Winds of change

Wolfe Island's newest farmer looks proudly over his back field and pauses to listen.

"I can't hear anything," says Mike Jablonicky, the self-styled "wind farmer" and project manager for Canadian Hydro Developers, which has built 86 giant turbines on the island's west end.

Along the flat horizon, 23 of the gigantic wind turbines were steadily turning yesterday, their long blades slicing the air and producing environmentally friendly electricity for the provincial energy grid.

Standing directly beneath these 125-metre-high behemoths, the whooshing of the blades is clearly audible but from across a field, all one can hear is the blustery wind that moves them.

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 and putting out nearly 600,000 megawatts of power a year.

Before even one was jolted to life, however, a group of researchers at Queen's University had initiated a survey of Wolfe Islanders as part of a long-term study of potential health effects.

About 150 people responded to the first survey. The second part is being sent out this week and a third will be completed in the fall after all the turbines have been operating for a while.

Research associate Neal Michelutti said the strong response "indicates there's a lot of interest."

"I think there's some concern. Some people just don't know."

The results were divided roughly equally between those in favour of the wind project, those against it and the rest who were neutral.

"It's kind of very polarized over there," said Michelutti, himself an island resident.

The first survey will be crucial, establishing a benchmark that hasn't appeared in any of the studies Michelutti and his associates have seen to date.

While people living near wind farms may report a variety of illnesses, Michelutti said, there's always a chance that some of it is imagined, or psychosomatic, particularly among opponents.

"We have a shot to look at any potential health impacts," he said.

Jablonicky said his company is not involved in the health study. And he's received no calls since the turbines were activated, other than from people wanting to visit the site and see the machines operating up close.

Yesterday's high winds had the 23 activated turbines turning at pretty much their top speed of 16 revolutions per minute.

One of the towers is located, literally, within a right-handed golfer's slice off the fifth tee of the Alston Moor Golf Links. Walking up to the structure, Jablonicky put his hand on the steel wall. "No vibration," he said, vibrations being another one of the concerns cited in advance by some people.

A couple of kilometres from the company office toward Marysville, Tom Dixon was sitting outside his home barbecuing with some friends. From his backyard, Dixon can see several turbines located on land leased to Canadian Hydro by his father-in- law.

"I honestly think they look better turning than standing still. They're just part of the scenery," said Dixon, who has gone right up to the towers when hunting and cutting wood.

Dixon wasn't aware of the Queen's health survey. He doesn't think there is a health risk.

"We don't mind it. We've got four young kids. The triplets are three. They call them windmills," he said.

Neal Michelutti said that as a researcher and Wolfe Islander, he has to be careful to separate his personal feelings from his work.

"It's very important that I come back as being very unbiased, and I am," he said. "My thing is, I'm an environmental scientist, so I'm in favour of anything that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It's an issue of setback. The people there aren't necessarily against wind turbines. It's whether the setbacks are enough."