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South Dakota residents fail to get half-mile wind farm setbacks
An excellent 3-part series on wind farm development ran this week in the Bismark Tribune. It has a good balance of the excitement and economic benefits that attract farmers to the industry, and well-stated concerns from those who want larger setbacks in order to protect neighbors from noise. The grey area around health impacts is navigated [...]
Wyoming Game and Fish sets moderate wildlife protections around wind farms
Wyoming has been at the center of the storm over how much wind farm developers should be subject to limits on development in the name of protecting wildlife habitat, thanks to the hot-button issue of the sage grouse, which has been dancing on the edge of federal endangered species listing for several years. In general, [...]
Maine towns keep wind farms at arm’s length as state looks to far offshore sites
“As goes Maine, so goes the Nation?” While this old political truism has faded in recent decades, the State of Maine is currently blazing trails in carefully considered wind power development. At the local level, small towns continue to pass moratoriums and strict setback standards. Most recently, Thorndike became the third town to set a [...]
NPS research shows human noise limits animal listening area, alerting distance
A key research paper from National Park Service and Colorado State scientists has been published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The paper, which got a lot of press when it was first made available online in the fall, introduces two key new metrics for measuring the effects of noise on animals. The first, “alerting [...]
UK: Noise complaints at 37 of 255 wind farms
Here’s a bit of news that might be spun either way, depending on your predilection. Jane Davis, who was driven from her home by wind farm noise, has been compiling information on English wind farms and noise complaints; she has found that 37 wind farms have spurred some sort of noise complaints nationwide. This amounts [...]
Ontario wind tech and health research chair named–background is solid in tech, weak on health
Electrical engineer Siva Sivoththaman has been named to the newly-created Ontario provincial Research Chair in Renewable Energy Technologies and Health. Local activist groups that have raised concerns about the effects of wind farm noise on neighbors had hoped that this position, created as part of Ontario’s new Green Energy Act, would take the lead in formally [...]
New maps track ships drowning out whale communication
Ongoing research in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is providing ever more compelling visualizations of shipping noise and the much quieter calls of whales in the area. Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, NMFS, and Cornell have deployed networks of sound recorders, which allow them to track individual whales and ships and see how their [...]
Vinalhaven begins month-long “experiment” in reducing noise issues
The Fox Islands Electrical Cooperative on Vinalhaven, an island off the coast of Maine, has begun a month-long experiment as a first step in trying to come up with a local solution to noise issues from three wind turbines that began operating in November. About two dozen people within a half-mile of the turbines have [...]
NY Congressman on wind farm noise in his district
This one is a bit old (from last spring), but seems worth pointing to because it provides a somewhat new perspective on the wind farm noise debate. US Congressman Eric Massa represents a district which is at the center of public concern about noise issues, thanks to a proposed wind farm in Plattsburg, not far from [...]
New AEI report: Wind Farm Noise, 2009 in Review
The latest in AEI’s ongoing series of comprehensive special reports on key topics is finally done!
This one is modeled on AEI’s acclaimed annual reviews of science and policy developments in ocean noise, but focuses for the first time on wind farm noise issues. The 30-page report covers new research, public concerns, and industry trends over [...]
Minnesota PUC grapples with wind farm setbacks
A hearing by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission heard testimony from residents and agency staff this week, and indicated that it was going to take its time in setting statewide wind farm siting guidelines. ”I think there are a lot of remaining unanswered questions. I think there are a lot of … substantive questions as [...]
Oregon wind farm noise analysis finds limits exceeded
Two different acoustic studies near the Willow Creek Energy Center in eastern Oregon have found that the state’s wind farm noise ordinance is being violated at several homes nearby. How often and by how much the violations are occurring remains under contention. As reported by the East Oregonian, the commission heard from several acousticians as [...]
Japanese Environment Ministry to begin nationwide survey of health effects near wind farms
The Japanese Environment Ministry is gearing up for the April launch of a nationwide field survey around all 1500 wind turbines in operation in the country. Prompted by health complaints by some neighbors, the survey will the first such comprehensive study of the question; low frequency and audible noise will be recorded, to see whether there [...]
Ontario assessment board cuts house value in half due to nearby wind farm transformer noise
In what could be a precedent-setting move, the Ontario Assessment Review Board (ARB) has slashed the taxable value of a house because of noise from a transformer station across the street. The transformer, which site 360 meters (about 1200 feet) from Paul Thompson’s home, produces a constant hum of about 40dB in Thompson’s home. In [...]
French court orders wind turbines shut off at night
In early December, the Association for the Protection of Ménez, Quelec’h and Saint-Gildas won a groundbreaking court case in France, in which the Court of Appeals of Renne ordered that eight wind turbines in Cast and Châteaulin be shut down from 10pm to 7am. The Association had sought court relief from night time noise disturbance in [...]
Community wind project on Maine island faces noise issues collaboratively
It’s a beautiful idea, come to fruition: in the island communities of Vinalhaven and North Haven, Maine, a local electrical co-op joined forces with a regional nonprofit organization, and built three large wind turbines which would provide the 2,000 households on the island with locally-produced power. On a lovely fall day in November, the largest [...]
