island. That has all changed. The couple feels that construction of one of Canada's largest wind-power projects has forced them out of the community and they're in the process of moving off the island ...The noise and dust from dozens of trucks and heavy pieces of equipment moving past their property, at times starting as early as 4 a. m., made life almost unbearable.

Wind power is easy to set up and creates no greenhouse gases. So why are so many communities rallying against them? ...Residents complain that straight answers are scarce, with towers designed to measure wind speed popping up across the valley, even as local officials say they have not received any applications for zoning bylaw changes. A community group called Save Our Skyline, or S.O.S. Renfrew County, has formed to fight at least four separate proposals along the Madawaska Valley. Two weeks ago, S.O.S. joined with 23 other local groups to create Wind Concerns, an umbrella organization dedicated to "protecting rural Ontario for future generations." Similar fights are underway across the rest of Canada.

Opponents of wind farm developments allege turbines are not just ugly and inefficient, they can also make you sick. There are growing reports of people who live near wind turbines complaining of headaches, nausea, sleeplessness and other symptoms. Sufferers contend the illness is caused by low frequency noise and vibrations released by the turbines, along with the flickering shadows cast when the sunlight is cast through the blades. ...Here, we present four views on so-called "wind turbine syndrome."

Mike Magnus says he hopes the latest discussion regarding the adjustments his company has made to the proposed wind turbine project in eastern Pictou County will allay local concerns and allow the major project to proceed. "We've taken all the comments to heart and have engaged folks to look at the changes," the chief executive officer of Shear Wind Inc. said Saturday, following the company's latest information session that attracted more than 100 people to the Lismore Community Hall.

In the wake of the province's refusal of the environmental assessment for the Glen Dhu Wind Farm, the company that intends to erect 30 turbines announced Saturday that it was moving the turbines further from houses in Bailey's Brook. The four turbines along the project's westernmost border - just behind homes in Bailey's Brook - will be shuffled from the area where they were originally supposed to go and instead placed in another section of the farm. The company will also increase the setback from homes in that area to 1.4 kilometres.

Companies proposing wind turbine projects in Prince Edward County will now face opposition from a much larger provincial group. People behind the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC), a group formed to oppose six proposed wind farms, announced Tuesday they have joined a new lobby group called Wind Concerns Ontario. The group is a collection of 22 citizens groups across the province who oppose an Ontario government mandate to replace coal generating power plants with windmill projects.

An overcrowded meeting room forced Toronto Hydro officials to cancel an information meeting last night about a proposed wind study in Lake Ontario off the Scarborough shoreline. Toronto Hydro Energy Services wants to find out if there's enough wind 2 to 4 kilometres offshore to justify planting about 60 big wind turbines in the lake. Close to 200 people crowded into a meeting room at Christ Church on Markham Rd. ...Many who came to the meeting had serious reservations about the proposal. "This is the wrong place," said Roy Wright, who lives in the Scarborough bluffs overlooking the proposed study area.

When the 50-turbine Dokie wind farm just outside Chetwynd is up and running next year, it will be B.C.'s first commercial wind power project, making the province the last in Canada to have such a power project. A farm near Dawson Creek, B.C., called the Bear Mountain project is also scheduled to start generating power next year, and there are many other prospective sites being considered. ...And a group of homeowners near Bear Mountain has been rallying against the project there, insisting the wind farm will be too close to people.

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.

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.

Nova Scotia's environment minister wants more information about a proposed $150-million wind farm in Pictou County before he will give it the go-ahead. Mark Parent sent a letter last week to Shear Wind, developer of the Glen Dhu wind farm near Merigomish, Pictou County, asking for details on the proximity of the wind turbines to nearby homes and the anticipated noise levels. "During the review, many local residents expressed concern about the potential for noise from the wind farm," Mr. Parent wrote last Wednesday in a two-page letter to Ian Tillard, Shear Wind's chief operating officer.