Chronic Cumulative Exposure Symptoms/Problems

Consequences of Cumulative Sleep Deprivation

The commonest reported symptom or problem by residents is disturbed sleep. Sometimes residents report hearing the audible noise of the turbines when they are woken, but other times they cannot hear the turbines and report a characteristic pattern of “waking suddenly in a panicked state.” This can occur when they cannot see the turbines (they are asleep!), cannot hear them, and have no way of knowing at the time inside their home whether the turbines are operating. This can happen numerous times each night, and correlates with wind direction and certain weather conditions which acousticians confirm are likely to enhance the perception of sound energy.

Being in a well insulated home can make the symptoms, including sleep disturbance worse, which fits with the research evidence of Professor Alec Salt, confirming that the inner ear responds very differently when there is predominantly low frequency sound energy present, which can result in stimulation of the “alerting mechanism” of the brain. It fits with the acoustical survey data collected by Rand and Ambrose in the USA and at multiple locations in Australia by Steven Cooper, where the acoustic profile inside a well insulated home can be quite different from that obtained concurrently outside the home. This is why internal home measurements of the full acoustic spectrum are so important; external measurements do NOT reflect the actual experienced ILFN exposures inside the home, and cannot be used as a substitute.

This identical pattern of sleep disturbance and, on occasion, perception of vibration through the bed, has been reported by residents living near wind turbines and also by those living near coal mining activities in the Upper Hunter, where the mine was at least 5km away, through a hill. Independent acoustic measurements taken at multiple locations near wind turbines and coal mining confirmed the presence of sound frequencies below 200Hz, regardless of the source of the sound energy. These residents consistently report that their sleep pattern improves on those occasions when there is no sound energy from the source of ILFN & V, or when they are away from their homes.

The cumulative effects of sleep deprivation are very well known to clinical medicine, and result in both new disorders and exacerbation of existing conditions, regardless of the cause of that sleep disturbance. Conditions include mental health disorders (depression, anxiety), metabolic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and impaired immunity leading to increased infections and, in the long term, malignancies (cancers). A recent meta-analysis by Professor Capuccio from Warwick University provides a useful summary of the importance of sleep with respect to cardiovascular health. . . .

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Click here to read more

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References:

F.P. Cappuccio et al. “Sleep duration predicts cardiovascular outcomes:  A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies,” European Heart Journal (2011).

Bruce S. McEwen, “Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators,” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 338, no. 3 (Jan 15, 1998), pp. 171-79.

S.G. Shannon et al., “Effect of vibration frequency and amplitude on developing chicken embryos,” U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Report No. 95-1 (Oct 1994), 39 pp.

Editor’s note:  The following letter was formally submitted to the Australian Federal Senate as it ponders a bill to curb excessive wind turbine noise.  The bill currently goes by the name, Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Excessive Noise from Wind Farms) Bill 2012.  Whether the Senate passes such a bill remains to be seen, of course.

Click here to read Dr. Spring’s letter in the original (submission #136 in the list).

Dear Senators,

I support the provisions of this bill. I am concerned about the impact of unregulated noise pollution on people close to the wind farms. If noise pollution is occurring, and people’s sleep and health is suffering as a result, the proposed amendments will at least help to detect it.

As a Sleep Physician, working in Ballarat in Western Victoria, I have already been seeing patients from Waubra, Leonard’s Hill, Glenthompson and Cape Bridgewater who have disturbed sleep which has coincided with the commencement of operation of nearby wind farms. I do not believe that we yet know the full extent of the consequences to these people of their exposure to wind farms or even the cause of the untoward effects which may not just be from “noise.”  Nonetheless, assessment of noise is a start in the monitoring of what is going on.

I am happy to attend the Senate inquiry and answer questions in person depending on the day or alternatively appear by video link.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr Wayne Spring M.B., B.S., F.R.A.C.P., F.R.C.P.
Consultant Physician

Editor’s note:  The following statement was submitted (#141) on 11/1/12 to the Australian Federal Senate Committee which had requested testimony regarding the proposed Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Excessive Noise from Wind Farms) Bill 2012.

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I fully support the Bill because of (a) impact of noise on human well-being and (b) lack of regulations and lack of independent monitoring.  I am most concerned regarding the ill effects due to wind turbines’ audible and sub-audible noise.

I was living in a conservation area which is only 1.5 km away from industrial turbines. I myself, my family and most neighbours are experiencing the same cluster of symptoms from the same time since the turbines started operating ( June 2011). As a result of this our family had to move.

My [name deleted] also developed tinnitus and dizziness and I wonder how many other children are suffering around wind farms.

As a rural General Practitioner I am wondering how long will our health be compromised until somebody takes some action and recognises there is a real problem?

Infrasound is being laughed at because people do not understand the science involved. For example, UV light is invisible, but now we know it causes skin cancer. Infrasound is below our hearing range and to find out the effects it must be measured by proper, special machines. A-weighted measurements of noise tells you nothing about infrasound noise.

I tried to explain the need to measure infrasound noise around wind turbines (as I believed it is a cause of the most of the symptoms) to the authorities at my Shire, but they refused because the New Zealand Standard (NZS6808: 1998) do not require this.

I have observed in my clinic that some residents who live around wind turbines are suffering the same symptoms, which include headache, tinnitus, earache, palpitations, blurred vision, anxiety, sleep deprivation, nausea etc.

It is obvious that there is something horribly wrong with the wind turbine technology and someone has to be accountable for all the suffering they have caused to so many people.

From my point of view, rural Australians should not be neglected. The government should use all the Health Laws to protect us and solve this serious problem urgently.

Your sincerely,

Dr. Andja Mitric-Andjic

Editor’s note:  Wind Turbine Syndrome sufferers do, indeed, flock to their doctors for an explanation of what’s going on and some sort of remedy.  We hear about this all the time.  The pity is that most physicians don’t have a clue as to what’s happening to these people, and generally treat them with anti-depressants.  The good news is that more and more physicians are realizing it’s the turbines that are in fact making these people sick—and they are still giving them anti-depressants.

Can these “docs” do anything further for their patients?  No really.  Some advise the afflicted simply to move away—which of course is not a simple thing to do.  Yet fleeing your home remains the best cure for WTS.

With appreciation to Wintoons.com, which has been lampooning wind energy for many years.

Editor’s note:  The following testimony was submitted by Mrs. Elisabeth Jonkman, Netherlands, to the Australian Federal Senate this month, as the Senate considers legislation designed to address Wind Turbine Syndrome (a term the Senate does not use, by the way).

Click here to access Mrs. Jonkman’s testimony.  Scroll down to Submission #29.  (Bear in mind that English is not her native language.  I have lightly edited her text, to make it conform more to conventional English composition.)

—Elisabeth Jonkman, The Netherlands (10/27/12)

I would like to inform you what happened to my life after I started hearing and feeling low frequency noise. . . .

My name is Elisabeth Jonkman, I am a woman of 53 years old and mother of two sons, 22 and 18 years old now. I live in the middle of Holland, in Almere.  Forty years ago the land was sea.  When I came to live here in 1994 there were 94,000 inhabitants; nowadays there are nearly 200,000 inhabitants in this new city. Of course there are consequences for the energy-supplies. My city is still growing.

There are more than 600 wind turbines and their number is still growing, with much larger machines. Nuon/Vattenfall is also extending their energy supplies with new pipes and installations.

On 6 November 2011 a disaster happened in my life; I became furnarable for [vulnerable to] low frequency noise.

I don’t know why it happened to me, I only can guess. Since then my house is hell on earth. I constantly hear the sound of a kind of machine in my house. It is a pumping, rhythmic and low, heavy sound such as a big transport car near your house. It is nearly almost [always] there: in my living-room, my toilet, my bathroom and the worst of all: my bedroom.

It also gives a feeling of pressure in the air and it makes my body tremble. The area around my heart is trembling when I am in my house. It is very scaring [scary] and sometimes I think I just die if it doesn’t stop. At such terrible moments I have to go outside my house, even when it is late at night. Outside the house my body picks up the vibration and I can hear the sound in the air although it is not so damaging as it is in the house.

I still have a son to attend for.  He is autistic and not ready to lose his mother yet. You may ask yourself: “Why doesn’t she move and go to live elsewhere?”

The answer is that now that I am sensible for [sensitive to] LFN, I can hear it almost everywhere in Holland. It is a small and crowded country with lots of wind turbines, gas fields and pipes, and lots of other industrial plants.

My son told me he can hear the noise since he was born. His father and I, we never understood his complaints about his heart trembling and the noise in his head. We never understood why he shook his head as if he wanted to chase an insect, why he couldn’t sleep and why he was so tired. We visited doctors and they examined him but they never could find a reason for his complaints except that he was autistic. This year the pieces of the puzzle fitted in.

My life has stopped, I cannot work any longer, and I just try to survive and stay the mother that my sons need. There is hardly medical support for the victims of LFN. Doctors don`t know how to help us and they prescribe pills for depressive people. There is an unknown amount of victims in Holland right know, registration fails.

I fear we are economic collateral damage, a proof of what is going to happen to lots of citizens who now think it is a thing that is never going to happen to them.

“The myth of Denmark as a corruption-free country”

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—The Honorable Peter Rørdam (retired), The Copenhagen Post (11/16/12)

It’s a widely held conception that Denmark is one of the world’s least corrupt countries. The message is always warmly received, but this isn’t the same as saying that Denmark is free of corruption.

I’m not qualified to speak about corruption in general, but there is one area in which I do have an in-depth knowledge: wind power, which is an industry that has managed to thoroughly corrupt the political system.

The law approving construction of a test centre of large land-based wind turbines near the Jutland town of Østerild was forced through parliament despite warnings about the effects it would have on the natural environment in the area and its impact on residents. The bill was able to make its way through parliament thanks to a complete manipulation of the facts—both by keeping some information under wraps, and by directly misinforming people.

But it wasn’t parliament that was misled. Members of parliament that voted for the law were fully aware of the truth, yet they turned a blind eye so the law could be passed. It was, in fact, voters who were tricked into thinking that they had been told the whole truth.

The only thing that matters for wind turbine makers is money. You can wonder why law makers would play along with their game, but as soon as they threatened to move jobs abroad they did as they were told.

Laying out all the details of this sitation would require more space than is available here, but for those that read Danish, Peter Skeel Hjort’s book ‘Besat af wind’ (Obsessed by the wind) provides a harrowing look into of the industry and the political system.

Collaboration between the industry and lawmakers didn’t stop with the approval of the test centre. Since then, there has been a flood of complaints from people who were unfortunate enough to find themselves living next to large land-based wind turbines elsewhere. The effects, which are well documented, can cause illness and render properties uninhabitable. Their complaints, however, are normally rejected by the authorities, who maintain that living close to wind turbines is not associated with any detrimental effects.

On October 9, Berlingske newspaper published an article by three Aalborg University scientists, who proved that the official noise calculations are wrong, and that the manipulated figures tone down the problems associated with living near a wind turbine. The authorities have done nothing to show that they have scientific evidence to base their claims on. Their only reaction has been to say that the Aalborg University study is wrong, because it does not jibe with the wind power industry’s own findings. We heard this most recently from the environment minister, Ida Auken, who is either being led around by the nose of the people whose interests she’s looking out for, or—as was the case with her predecessor—she is taking part in the misinformation.

It’s worth noting that the compensation homeowners living near wind turbines are given to make up for lost property value is based the falsified noise calculations—which means that people are, in fact, being cheated out of the full amount they are actually owed.

Corruption is defined as moral decay, and that is precisely what we are witnessing here. The fear that Denmark could lose jobs and the near religious obsession with wind power has made politicians deaf and blind to objections to wind as a source of energy, and led them to take part in the industry’s fraud. The environmental and human impacts of what they are doing appear to have no effect on them.

It only adds to the embarrassment is that instead of hiring people, the wind industry is eliminating jobs in Denmark. Meanwhile, little has happened at the Østerild test centre. Parliament rushed to approve the establishment of Østerild, because the industry told them it was vital that they could have seven large wind turbines standing in a row. Østerild was chosen because it had the physical characteristics the industry needed. Today, one turbine stands, and it remains to be seen how many more will be built.

There are a lot of people who have plenty to be ashamed of, but we shouldn’t expect that to change much. Moral scruples aren’t what we most associate with Danish politicians.

Editor’s note:  Australian barrister (attorney), Peter Quinn, discusses wind energy subsidies in Australia and a new bill before the Australian Federal Senate to withhold those subsidies when turbine noise exceeds 10 dB(A) above ambient noise levels.  The bill would, furthermore, require wind companies to post online the energy generation (per turbine) in real time.

Click here to read the official transcript of the Senate Committee as it interviews witnesses—witnesses both for and against the proposed bill.
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Editor’s note:  Australian radio host, Alan Jones, interviews Australians suffering from Wind Turbine Syndrome.  He also interviews Australian noise engineer, Steven Cooper, about the noise and vibration from industrial turbines.

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Instructions:

» Click anywhere above. You will be taken to a window which looks like the above screenshot.  The radio interview will begin automatically, as soon as you open the new window.  (Be sure your speakers are turned up.  You can adjust the volume with the “volume slider” to the right of the red buttons.)

» When the audio begins, you will see a red bar begin to materialize at the left side of the “progress bar.” Click to the right of the red bar, in the gray area, till you reach the 6 minute 35 second mark (6:35). This is where the interviews begin. The material before that is extraneous to the interviews.

“Fight over wind farms goes to Canberra”

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—Nick Perry, News.com.au (11/13/12)

A splitting headache, vibrations and pressure behind the eyes kept Janet Hetherington awake in the wee hours of last Sunday as she tried to rest before her son’s wedding that afternoon.

She says she wasn’t suffering any common illness but the side effects of low-frequency noise generated by wind turbines near her Macarthur home in western Victoria.

“I don’t know what to do,” she wrote in an email at 4.30am (AEDT) on Sunday.

“I can’t live like this.”

Ms Hetherington was on Tuesday reduced to tears recalling the moment at a rally outside Parliament House in Canberra.

About 40 protesters, mostly from rural South Australia, NSW and Victoria, carried signs claiming wind farms made them ill or they were “wind refugees” forced to abandon their homes.

They want the federal government to support a Senate bill designed to curb excessive noise from wind farms.

The bill, introduced by independent senator Nick Xenophon and Democratic Labor Party senator John Madigan, seeks to refuse a Renewable Energy Certificate to wind farms that exceed normal background noise by more than 10 decibels.

One of the bill’s architects, SA barrister Peter Quinn, said he’d received hundreds of emails like Ms Hetherington’s from rural residents concerned about the impact of wind farm noise on their health and their families.

“These things are gutting agricultural communities,” Mr Quinn told the rally, adding claims that wind farms boosted regional economies were a “fraud.”

“Nobody wants to live near these things,” he said.

He urged the protesters to “bombard and shame” their federal MPs into backing the bill.

Under the proposed legislation, the Clean Energy Regulator would be equipped with powers to ensure accredited wind farms don’t create excessive noise within 30 metres of people’s homes, workplaces or meeting spots.

It would also force companies to make information about noise, wind speed and direction and other data publicly available.

Claims that wind farms are causing sleep deprivation, stress and serious long-term health problems have been the subject of much debate and concern in some communities.

In 2010, the government’s National Health and Medical Research Council stated there was currently “insufficient published scientific evidence” to link wind turbines with adverse health effects.

—Kay Siddell (Ayrshire, Scotland)

I have 53 industrial wind turbines in front of the house, a cluster of 10 between 680m and 900m away on the hill overlooking the house. Height is 110m. Two applications for 30 more to the side and the back of the house.

We have suffered over 10 years of noise, and my health is failing. I am now attempting to obtain a biopsy on my lungs to test the accuracy or not of the effects of vibro-acoustic disease. It is supposed to change the internal organs by building up much thicker collagen levels in a unique pattern.

If I am successful, I will report back and other people in our situation can use the evidence.

Wind energy, “an industry that makes no economic sense”

November 11, 2012

Americans should hope that winds of change — and sanity — blowing away pro-wind-energy policy in the United Kingdom waft all the way across the Atlantic, sparing U.S. taxpayers the bills for further subsidies of an industry that makes no economic sense.

Energy Minister John Hayes has announced a moratorium on building onshore wind turbines. It’s a dramatic reversal for the U.K.’s coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who in 2008 advocated spending 100 billion pounds on wind farms, according to the Daily Mail’s Christopher Booker.

The U.K. then saw wind farms as needed to meet its European Union commitment to produce nearly a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. But that policy’s now fallen victim to commonsense objections raised by communities and members of Parliament across party lines — objections that are just as valid on this side of the ocean.

The 3,500 onshore wind turbines that the U.K. already has produce only a quarter of their electrical capacity due to wind’s unreliability. And U.K. taxpayers have been subsidizing them at “100 percent on all the power they produce,” making wind power far more costly than conventional energy sources, Mr. Booker writes.

The economic inefficiency of subsidies compounds the electrical inefficiency of wind farms. The U.K. should end its 200-percent subsidies for offshore wind farms, too — and the U.S. should follow suit by ending its own wind-power boondoggles.

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Click here for the original editorial.

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Big Guy v. Little Guy

.—Calvin Luther Martin, PhD

A team of Syracuse, NY, lawyers is suing the Spanish wind energy giant, Iberdrola, on behalf of scores of people who have succumbed to Wind Turbine Syndrome, loss of property value, loss of living amenity, loss of business income, and damage to domestic animals and livestock.  All of the plaintiffs live in the shadow of the Hardscrabble windfarm in Herkimer County, NY.

Click here to read the legal brief, dated October 22, 2012.

What makes the case especially interesting is (a) the number of individuals named as plaintiffs, (b) the uniformity of their complaints, and (c) the fact that they have named several “versions” and layers of Iberdrola in their suit, together with Atlantic Renewable Energy and a shadow corporation identified in the suit as Corporation X.

But what makes the case unique, so far as I know, is that the noise engineer for the wind developer is being sued.  Mark Bastasch.  Both Bastasch and his employer, an outfit named CH2M Hill, are named in the brief.

Here are some high points from the suit:

94. The Defendants represented to the Town of Fairfield and residents in the areas where the turbines were placed that the subject wind turbines would not be noisy, would not adversely impact neighboring houses, and there would not be any potential health risks.

95. Defendant Atlantic Renewables LLC released “projected” noise levels that showed that the wind turbines would not go over 50 dB.

96. The aforementioned 2006 noise level study by Defendant Atlantic Renewables LLC was based on projections for General Electric 1.5LSE, 389-foot tall turbines, and not the Gamesa G90, 476-foot turbines, that Defendants collectively placed in the Hardscrabble project.

98. The Defendants failed to adequately assess the effect that the wind turbines would have on neighboring properties including, but not limited to, noise creation, significant loss of use and enjoyment of property, interference with electrical functioning of homes such as satellites, television, internet and telephone services, diminished property values, destruction of scenic countryside, various forms of trespass and nuisance to neighboring properties, and health concerns; among other effects.

99. Despite the foregoing, and in opposition to many residents who own property in close proximity to the wind turbines, in 2010 the Defendants erected 37 Gamesa G90 wind-turbines that stand 476 feet tall in and around the Towns of Fairfield, Middleville, and Norway, New York.

102. In 2011, the Defendants conducted a noise study that showed noise levels as high as 72 dB.

103. As a result of the aforementioned 2011 study, the Defendants thereafter faulted their own study and conducted two additional noise studies to demonstrate compliance with the Town of Fairfield’s Local Ordinance 1 of 2006, which sets the maximum noise level at 50 dB.

104. These new studies conducted by the Defendants show the average wind speeds, direction and expected percentage of operation.

105. The Defendants’ new studies did not measure the maximum wind speeds and do not measure the noise levels in the winter months, when the noise levels are higher.

106. The Defendants’ new studies fail to acknowledge and assess the extent of the problems, including the full log of Plaintiffs’ complaints that are in the thousands.

108. Since the huge wind turbines in this project produce very little electricity, when the government subsidies expire, the people in the Hardscrabble area will be confronted with a poorly maintained and deteriorating wind energy facility that may one day become derelict.

114. The Defendants’ noise studies also fail to address the aforesaid levels of infra and low frequency sounds by only focusing on audibility, and not on other sensations such as vestibular and other symptoms that fit with the Wind-Turbine Syndrome profile or other health concerns.

115. The wind turbines are causing such significant problems and/or injuries that residents, including the Plaintiffs, are continuing to have many difficulties on their properties, house values have been significantly compromised, and some residents were even forced to abandon their homes; among other damages as set forth in this complaint.

121. The aforesaid Defendants carelessly and negligently created and/or assisted in the creation of the massive wind-turbine structures that have caused and continue to cause significant harm to residents in the area of the turbines.

122. The aforesaid Defendants carelessly and negligently failed to adequately disclose the true nature and effects that the wind turbines would have on the community, including the Plaintiffs’ homes.

125. The amount of the damages sustained herein by Plaintiffs exceed the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts.

Excerpts from the case against noise engineer Mark Bastasch and his employer, CH2M Hill:

128. The studies performed by CH2M Hill, Inc. and Mark Bastasch, P.E., INCE lacked a total and real assessment as it related to the potential harm.

129. It is a requirement of acoustic engineers, pursuant to the International Conference on Electrical and Electronics Engineering and civil engineers (as per New York State licensure) to protect public safety, health, and welfare.

130. Defendants knew or should have known that the wind turbines erected produce acoustic pressure pulsations that affect peoples’ health.

131. It was the responsibility of CH2M Hill, Inc. and Mark Bastasch, P.E., INCE to advise their clients and the public, including Plaintiffs, of the potential for adverse health risks and other impacts to property in the Hardscrabble project area.

133. As a result of the aforesaid, the Plaintiffs have suffered significant and permanent injuries as more fully set forth herein.

134. The amount of the damages sustained herein by Plaintiffs exceed the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts.

Several other highlights:

136. Plaintiffs have a private interest in their land and Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants have interfered with and/or invaded their interest by conduct that was negligent, careless, intentional and/or unreasonable.

137. The wind turbines constitute a private nuisance because: (i) the wind turbines create significant noise; (ii) the wind turbines interfere with the private enjoyment and use of Plaintiffs’ properties; (iii) the wind turbines cause blinking, flashing and/or flickering effects that impact neighboring properties; and (iv) the wind turbines are adversely affecting property values; among other private nuisances.

149. Plaintiffs allege that the giant wind turbines that Defendants have placed around their property results in a trespass by the Defendants due to invasion of their land by noises, lights, flickering, and low-frequency vibrations which penetrate their homes, thereby destroying the use and enjoyment of the Plaintiffs’ land; among other trespass.

156. Defendants criteria for the wind turbines are beyond the recommendations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization to the detriment of Plaintiffs.

171. Based on the aforesaid, Plaintiffs allege that all of the Defendants have caused significant damage to the Plaintiffs and that such damage is substantial, irreparable, and was proximately caused by the acts of the Defendants as set forth in this complaint.

233. In addition to the aforesaid, all Plaintiffs are entitled to damages related to the diminution of their property values; compensatory damages for the destruction of their homes and lifestyle; loss of use and enjoyment of their properties; damages in the form of relocations costs and lost time spent relocating their homes; mental anguish; destruction of scenic countryside; physical pain and suffering; difficulty sleeping; nuisance; trespass; interference with electrical functioning of their homes such as satellites, telephone and televisions; loss of business profits; special damages that include anxiety, stress, worry and inconvenience; some Plaintiffs may have a need for future medical monitoring and/or medical care; and the effects of the lights and noise the wind turbines have on the Plaintiffs’ properties; among other injuries.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs demand judgment against the Defendants on each of the causes of action for the damages stated herein, in an amount to be determined which exceeds the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts, together with attorney’s fees, court costs and the disbursements of this action.

Unfortunately, the plaintiffs don’t have the funds to hire the experts they need, whereas the defendants have boundless funds to hire the usual parade of charlatans and self-important hacks who prostitute their services as physicists and noise engineers and clinicians to Big Wind.  

I say that with a sigh of regret.  

Unfortunately, in other words, the plaintiffs will likely lose.  But—God bless ’em in the effort.

“One very tall sign warned visitors that wind towers could cause headaches, nausea, vertigo, sleep deprivation, a feeling of sea sickness and increased ear pressure”

—Michael Cobb, Blayney Chronicle (11/8/12)

After my visit to Melbourne last week I travelled on to South Australia in an attempt to get a better handle on what is upsetting people about wind farms.

Just east of Adelaide are the Mount Lofty Ranges.

Extending in a northerly direction from them are a series of these ranges continuing as part of this same geological feature, and it is on these ranges that a number of wind farms are already built or intended to be built.

The Waterloo Wind Farm, which I chose to visit, is the closest of these to Adelaide, being about 125 kilometres north of that city.

It has been very controversial and constantly in the news since it began operating two years ago.

Because my visit had to be limited to one day, I could not meet everyone face to face that I wanted to.

However, I was able to visit the wind farm, the town of Waterloo, and meet with some residents and farmers.

Those I missed I was able to talk to at length over the phone.

Regrettably I could not speak to any hosts of the wind towers because of confidentiality clauses that the wind companies now require the hosts to sign.

Waterloo Town

The town of Waterloo itself is a small hamlet of 20 plus houses situated almost 3.5 kilometres due west of the wind farm.

It has been described as something of a ghost town.

To my eye it looked more like that a modern day version of the Battle of Waterloo had recently been fought there.

Though several houses are certainly run down and some now abandoned you had to admire the tenacity of the remaining residents who have stayed on.

Such people are the salt of the earth.

You could gauge the feeling of these remaining residents immediately just by reading the signs they have attached to their front gates and fences.

These signs said “Wind farms ruin our town”, called for wind farms to be banned, and that “Wind towers are a health hazard”.

One very tall sign warned visitors that wind towers could cause headaches, nausea, vertigo, sleep deprivation, a feeling of sea sickness and increased ear pressure.

It was hard to escape the impression that these signs would not have been erected up and down the main street unless the residents felt very strongly about what was happening to them.

You were clearly left with the perception that the townspeople were very resentful towards the wind farm, even though it was set back almost double the distance (3.5 kilometres v 2.0 kilometres) of what is proposed in New South Wales.

I learned that one of the townspeople had been forced to move out and was now living in a shed at his mothers.

Another had also moved from his house because of the noise and was now living in a caravan.

One retired couple who had moved to Waterloo for its peace and quiet say their house vibrates when the towers are active.

For relief during prolonged windy periods they have to move away for a few days at a time.

Another lady who suffers from the towers also has to move out of her house and live elsewhere to regain her sanity.

The one business remaining in Waterloo is the quarry on the edge of the town.

The quarry owner lives in his house in town, or did so until recently.

Though his profession is naturally associated with a fair degree of noise to which he is accustomed, I was told he only uses the house through the day now.

He has bought another residence in Saddleworth, several kilometres away, to escape the noise at night and get an uninterrupted sleep.

Hearing these stories, it was hard not to feel a sense of despair for these people.

With a few rare exceptions no one seems to care for them.

Not the wind company, not the health authorities, not the government, and dare I say it, not even their local parliamentary members.

Waterloo Wind Farm

One resident of the area took me down a back road and across a farm paddock, then up the ridge line to see the towers first hand for myself.

The day was dead calm so I saw only one blade move about five feet.

Over $200 million just sitting there doing nothing.

Standing at the base of such gargantuan towers looking heavenward at these fully imported monsters, where you could land a helicopter on the hub, seemed to symbolise the ultimate folly of man.

These towers make the ones we have at Carcoar look like lollipop sticks.

It was hard to take in the scale of these behemoths.

They were strung out along the ridge line for as far as the eye could see, dominating the skyline and overlooking the fertile farming valleys that stretched away on both sides into the distance.

Neighbouring Farmers

The first thing to realise about wind towers is that you do not know if or to what degree they may affect you until they are erected.

That depends on many factors such as tower size, topography, wind direction, distance and your own individual susceptibility.

Though the audible noise can be very annoying, it is often the low frequency and inaudible infra sound that is the most damaging, especially if you are inside your house.

A bit like being inside a drum as opposed to outside it.

The large amplitude waves of infra sound often only ‘take effect’ at long distances from the tower. I learnt that sometimes it is better to live under the tower than some kilometres away.

One farm I visited was over eight kilometres away with a range between the towers and his house.

Though the towers could not be seen the farmer said you could hear them even ten kilometres away at the back of his property.

The description one farmer gave me was of a “constant pulsating, thumping noise that you just can’t get away from”.

He said the wind companies are “the biggest liars. They told me they would be quiet”.

That farmer has now moved from his house to a nearby town and drives out to the farm each day to work.

Another farmer explained that the sensation “wakes you up at night – you can’t get back to sleep. I have ringing badly in my ears at night, but it is better since I moved house three months ago”.

Yet another farmer told me “The constant noise gets to you. You can’t get away from it. It makes you irritable and nervy”.

This farmer was eight kilometres away too in another direction, and also can’t see the towers as he too has a range between him and the towers.

“It was just like a jet the other night”, he said.

“I now have tinnitus (ringing) in one ear. The sound funnels down the valley. The government does not care for the people anymore”.

One other farmer complained to me that the wind farm has “ruined the area. The ridge tops were once a habitat for wedge tail eagles. They are proud, territorial birds, but now the nesting areas are deserted. There are no eagles left here”.

He then added “The politicians have no idea”.

Space considerations do not permit me to tell the other stories of disrupted TV receptions, of the manager of the wind farm who insists on living over 30 kilometres away, and so on.

Suffice to say that as long as the government subsidies continue to flow to the operators and the green voters continue to be appeased in their city apartments, people like those at Waterloo will continue to be the unfortunate “road kill” of these projects I was told.

Because the victims’ numbers are small in the whole scheme of things they can be ignored.

Inhumanity can reign if you are a minority in a relatively isolated area.

It was a long day and I had clocked many miles.

Yet somehow I came away dismayed and saddened that somehow I, too, would be another who would let them down.

Their faces had searched mine for some glimmer of hope. What more could I do?

Perhaps if enough can tell their story, someday, someone in a position of power will listen.