Turbine noise is supervisors' topic

Scott Rueter is fed up with the wind turbines that are near his home and with the company that owns them. Rueter, who was scheduled to voice his complaints to the board of supervisors at their last meeting but canceled because of illness, spent about an hour with the board on Tuesday. He said that the noise from the 2.5 megawatt turbines which are located near his home just east of Harris is overwhelming.

According to Rueter, the constant "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" along with the noise generated by either the generator itself or a fan which operates in the turbine housing are making life on his farm almost unbearable at times.

Additionally, there is the "shadow effect" which is a problem now that the trees have lost their leaves. Rueter says that for several hours a day, the rotation of the blades cast a shadow inside his house as they turn and it's "almost like a strobe light, just not as fast."

Rueter stated anyone is welcome to come by his house to see and hear for themselves. He lives one mile east and half mile north of Harris. He said his two kids, ages six and 10, don't want to go outside to play anymore, because of the noise. Rueter said the noise gets in his head and doesn't go away when he leaves the area.

The turbines were constructed by Clipper, Inc., but have been sold to Florida Power and Light. The contract that land owners signed with Clipper stated that the turbines would be placed no closer than 1,200 feet to any residence but the closest one to Rueter's house is actually 1,193 feet away as measured by the Osceola county engineering department with a laser.

Part of the problem is that the turbines are not located on Rueter's property.

"They are on a neighbor's property. The owner lives in Florida and has not responded to Rueter's request for him to contact FPL.

Rueter has hired an attorney, who has contacted FPL, and got a response that they "were aware of the problem and were concerned" but there has been no other response, even after a second letter was sent by the attorney.

Rueter said he has been in the local office of FPL to complain several times, and was told the last time that the company "would get a restraining order against him" if he returned.

He asked that the board of supervisors send a letter to FPL urging them to do something about the problem. He said he didn't know if it would do any good but felt they might at least be able to get some sort of response.

Rueter said there are four turbines less than a half mile from his house and six that are within one mile (including the one that is less than 1,200 feet away). The Harris man said that Clipper had told land-owners that the turbines "would not make any more noise than a refrigerator". He said that might be true for the 1.5 megawatt turbines but that the 2.5 megawatt size was much louder.

He also said that FPL is not living up to the contracts they have with landowners. FPL is supposed to shut down the generators whenever ice is building up on surfaces, since the blade tips reach up to 200 MPH in speed, and a chunk of ice thrown from them could do serious damage. Rueter said that Monday night, when ice was accumulating, the turbines were running.
The supervisors indicated that they will probably send a letter to FPL, although at press time no final decision had been made.

The board also heard from representatives of the libraries in Sibley, Ocheyedan and Melvin. The libraries thanked the board members for their support in the past and asked that the county funding for the 2008-2009 fiscal year be increased to $12,000 for each library. Last year they asked for $11,000 and were granted $10,000, the same amount that has been granted for several years. The representatives said that during economic hard times, people rely on their local libraries more than usual, because many have a tendency to cancel newspaper and magazine subscriptions and use those available at their local library.

The board also recommended that all members of the county condemnation and compensation board be reinstated for next year.

County engineer Ton Snyder presented the board members with a contract from DOT to detour traffic from Highway 9 next year while they apply a concrete overlay from the Ocheyedan turn-off to the Highway 60 four-lane.

The board signed the contract and Snyder said the project could take place anywhere from March to December of next year. He said as far as he knew, DOT had not yet hired a contractor for the work.

County auditor Barb Echter told the board that the compensation board will meet on January 14th at 5:00 p.m.

The next meeting of the supervisors is scheduled for December 23rd at 8:30 a.m.