Wind Turbine Syndrome victims plead for Congressional inquiry (Maine)
May 17, 2013
Print Article
—Alan Farago, Vinalhaven, Maine (4/10/13)
My family and I are victims of wind turbine noise. With neighbors on our small Maine island, we have spent three years litigating the State of Maine on wind turbine noise regulations and enforcement, and lack thereof.
My friend, Art Lindgren, trudged through the Maine woods near our homes in fall, winter and spring; taking noise measurements in all kinds of weather, to prove the failure of state regulation and enforcement. This battle has taken a toll on our health, our peace and quiet, and finances.
There are additional penalties incurred by citizens with no ulterior motive except protecting their peace and quiet, their health and property values. Our group of neighbors on Vinalhaven is suffering like many communities the United States where wind turbine farms have been permitted too close to homes.
The Lindgrens have made efforts to engage their Maine US Senator Susan Collins, asking that Senator Collins support a Congressional hearing on impacts to people from wind turbine noise. Their letters are attached (click here).
We all have stories to tell, and it is important for Congress to hear your stories now.
Please support our effort for a Congressional hearing on the impacts of wind turbine noise.
Please write a letter now, to Senator Collins and to your own elected Congressional representatives. (And if you do, please copy me at alanfarago@mac.com.)
Comment by Mtumba on 05/17/2013 at 5:15 pm
Best of luck in this. At least Collins is a Republican so you won’t be rejected outright.
As we have seen, the morally bankrupt and corrupt Obama administration will do nothing to mitigate wind turbine travesties, will ignore bird deaths and will instead protect “green” cronies who donate “green” to the corrupt administration.
Comment by Kaz on 05/17/2013 at 7:53 pm
While Senator Collins is a Republican, she must answer to ALL her constituents, no matter what their party affiliation—and there is still a shortage of factual knowledge among many Maine citizens regarding the negative impacts of industrial grid-scale wind energy facilities. Many still believe that ‘wind’ will somehow counter the effects of global warming and ‘get us off fossil fuels’. It’s a decades-old mantra that many have accepted as gospel. As long as most citizens remain uneducated, they will likely continue to urge Senator Collins to support this ‘renewable’ energy source.
Senator Collins also shares the ‘Senate’ spotlight with Senator Angus King, who—prior to his successful run for U.S. Senate in 2012—was a wind developer of some notoriety. He was part owner of the contentious Record Hill Wind project in Roxbury, Maine, and he was also attempting to build a 39 turbine project atop the five mountain summits in tiny Highland Plantation, at the gateway to the Bigelow Preserve. Sen. Collins is up against the Big Boys: an Administration and a powerful colleague who support this industry wholeheartedly.
It is my hope that the Senator will heed our call and support a Congressional hearing on the health impacts of wind turbines. We met with Bobby Reynolds, her office manager/aide de camp in Augusta and via satellite with her ‘environmental’ aide in Washington D.C. several months ago, but thus far we haven’t had any satisfaction. Her staff seemed to think our request should go to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but I truly believe this is a case for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (although the Committee seems to have oversight on a wide range of topics that might not be related). Wherever the request was sent (and we were assured it WOULD be forwarded after the Senator consulted with her staff)—thus far, we haven’t heard a peep from the Senator’s people.
That’s worrisome, discouraging and perhaps even disrespectful to those who made the plea. People are suffering—not just here in Maine but across the country and around the world. It is time for ALL concerned Americans to contact their own Senators and Congressmen (and Congresswomen) and request the same thing—a hearing where testimony is heard under oath and where the witnesses must honestly answer the questions put to them and where unbiased experts can testify.
Please consider contacting your own U.S. delegation. I just hope yours aren’t former wind developers, like 25% of Maine’s delegation is.
Kaz
Senator Susan Collins (Maine)
Comment by michael fairneny on 05/18/2013 at 9:00 am
Michael Fairneny
May 10 (6 days ago)
to David, marc.simpson, benjamin.downi., ken.kimmell, Rick.Sullivan
Gentlemen,
This note is in regards to my wife’s hearing loss, the Hoosac Wind Project, and the current compliance testing done by Iberdrola.
My wife, Jo Ann has been to an ear specialist on three different occasions within the past few months (she has never had ear problems)…her hearing has definitely been effected and deteriorating since her initial visit. This debilitation has happened so dramatically that the doctor had her have an MRI of her ears and head. This test evidently showed nothing significant but the ringing/buzzing in her ears still persists each and every day that we are home. This has caused her many sleepless nights and/or continues to wake her up consistently. She says she doesn’t look forward to coming home, being at home, gardening in our yard (which is her passion) and has been looking for an opportunity to work, live and get away from our “DREAM HOME” of 29 years. When she is away at work or leaves for a while these symptoms dissipate and eventually go away, but I (we) are afraid that the hearing loss could become permanent. I find this situation very distressing and I ask you what solution would you suggest.?
I am also having some sleep disturbance and headaches when I am home (not from her) and even if I wasn’t having symptoms…. what choice do I have? We are now seriously considering…”PLAN B”….and unfortunately, we don’t know what that is…
I am now 60 years old with 4 grandchildren who all love it up here…and what has been allowed to happen here is devastating to me and my family.
I still have a very hard time trying to see though and evaluate the true benefits of what seems to be very questionable science and obscure guidelines, without any proper governmental/state standards for siting/setbacks as well as noise pollution (audible and inaudible sound, ie.; ILFN) to protect us. Aren’t we, the residents (citizens) part of the environment….? Don’t we deserve to be protected ?…as well as the birds, the bats, and the earth.?
Just because we have chosen to live in a sparsely populated, rural area and there are only a few dozen of us (that have not taken the money offered by Iberdrola’s…so-called “GOOD NEIGHBOR” agreement which I call a “GAG ORDER”) does that mean that our health and well-being be cast aside? That the agencies set up to protect us don’t even have in place adequate standards/ protocol to evaluate the technology that has been jammed down our throats?…WHY?…I’ll tell you why…MONEY!!….BIG MONEY!….This is not FAIR….This is not RIGHT to have our “PURSUIT of HAPPINESS” thrown out the window. If we can’t feel safe in our own home….then… HOW CAN WE BE HAPPY ??…..isn’t THIS our RIGHT??
How can it be accepted that the only sound test done …1.be paid for by the developer….2.the acoustic firm be chosen by the developer…3.monitoring sites be chosen by developer….4.positioning/placement of monitoring devices chosen by developer….5.established DEP procedures (however inadequate) be totally disregarded by developer… 6.interpretation of data done by the developer….
I am asking for proper testing to be done…This means current standards to be followed (ie.; attended monitoring, proper intervals, duration and times of testing, assurance of maximum output and speed of turbines, etc)….also essential is that the new, current knowledge for infrasound and low frequency noise be included…..I am no sound expert…but I am very much aware of my own headaches and symptoms as well as what my wife of well over 30 years has been experiencing day after day.
We want an explanation and relief…We want our peaceful world back!
Please Help,
Michael Fairneny
Comment by April Boggs on 06/02/2013 at 8:16 am
As I read each and every testimony, I literally sit in fear. The OPSB has recently approved another 50+ turbines for Champaign County, Ohio. This is for phase two of the Buckeye Wind Project. There will be a total of 100 turbines between both phases. My family and I will be surrounded by these 500 ft industrial machines. The wind developer, EverPower Renewables, paints a rosy picture, stating “Wind makes America Strong!”
It saddens me how far leaseholders will go to profit off of the ruin of their neighbor’s quiet enjoyment & American dream.
When will the U.S. stand up and realize that wind energy is a failed industry, only being propped up by corporate welfare?
God save is!