Residents oppose windmill plan

Another wind farm is planned for Schuylkill County. The proposal will come up Wednesday night at a zoning meeting at the North Schuylkill High School.

There is opposition from people who live near the proposed site for the giant windmills.

Even from a few miles away wind farms are hard to miss. They're usually located on mountaintops.

Near Frackville some residents don't want a planned wind farm on their mountain. They and the developers are squaring off concerning zoning issues.

"It's a part of the energy policy, part of the governor's goal to create energy independence with Pennsylvania a leader in green energy," said Brian Rich of Broad Mountain Development Company.

Residents said they're fighting to protect themselves and their neighborhood.

"The basic concern of this is the noise. We don't think of noise as a health issue. We know from some medical reports, worldwide, not just in Pennsylvania, or in America, worldwide, that 20 percent of the people have health effects from the constant, whishing sound of that noise," said Dan Paul of Butler Township.

"We have the school over here, you can hear the children playing. I just think it's a very big health issue and safety issue to have these too close. I am not against windmills but not in my backyard, as you can see right there," said Deb Palewicz of Butler Township.

Developers said they want to work with the property owners.

"If one of the turbines were in proximity to someone's property line we would easily move," Rich added.

The company said it will even offer a 10 percent reduction over two years for power generated by the windmills in Butler Township.

"To give me 10 percent of a $100 a month? I'd give them $10 a month not to see them," said Dan Hadesty of Butler Township.

A decision over the zoning issues concerning the windmills is not expected soon.