Two Ripley families say they've moved out of their homes because of what they say is the negative health effects of living too close to wind turbines. "We can't live in our house anymore. We bought a house and moved to Kincardine. My son and daughter-in-law and two-year-old who live on a different farm . . . the wind company is paying for them to stay in Kincardine," said Glen Wild.

The federation's directors discussed the current debate around wind turbine developments at their June meeting and passed two resolutions. One was to request lower-tier municipalities in Huron to enact a moratorium on commercial wind energy projects pending results of an epidemiological study conducted into the health impacts of the specific infrastructure on residents living near such developments. The other was to support the study.

Wind turbines located too close to homes and humans can pose a health hazard, a Mars Hill area resident warned New Denmark homeowners during a REACT (Reacts Efforts Against Construction of Turbines in New Denmark) sponsored meeting held in the community recently. ...Todd said if wind turbines setbacks were increased, the negative effects on nearby landowners would be greatly reduced, if not eliminated.

Members of Grey Highlands council did their best to clear up some confusion about a wind tower planning application the is currently before the municipality. The public galleries at Monday morning's meeting were once again full of opponents of the AIM Power Generation planning proposal to install a number of wind towers in the southern part of Grey Highlands.

A city councillor's push to have the provincial government halt any new wind farms for 18 months until potential health problems caused by the renewable energy projects can be studied is expected to die next month at city council.

A Ripley woman, who lives near her area's wind turbine project and has been fighting to have her community's health problems acknowledged by the provincial government, congratulated the residents of St. Columban for questioning two proposed wind projects before they're built. "We've suffered extreme health problems and we're so proud of you as a community that you're coming together to find out the truth."

Ontario officials aren't receptive to a councillor's call for the province to halt new wind farms for 18 months until a study can assess whether the green-energy installations pose health risks. Rideau-Goulbourn Councillor Glenn Brooks was going to ask council to direct the city's chief medical officer of health to do the study, but the officer says it would be too expensive and time-consuming for his office.

Under the proposed regulations, noise levels also would need to fall to 40 decibels at receptors, such as dwellings or businesses. The ministry said a turbine with a sound power level of 106 decibels would have to meet a setback of 950 meters, or about 3,100 feet, from the nearest house or business.

New rules proposed by the Ontario government would forbid the placement of large wind turbines closer than 550 metres to a residence, a distance that could affect the economic viability of many wind projects across the province. The province-wide regulation would create for the first time a minimum setback distance for wind turbines from dwellings, roads, railway lines, wetlands and other environmentally sensitive lands or airspace.

The Ontario government is proposing new regulations that would keep wind turbines at least 550 metres away from any house. The province wants that minimum distance, or "setback," to be mandatory for wind developers who install one to five turbines emitting the lowest allowable noise level.

Ontario could become a North American environmental leader, but municipalities can't stand in the way of wind power. That was the message Tuesday from Ontario Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman as he toured a hydroelectric plant here. Smitherman, also Ontario's deputy premier, praised Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. for its operation of the eight-megawatt plant.

Three Alberta families near Three Hills have taken their fight against a proposal to build wind turbines near their homes to a local appeal board. FPLE Canadian Wind plans to construct 54 wind turbines in Knee Hill County northeast of Calgary for a project called the Ghost Pine wind farm.

Noise was one of the possible side-effects that most concerned Wolfe Islanders prior to construction of the $475-million project. Health surveys conducted on people living near wind farms in Europe and the U. S. have registered a number of medical disorders they blame on the machines -- sleeplessness, depression, anxiety and even tinitis, a ringing in the ears possibly related to turbine noise. By the end of next month, all 86 turbines will be turning.

P.E.I.'s environment minister says he plans to eventually introduce new laws to limit nuisance noise. The move comes after the provincial department received complaints from people who live near wind turbines and a motocross park. Environment Minister Richard Brown said he's a strong believer in people being able to enjoy the peace and quiet of their homes.

But as wind farms proliferate, so do complaints about them. While some people experience no negative effects whatsoever, others have even resorted to leaving their homes to get away from the windmills they claim are making them sick. While research into the problem is lacking, some who live near the big turbines cite a raft of adverse health effects, including severe headaches, insomnia, dizziness, ringing in the ears, exhaustion, and even blood pressure and heart problems.

High-school teacher Sandy MacLeod is near tears as she reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a plastic bag filled with a dozen or so orange earplugs. "I wear these every single night," she says, though occasionally she'll "switch to headphones" to muffle the sound of the wind turbine near her home. "But it doesn't matter. The noise still gets into your ears." And, she insists, it's making her sick.

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.

For Sandy MacLeod and a group of 11 neighbours living in the Ripley industrial wind turbine project, it's been a very long 18 months. They just want the healthy home environment they had enjoyed for some three to 32 years returned. "We just want it to be over," said MacLeod. The simple request goes out to the companies Acciona and Suncor that own the project and to the provincial Liberal government who approved the operating standards.

Lorrie Gillis is no Don Quixote and she doesn't think her enemies are imaginary, nor does she believe her battle is a lost cause, so she continues to "tilt" at the wind power companies that want to turn the rolling farmland in her rural neighbourhood into a wind farm, and the provincial government, that through its proposed new Green Act, will take away her right to oppose the plan she says will destroy the peaceful enjoyment of her property.

Island New Democrats are pleased the provincial government has acknowledged that current setback requirements for wind turbines are inadequate but believe that proposed revisions being considered by the provincial government do not go far enough. ...We're led to believe that some jurisdictions in Europe require setbacks of 1,500 metres and, in a few cases, the requirement is 2,000 metres. That's significantly more than the 500 metres that the Ghiz government is using in this case.