The board amended the Mason County Zoning Ordinance at its monthly meeting and eased the regulation on the amount of noise large or industrial wind turbines can produce. The amendment allowed an increase in noise from 45 to 55 decibels - a level still lower than normal conversation, which the county says and several Web sites concur, falls at about 60 to 70 decibels. Although there are currently no large industrial wind turbines in Mason County, the county's Zoning and Building Director Mary Reilly said several companies are looking ...

After receiving several letters of complaints from Huron County residents over the last several months regarding the effects wind turbines are having on their lives, the county is taking steps to properly address the issues. Advertisement At last week's Huron County Planning Commission meeting it was announced that a committee will be formed that will include commissioners David Peruski and Kurt Damrow, as well as three members from the Planning Commission.

Huron County commissioners decided Tuesday to conduct a noise study of the Michigan Wind 1 development that's independent of one that will be conducted later this summer by John Deere Wind Energy. Commissioner Dave Peruski said an independent study on the existing turbines near Ubly will provide more evidence on what effects the park may be having on nearby neighbors.

Neighbors of a proposed electrical substation are threatening the Elmwood Township trustee who plans to sell 10 acres to Wolverine Power Cooperative adjacent to a large windmill north of M-72. ...In an anonymous letter addressed "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lautner," the Lautners were told by "concerned neighbors" that "our goal is to hold you personally and financially responsible for our hardship and we will pursue this relentlessly. We will expose this to the media, newspapers, television, etc." A story on the substation appeared in the Wednesday edition of the Traverse City Record-Eagle. The "neighbors" wrote that the substation would lower adjoining property values. "This scar is the legacy Terry and Kathy Lautner will leave their family," it continued. Concerns were also raised during public comment at the monthly meeting.

Wind proponents and opponents alike packed into Wednesday's Huron County Planning Commission meeting to hear a presentation by a noise control engineer who conducted a study to counter that which originally was submitted to the board by Noble Environmental Power, LLC. "Noble did a study for you back in 2005 in which they went through much of what is normally done for site planning, unfortunately what they did was very biased in their favor," said Richard James. He is an acoustics expert who has more than 35 years of experience in Community Noise and a former member of the American National Standards (ANSI) Noise S12 Working group that oversees ANSI Standards for Community Noise. "I can't say that it was biased intentionally, but the end result of what they did was biased."

There were a flurry of opinions either in favor or opposed to the Thumb becoming a designated wind energy resource zone given Monday during the first of two public hearings that will be held in the state this month. There was standing room only at Monday's meeting, which was held at the Expo Center in Bad Axe. The meeting is part of an effort to receive comment from four regions in the state identified as having the highest level of wind energy harvest potential in a June 2 proposed report by the Wind Energy Resource Zone Board.

In the Champagne household, there are two opinions on the whirling wind turbines that surround the family's home of 35 years. Gene Champagne is bothered by the thumping, rumbling sound of the blades that loom like giants over the house. The noise disturbs his sleep and destroys his TV reception. Flickering shadows from sun on the blades run around rooms. ...Opponents say tighter restrictions are needed. The wind industry says tougher rules will keep wind farms out of Michigan.

When the state of Michigan commissioned recommendations to help formulate wind energy policies, acoustic expert Rick James saw two problems with the commission. The commission lacked both the expertise of an acoustic engineer and a medical doctor. Without these two perspectives, a major concern of wind turbines - their potential physical side effects due to the sounds they emitted - were overlooked.

During last week's meeting of the Huron County Wind Energy Subcommittee, which was formed to address complaints about wind turbines from residents, Huron County Commissioner Kurt Damrow said a teleconference will take place in the near future, although a date has yet to be determined. Huron County Health Department officials, along with some members of the subcommittee, will discuss the protocol of a health study with the universities. Previous studies on the subject will be reviewed to determine their applicability to Huron County.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has dreams of bringing as many as 4,000 wind turbines to Michigan, making it the nation's 14th windiest state and a major player in wind power to attract green jobs and investment. But some people who have turbines as neighbors are pushing back against the winds of change, the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday.

In an interview Wednesday, Huron County Commissioner Kurt Damrow said Monday's public hearing is the last chance for local units of government, including townships that have control of their zoning and have a wind turbine ordinance, to speak to the State of Michigan in regard to maintaining local control over setback requirements and noise limitations for wind developments. "What's on the line is whether local units of government will have a say in zoning, specifically (regarding) setbacks and noise," Damrow said.

While the Huron County Wind Energy Subcommittee had expressed hope a state university would take the lead on a comprehensive heath study on the effects of wind turbine noise, it learned last week it's unlikely. Before last week's meeting, several subcommittee members met with Dr. Alfred Franzblau, University of Michigan Environmental Health Sciences professor, via teleconference to discuss the possibility of a noise study.

Officials announced last week that the Michigan Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing later this month to garner public comment on the effect of wind turbine setback requirements and noise limitations under local zoning or other ordinances on wind energy development in wind energy resource zones. The hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 23 at the MPSC's office.

Schmidt's Sherman Township neighborhood is targeted by two developers for the setting of wind turbines. "This is going to make a dramatic difference to the personality of the neighborhood," he told a group of citizens gathered at Tustin Community Center Oct. 4 for a public discussion on the planned wind farms. Proposals by Heritage Sustainable Energy, LLC and Babcock & Brown Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc. call for the installation of dozens of 2.5 megawatt turbines across Osceola, Wexford and Missaukee counties. Turbine towers plus blades will each exceed 400 feet. "We're zoned residential and agriculture," Schmidt said. "This is industrial. These are big, bad boys."

There were windmill-shaped cookies offered as snacks at the Tustin Library last night, but citizens were really hungry for facts about what it was like to have a wind turbine as a neighbor. The meeting was sponsored by a group of landowners and citizens interested in the possibility of wind turbine power in Sherman Township.

There was standing room only at Wednesday's Huron County Planning Commission meeting, where officials discussed plans to address a series of noise complaints the county has received in recent months regarding the Michigan Wind 1 development in Ubly. Huron County Building and Zoning Director Russ Lundberg said the county has received a total of four complaints that cite problems residents have experienced as a result of the Michigan Wind 1 development in Ubly.

A noise control consultant and acoustics expert urged planning commissioners here to create their own wind turbine ordinance that's tailored to the local community and more restrictive than the state's guidelines. Roughly 40 area residents, as well as some DTE Energy representatives, turned out for Wednesday's Lake Township Planning Commission meeting featuring a presentation by Richard R. James, owner of the Okemos-based E-Coustic Solutions. ...Township officials asked James to come to a meeting and share some of his expertise because they currently are conducting research for a wind overlay ordinance. Lake Township instituted a one-year moratorium on any wind farm developments during the township board's March meeting, said Lake Township Cleric and Planning Commissioner Valerie McCallum.

The first commercial wind farm planned for Michigan's Thumb will be too loud for a rural area and could result in lawsuits unless zoning rules are changed, an Okemos consultant says. Jeanette Hagen, a manager with Connecticut-based Noble Environmental Power, which plans to begin erecting 41 large windmills in Huron County's Bingham Township around July, says the consultant's study is flawed and won't stop the long-delayed project from progressing. "So many people are wanting to see these up and we're hoping to get these up and help energize the economy in the Thumb," Hagen said. The study, by E-Coustic Solutions of Okemos, cost about $3,000 and was paid for by Residents for Sound Economics and Planning, a group of Thumb residents that has been critical of the windmill project.

Officials said the subcommittee recently formed to address a series of noise complaints the county has received regarding the Michigan Wind 1 development in Ubly will meet every Thursday. ...Damrow said Huron County Environmental Health Director Dale Lipar also was extended an invitation to participate in the subcommittee because this issue has to do with public health concerns raised by the residents who submitted the noise complaints.

People are typically in favor of the idea of wind energy - until they're faced with the reality of gigantic, utility-sized turbines erected in their community. With utilities exploring potential wind power facilities in Ottawa and Allegan counties, a new study will give communities both sides of the blustery subject. ...The study will explore coastal wind energy in Ottawa, Allegan, Muskegon and Oceana counties both on land and in water.