{"id":12932,"date":"2011-01-28T13:51:47","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T18:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=12932"},"modified":"2012-01-25T10:12:51","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T15:12:51","slug":"its-simple-theyre-too-close-to-homes-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/its-simple-theyre-too-close-to-homes-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s simple; they’re too close to homes!” (Ohio)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Noise levels that wake them … vibrations … and shadow flickering that … emits pulsating flashes”<\/h4>\n

\u00b7<\/span>
\n\u2014Shelley Grieshop, The Daily Standard<\/a> (1\/27\/11)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

MARIA STEIN—\u201cIt\u2019s simple. They\u2019re too close to homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the message to a packed house at the American Legion on Wednesday evening from an Illinois couple who live near a wind turbine farm.<\/p>\n

Dave Hulthen and his wife, Stephanie, drove 5\u00bd\u00a0hours from their home in DeKalb County to speak at the townhouse meeting about their ongoing experience. Thirteen of 146 turbines in the wind farm are within a mile of their 8-year-old country home.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of them are 1,400 feet from my home\u2019s foundation,\u201d he said, as whispers erupted across the crowd of more than 300 people.<\/p>\n

The Hulthens were invited to the meeting by a group of about 30 area residents who believe the wind turbines being proposed locally aren\u2019t suitable for the populated region. The group \u2013- Citizens Against Turbines (CAT) \u2013- have expressed their views at previously-held private and public meetings.<\/p>\n

Spokesman for the group, Jim Niekamp of St. Henry, led the 2\u00bd-hour meeting Wednesday evening. Another public meeting is slated for 8:30 p.m. tonight at the American Legion hall in Fort Recovery.<\/p>\n

Niekamp said NextEra<\/a>, the wind energy company proposing the 40- to 70-turbine wind farm in southern Mercer County and a portion of Auglaize County, was invited to attend the gathering but \u201cregretfully declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

NextEra also is the company that built the wind farm in DeKalb County.<\/p>\n

The turbines located near the Hulthens\u2019 4\u00bd-acre property in northern Illinois became operational in December 2009, the couple said. The family has endured noise levels that wake them from their sleep, vibrations they feel within their bodies and shadow flickering that sometimes emits pulsating flashes inside their home, they said.<\/p>\n

The rural life they loved has changed since the turbines arrived, Stephanie Hulthen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re happy people. This is just something we\u2019re going through \u2013- and you could be going through,\u201d the elementary teacher said. \u201cWe have good days and bad days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hulthens, who have four children, gave a PowerPoint presentation to explain their experience and provide information they\u2019ve gathered the last few years. The crowd was visibly awed when Dave Hulthen, 34, played an audio clip of noise outside his home and showed video of the shadow flicker they endure on sunny days from mid-March to mid-September.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had shadow flickering up to 45 minutes some mornings,\u201d said Hulthen, a self-employed cabinetmaker who holds a degree in physics. \u201cRight now, I feel like I\u2019m living in an industrial park.\u201d<\/p>\n

NextEra has offered to install blinds in their windows to combat the flickering, but the couple didn\u2019t welcome the idea of altering their lifestyle, they said. The wind company also offered to plant trees on their property, but the Hulthens said that wouldn\u2019t help their immediate situation.<\/p>\n

Last week the Hulthens used the company\u2019s hotline to inform them that ice on the turbine blades was causing a loud \u201cdroning\u201d noise. NextEra officials haven\u2019t returned the call, they said.<\/p>\n

Niekamp said he initially didn\u2019t think a wind turbine farm would be a \u201cbig deal\u201d for the area. But he soon discovered there was a lot of misinformation circulating, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think some people believe these are just windmills, the size of a silo, and that we\u2019ll get just one or two of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CAT members say their goal is to make information available so local residents can form educated decisions. The group\u2019s message is focused toward property owners who are contemplating land leases for the proposed wind farm project, Niekamp admitted.<\/p>\n

According to court records in Mercer and Auglaize counties, about 2,400 acres have been leased to one of three wind companies. Some of the contracts are for the construction of turbines or test towers and others are for land easements.<\/p>\n

Niekamp said the company would need 7,000 to 10,000 acres before applying to the Ohio Power Siting Board for permission to build 70 turbines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean they might not go forward with less, he added.<\/p>\n

CAT members believe there\u2019s time to stop the wind farm project from becoming a reality, Niekamp said. He asked those in opposition to the project to sign the group\u2019s petition, contact their legislators and talk to their neighbors.<\/p>\n

During his 30-minute talk, Dave Hulthen said he and his wife have developed a blog (lifewithdekalbturbines.blogspot.com<\/a>) to document their life. He explained that he\u2019s not some crazy guy just trying to stir up trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a radical \u2026 I own my own business, I\u2019m a worship leader at my church,\u201d he said. \u201cI just want people to know that what wind companies say and do can be two different things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Noise levels that wake them … vibrations … and shadow flickering that … emits pulsating flashes” \u00b7 \u2014Shelley Grieshop, The Daily Standard (1\/27\/11) MARIA STEIN—\u201cIt\u2019s simple. They\u2019re too close to homes.\u201d That was the message to a packed house at the American Legion on Wednesday evening from an Illinois couple who live near a wind turbine farm. Dave Hulthen and his wife, Stephanie, drove 5\u00bd\u00a0hours from their home in DeKalb County to speak at the townhouse meeting about their ongoing experience. Thirteen of 146 turbines in the wind farm are within a mile of their 8-year-old country home. \u201cTwo of them are 1,400 feet from my home\u2019s foundation,\u201d he said, as whispers erupted across the crowd of more than 300 people. The Hulthens were invited to the meeting by a group of about 30 area residents who believe the wind turbines being proposed locally aren\u2019t suitable for the populated region. The group \u2013- Citizens Against Turbines (CAT) \u2013- have expressed their views at previously-held private and public meetings. Spokesman for the group, Jim Niekamp of St. Henry, led the 2\u00bd-hour meeting Wednesday evening. Another public meeting is slated for 8:30 p.m. tonight at the American Legion hall in Fort Recovery. Niekamp said NextEra, the wind energy company proposing the 40- to 70-turbine wind farm in southern Mercer County and a portion of Auglaize County, was invited to attend the gathering but \u201cregretfully declined.\u201d NextEra also is the company that built the wind farm in DeKalb County. The turbines located near the Hulthens\u2019 4\u00bd-acre property in northern Illinois became operational in December 2009, the couple said. The family has endured noise levels that wake them from their sleep, vibrations they feel within their bodies and shadow flickering that sometimes emits pulsating flashes inside their home, they said. The rural life theyRead More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}