“Many were in favour of the windfarm until they had to live with it” (Australia)
Apr 4, 2012
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Mary Morris (Mid North Wind Farm Awareness), in BarossaHerald.com (4/3/12)
A petition has been presented to the Goyder Council listing 277 genuine local names and signatures from the immediate area of Waterloo wind farm and the adjacent proposed Robertstown and Stony Gap wind farms.
These residents are clearly saying that they do not want any more wind farms to be built in the area between Burra and Eudunda because of the real impacts of the turbines on themselves, their friends, family and neighbours.
These people have not been surveyed by TRUenergy or the Clean Energy Council or the CSIRO since the Waterloo wind farm began operating.
Many of these people were in favour of the wind farm until they had to live with it. The collection of signatures is ongoing and at least 40 more will soon be presented to the council.
In July 2011, after the Waterloo wind farm had been operating for about eight months, an Adelaide University survey sent to 75 households within 5km of the Waterloo wind farm had 48 respondents, an extremely high response rate.
Seventy per cent were moderately to severely affected by the wind turbine noise.
Four households who lived between 3-4.5km from the turbines have had to leave their home in order to get enough sleep.
Two of these have bought houses in other towns.
Two other households who cannot afford to buy another home are living in a shed and in a caravan. Other families remain sleep deprived and sick in their own homes, waiting for the EPA to act.
Noise pollution governance and the EPA are failing the people of Waterloo and Hallett.
What does Mr Garnsworthy say to the residents at Waterloo who have been advised by their doctors never to go back to their home when the turbines are turning?
How is he and his company “engaging” with them?
How is he “engaging” with the children who are getting headaches, earaches, and cannot sleep?
And they are planning to do it all again at Stony Gap, and Robertstown adversely affecting even more rural residents.
Regarding the Pygmy Blue Tongue lizards at the Stony Gap Wind Farm site.
The PBT are listed as endangered under the EPBC Act and the NPW Act.
This should trigger an EPBC referral which should result in an in-depth survey being done.
Not only did TRUenergy not do this, they did not notify and inform the PBT recovery team of their discoveries or proposed wind farm development or consult with them about how to proceed.
At the time of writing this letter, the PBT Recovery Team, having been alerted by the community, is still waiting on a response from TRUenergy.
Comment by mtumba djibouti on 04/04/2012 at 1:01 pm
People (that is, citizens other than wind industry shills or community “representatives” – council members, selectmen, etc.) need to understand – your government does not give a damn about you. It is beholden to greed and stupidity.
Polite engagement will not work. They do not care. Your concerns will continue to be ignored.
Gay activists in the USA in the 80s and 90s realized this and started a nearly universally derided and disparaged and mocked movement called Act Up! Although government and media critics all said they were counter productive, the fact of the matter is HIV research only began in earnest after Act Up! crowds began civil disobedience — occupying government buildings, blocking the streets, etc. In the US, the NIH (National Institutes of Health) only began to take AIDS research seriously AFTER their offices were repeatedly occupied by shouting Act Up! crowds.
The result is plain. The government caved, research was done, and HIV is now a largely manageable disease. Even though this disease affects more heterosexuals than gays, the government didn’t give a damn. But AIDs activism forced a change. Not begging or pleading or asking quietly or politely – but agitating. Governments don’t like unpleasantness. They don’t want attention. They like to operate under the radar.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Comment by Itasca Small on 04/04/2012 at 3:46 pm
After nearly 1.5 years of trying to work within the system, we have achieved some positive results mainly rooted in slowing down the processes of county government. Many of us have included prayer to Almighty God, and appeals to the claimed Christian beliefs of our Supervisors and their minions. During the same time period, God was working in the whole situation and slowing down the advance in several ways. It is hard to look beyond the immediate effects on one’s own community, but progress has been made when we look at the “Big Picture.” [I write this at my sister’s home 150 miles from my own home from which I finally escaped four months ago… Thanks to Calvin for helping me to really comprehend just how bad the effects were on my health and thought processing. Tenacity and perseverance can be life-threatening when pursued to the extreme.]
In my own very small remote community in North Central Arizona, we have been besieged by infrasonic wave radiation generated by IWTs approximately 10.25 – 13 or more miles away in the Dry Lake Wind Power Plant (I refuse to call it a “farm”) to the point that I and some others cannot live in our homes with them turning.
However, the good news (Praise Report) is that the project threatened to be sited within .5 mile of our dwellings (not the property lines) appears to be on-hold! The new US Fish & Wildlife Service guidelines proposed last spring put a real scare into the developers nationwide. Our own community shares our homes with Bald and Golden Eagles and RES Americas has had to admit there is at least one Golden nest one mile from the proposed project boundary. They are also not getting favorable wind data from the one meteorological tower they have online, and have gotten extensions to the time limit for erecting more towers. Their website for this project has disappeared from the internet.
This does not help those who already face projects in the works or online, but had we not slowed the county process RES would be on-track to put this project in use. There is, however, hope for others who have bald or golden eagles within 10 miles of working wind plants. Unless the FWS guidelines have been watered-down (I don’t know the latest), ALL projects are in jeopardy of being shutdown because of this guideline. There is no grandfathering to protect them.
We must also be thankful for and recognize as the tide turning in Congress, the fact that the Production Tax Credit plan and the 1603 stimulus grants are being defeated in Washington. The legislators are getting the message. Thanks to all who are spearheading these efforts!
For reasons we may never understand, many of us are victims and more may become victims, but there IS hope as the tide turns to the side of truth. . . .
I don’t know if civil disobedience is the answer. I pray that God will help us to know and do His will, and that we are meant to stop this insidious attack on humanity and all living creatures across-the-globe. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Comment by Itasca Small on 04/04/2012 at 3:51 pm
Clarification: my statement regarding “ALL projects are in jeopardy of being shutdown because of this guideline,” should have made clear that it applies to all projects in pre-production and in production that have bald or golden eagles and/or their nest within 10 miles of the project. I did not mean to make it sound like other projects were also affected.
Comment by Wanda Allott (Australia) on 04/15/2012 at 3:38 am
I have written letters, been to meetings and protests, but nothing has changed for me.
I still live in Waterloo (Australia). My health is getting worse, and the goverment couldn’t care less.
I am now not paying my council rates in protest, and also I cannot afford to pay them because it is costing me a lot
of money in fuel to get away from Waterloo—just to have a day without a headache and a clear head.
I propose that everyone in Waterloo that has any health issues, not to pay there rates.
Regards,
Wanda