In a draft report, Oregon's Public Health Division acknowledges that noise from wind turbine blades may cause health problems among nearby homeowners. But the agency does not intend to take action against the burgeoning wind power industry.

The county commission, called the Morrow County Court, voted 2-1 that although noise from the Willow Creek wind project exceeds state standards at a few homes, the violations did not warrant enforcement action.

After years of work and months of meetings, the Umatilla County commissioners approved changes to the county's rules deciding where and how wind farms can be built. ...Commissioners Dennis Doherty and Larry Givens approved of the two-mile distance between a rural home and a wind turbine.

The latest draft of wind rules commissioners reviewed Tuesday listed one mile from an unincorporated community, one mile from a home outside a wind project boundary and a half mile from inside the boundary. For cities, it stated, "setbacks from tower to the city urban growth boundary considered if requested by a city governing body."

Many citizens expressed fears that wind turbines degraded scenic views, wildlife habitat, property values and health. People living near a wind farm complained of panic attacks, lost sleep and added stress caused by the low frequency noise and vibrations from turbines. "All of the information that has been gathered is going to be included in the report and we're hoping that the document will be used by policy makers," said Stone.

A small group of researchers is looking into whether the symptoms of wind turbine noise could be more physical than mental. Leading this area is Alec Salt, who's been experimenting with the hearing of guinea pigs for about 10 years. The journal Hearing Research in August published Salt's paper showing that the human ear might have more acute sensitivities to low-frequency sound.

"California is a very big variable," said Elliot Mainzer, who is Bonneville Power Administration's guru on how to balance future energy and environmental needs here in the Northwest. When asked if he thought California was carrying its weight as far as managing those type of issues, he said "I would like to see California pay a little bit more attention to our issues, quite frankly."

Douglas replied that her agency is dealing with a complicated issue and wants to look at many factors. "We'll take a good look at it, and analyze it. We are charged with assessing the risk to human health and we're going to stay focused on that."

The growing number of wind farms has led to more complaints about their health effects, said Sujata Joshi, an epidemiologist in the environmental public health office. Health concerns raised to date focus on noise and vibration generated by the huge turbines. The assessment will start with the listening sessions.

Residents in small towns are fighting proposed projects, raising concerns about threats to birds and big game, as well as about the way the giant towers and their blinking lights spoil some of the West's most alluring views. Here, just west of where the Columbia bends north into Washington, some people are fighting turbines that are already up and running. In a region where people often have to holler to be heard over the roar of the wind across the barren hills, they say it is the windmills that make too much noise.

Hood River County's more radical environmentalists have joined the battle against county commissioners' attempt to emplace a 9-megawatt wind farm on a forest-zoned, wildlife-rich ridgetip near residents' homes. A citizens' petition for a ballot initiative on the issue is receiving wide circulation. The battle between ecologists and energy-crisis exploiters in bucolic Hood River County, Oregon, peaks.

In a dramatic moment during a tense meeting in Boardman Tuesday night, Arman Kluehe stood up and began to drop $20 bills into a pile. "How much will it take to buy you so we can break the noise limit?" he asked the crowd. Several people in the room - close neighbors of the Willow Creek Wind Project - murmured their approval. In January, three of them turned down Invenergy, Willow Creek's parent company, when it offered to buy noise easements on their land.

Some downright vituperative comment on the proposed Antelope Ridge Wind Farm highlighted a meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners last Tuesday. Telocaset resident Rod Swanson, long disgruntled over the presence of Elkhorn Valley Wind Farm turbines near his home, unleashed a loud, obscenity-laced tirade at the three-member board.

Ruggedly beautiful Steens Mountain stands in an area of southeast Oregon so isolated that it's barely changed since cattle king Pete French arrived in the late 1800s. Coyotes yelp at sundown. Drivers are so few that they wave to each other as they pass. Campers, hunters and bird-watchers trek from across the state to breathe in the majestic emptiness and to gaze from the Steens summit across a seemingly endless tapestry of high desert and open range. But soon, the scenery will change. Harney County has cleared Columbia Energy Partners of Vancouver to build a wind farm on the mountain's north slope.

The Willow Creek Energy Center is in violation of state noise standards for at least three nearby homes, its acoustical expert revealed at a planning commission meeting Tuesday night. Still up for debate, according to the other experts in attendance, is how much and how often. The meeting amounted to a day in court for the neighbors of the wind farm.

A group of researchers found "no evidence" that wind turbines' sounds have any adverse physiological effects on people who live close by, according to a recent study - but that goes against some local residents and strong testimony suggesting otherwise. ...A handful of Morrow County residents living near Willow Creek wind farm filed formal complaints with the county asking for the farm's conditional use permit to be revoked.

The Umatilla Planning Commission is considering a proposal to keep wind turbines out of the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. The "No Turbine Zone" would amend the county's plan. Proponents say it was a result of secrecy about plans for the developments.

Dozens of wind turbines west of Boardman are so noisy, nearby homeowners say they're keeping them awake at night and even making them ill. "It's not healthy for us," Dan Williams said of the 240-foot-tall turbines he can see from his hilltop home. "It's like a freight train that's not coming or going." Dozens of wind turbines west of Boardman are so noisy, nearby homeowners say they're keeping them awake at night and even making them ill. "It's not healthy for us," Dan Williams said of the 240-foot-tall turbines he can see from his hilltop home. "It's like a freight train that's not coming or going." Williams is among neighbors along Oregon 74 demanding that Morrow County enforce state noise regulations on the Willow Creek Wind Energy Project or revoke its land-use permit.

Now Williams is ready to pack up and move. When he looks out his window, he sees a forest of wind towers. Behind his home, about a half mile away, another six turbines sit idle. Williams fears the day they start rotating, because, often, the sound of turbines already roars through his house like a freight train at top speed. "It's like a jet airplane that never takes off," said Sherry Eaton, another neighbor of the Willow Creek project. Eaton and her husband, Michael, are in despair over the wind project, which they say has ruined their chances for a peaceful life in the valley.

"Some of these areas are ecologically sensitive, and because this is renewable energy and something that we all expect is done ‘green,' there's an expectation that they balance environmental impacts with the development," Fenty said. Turbines can strike and kill birds and bats, and their construction and maintenance can disturb elk, deer and pronghorn, he said. The developer needs to take a look at the effects of the project, and show that these turbines won't have a substantial impact on the environment, Fenty said. ..."It's our assessment that the wind tower itself, and all of the activity around it from the wind tower operating, will be enough disturbance to the birds that (the) particular breeding area and nesting area will basically be extirpated," or wiped out, he said.