“Windfall”, a documentary on the real costs of breeze energy, to be shown at Strand in Rockland

The award-winning documentary “Windfall” shows the impact of industrial wind turbines on neighbors in American communities. The film will be shown in Rockland at the Strand. The show is scheduled so that Vinalhaven and North Haven ratepayers and citizens will be able to attend: on Saturday, March 3rd at 2PM with discussion. Free admission for the first 40 people with Vinalhaven ID. There will also be another show on Sunday, March 4th at 3PM.

Update/ Our Year End Summary – 2011

Here is a review of important events of the past year for neighbors of the industrial wind turbines on Vinalhaven, ME.

Last August, FIWN (Fox Islands Wind Neighbors) appealed in Superior Court against the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). For two years, neighbors of the Vinalhaven wind turbines fought for restoration of the peace and quiet they used to enjoy.

The neighbors sought …

Setbacks from Fox Islands Wind: no shared sacrifice with turbine noise on Vinalhaven

Neighbors of Fox Islands Wind turbines from Google Earth

Rick James, one of the nation’s foremost acoustical engineers and advisor to Fox Islands Wind Neighbors, recommends wind turbines should be barred within 1.25 miles from homes. If adequate setbacks had been in place, the controversy over the wind turbine noise issue would not have occurred on Vinalhaven. We are not alone. Wind turbine noise controversies are a major problem for the industry. Fault lies with the industry itself that adamantly resists uniform, protective setbacks and, locally, decision makers who failed to adequately inform neighbors of likely noise impacts despite the warning of project consultants. Here is a list of neighbors of the turbines and approximate distances from the nearest turbine, based on Google Earth imagery and tools.

Rick James, acoustic engineer, responds to Mass. wind turbine noise study, 2km minimum setback necessary to protect people

I have worked for many people who have severe response to wind turbine sounds. Most are within 1 mile of the nearest turbines, but some are at much greater distances.  In 2008 George Kamperman and I applied standard acoustical principles to wind turbine noise to set criteria for siting wind turbines while protecting public health.  We did not want to use setback distances because the required setbacks are a function of how many turbines are contributing to the sound immissions at a residence as well as the type and size of the turbines.

Why The Wind Industry Is Full Of Hot Air And Costing You Big Bucks, by Robert Bryce

Fox Islands Wind has been the focus of a “charm offensive” with various proponents claiming what a great success the project has been, ignoring the significant ongoing controversy over wind turbine noise that has marred the project’s reputation both within the wind industry and in the press. The charm offensive relates mainly to tax subsidies set to expire in 2013, as detailed by Robert Bryce below.

December 21, 2011
Robert Bryce

The American Wind Energy Association has begun a major lobbying effort in Congress to extend some soon-to-expire renewable-energy tax credits. And to bolster that effort, the lobby group’s CEO, Denise Bode, is calling the wind industry “a tremendous American success story.”

The other side of the wind power story

The other side of the wind power story by Christopher O’Neil (Published in The Sun Journal on Sunday, Jan 22, 2012)

An article in the Sun Journal of Dec. 30 raised eyebrows at Friends of Maine’s Mountains.

Included were the words: “Wind turbines came into Maine with a boom but two projects were able to go online without making a sound this month.” The article quoted Tom Carroll, an operative of the wind development company Patriot Renewables, and Gordon Gamble, a public relations man for Independence Wind, about Maine’s newest industrial wind turbine plants on Spruce Mountain in Woodstock and Record Hill in Roxbury. FMM is disappointed that the “other side” of this important story wasn’t told.

Readers of the story were essentially led to believe that these massive projects have come without incident. Unwitting readers might also infer that these new wind “farms” have disproved their critics, settled all debate and gained acceptance. The truth is that many people in the vicinity of the Roxbury and Woodstock wind projects are already experiencing problems with noise emissions.

Peaks Island citizens pay attention: no, to big wind turbines

“I am VERY concerned about the NOISE LEVELS generated by the windmill,” wrote Peaks Island resident Carol Fexa in a letter to Portland city staff . “SOUND CARRIES on an island. The tiniest of sounds are amplified because we are surrounded by a body of water.” Fellow Peaks Islanders Ann and Gus Karlsen agreed. “We would like to voice our opposition to ANY wind turbines on Peaks Island,” the couple wrote to city staff in part. “We were under the impression that the ‘wind tests’ there were not sufficient.”

More, on the costs of breeze energy

Friends of Maine’s Mountains
PRESS RELEASE
January 19, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris O’Neil, (207) 590-3842
info@friendsofmainesmountains.com

Conservation Group Announces Opposition to Electricity Mandate Referendum
The state’s leading sustainable energy & conservation group has echoed Governor Paul LePage in voicing opposition to a possible statewide referendum. LePage denounced the measure in his January 7th radio address.

The Bruce McPherson Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise Study: Adverse Health Effects Produced By Large Industrial Wind Turbines Confirmed

Many neighbors of the Vinalhaven wind turbines are afraid to speak about the ill-effects of living near the wind turbines, or, worry that no one will believe them. Read this.

Abstract

McPherson is the first (and so far only) study to specifically look for the presence of excessive infrasound due to nearby wind turbines in a home that was identified by the owners as having a problem.* Two professional acousticians, Robert Rand and Steven Ambrose, lived in the home for 3 days during which they took detailed measurements of the infrasound and noted its effects upon themselves. They discovered that the infrasound often crossed the threshold of detection by the ear’s low-frequency detection mechanisms, and did so in a manner that could be very disturbing to individuals, causing potentially significant health problems.This study calls into question all the existing but unsupported claims by the wind energy industry and its supportive governments that infrasound is not a health issue.

[*NWW note:  In 2009, Wade Bray and Richard James made such measurements at a house in Ubly, Michigan, as presented at Noise-Con 2011.]

Vinalhaven Wind Power: bad policy, bad economics

One of the most predictable and least productive criticisms we hear is along the lines of: at a time of climate change, why do a few people (i.e., neighbors of the industrial wind turbines on Vinalhaven) get to have such a large voice? That point of view– isolating the Vinalhaven neighbors from the wider community– confuses two separate issues. First, like any citizen of the United States we are entitled to due process and the rule of law. Second, industrial wind is inefficient, uneconomic, and exists because private shareholders are enriched by huge government subsidies. That is true of the economics underlying the wind turbines on Vinalhaven, and it should be shared with all the teachings of wind power.  “A Look at Some of the Obstacles Facing Wind Energy in the U.S.” is along the line of pulling down the curtain on the bad economics of wind power. (click read more, for the full article) Also, Robert Bryce writes on December 21, 2011: “Why The Wind Industry Is Full Of Hot Air And Costing You Big Bucks.” We share that article, too.

More, on the dark side of wind

The dark side of wind I have the advantage of living off-grid with alternative energy, including wind power, and so I am able to gain a clearer perspective of the technology. The grid-scale units are going into the transmission lines and it becomes a cap-and-trade market instrument. I get the business piece, but what about transparency, civil accountability and downright moral process? Grid-scale units need 200 gallons of hydraulic fluid on average every six months. Their scale will require continued expensive maintenance; they need to tap back into the grid when the wind’s not blowing in order not to destroy the bearings holding up the propellers. This is just the science end, but how do they save money? What’s disturbing is the way these projects were legislatively expedited by way of LD 2283. There was no respectful civil process and the people of Maine were completely left out, where they planned these projects with 15 years of previous deliberations. The homes, health and value of the lives of the people are not up for negotiations as potential collateral damage. These decision makers who are responsible for current outcomes and challenges we are facing obviously did not apply the “do unto others” principle we can’t afford to deliberate without in order to obtain sustainable solutions. Carolyn Rae Dixmont