{"id":9324,"date":"2010-08-02T22:15:22","date_gmt":"2010-08-03T02:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=9324"},"modified":"2012-02-03T05:13:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T10:13:03","slug":"turbines-too-loud-here-take-5000-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2010\/turbines-too-loud-here-take-5000-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTurbines too loud? Here, take $5000\u201d (New York Times)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0
\n\u2014William Yardley (7\/31\/10)<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> for original<\/span><\/p>\n

IONE, Oregon \u2014 Residents of the remote high-desert hills near here have had an unusual visitor recently, a fixer working out the kinks in clean energy.<\/p>\n

Patricia Pilz of Caithness Energy, a big company from New York that is helping make this part of Eastern Oregon one of the fastest-growing wind power regions in the country, is making a tempting offer: sign a waiver saying you will not complain about excessive noise from the turning turbines \u2014 the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of the future, advocates say \u2014 and she will cut you a check for $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cShall we call it hush money?\u201d said one longtime farmer, George Griffith, 84. \u201cIt was about as easy as easy money can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Griffith happily accepted the check, but not everyone is taking the money. Even out here \u2014 where the recession has steepened the steady decline of the rural economy, where people have long supported the massive dams that harness the Columbia River for hydroelectric power, where Oregon has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to cultivate alternative energy \u2014 pockets of resistance are rising with the windmills on the river banks.<\/p>\n

Residents in small towns are fighting proposed projects, raising concerns about threats to birds and big game, as well as about the way the giant towers and their blinking lights spoil some of the West\u2019s most alluring views.<\/p>\n

Here, just west of where the Columbia bends north into Washington, some people are fighting turbines that are already up and running. In a region where people often have to holler to be heard over the roar of the wind across the barren hills, they say it is the windmills that make too much noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing we have going for us is the Oregon state noise ordinance,\u201d said Mike Eaton, an opponent of the turbines.<\/p>\n

Oregon is one of a growing number of places that have drafted specific regulations restricting noise from wind turbines. The Oregon law allows for noise to exceed what is considered an area\u2019s ambient noise level by only a certain amount. But what those ambient levels are is sometimes disputed, as is how and where they should be measured.<\/p>\n

And while state law limits turbine noise, the state office that once enforced industrial noise laws, housed within the Department of Environmental Quality, was disbanded in 1991, long before wind power became a state priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the regulations still on the books, and entities are expected to comply with those regulations,\u201d said William Knight, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality. \u201cBut there really isn\u2019t anybody from D.E.Q. going around to find out if that\u2019s occurring. I\u2019m not sure who you\u2019d call out there in Columbia Gorge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local government is one answer. In May, after testimony from private acoustic experts, the Morrow County Planning Commission agreed with Mr. Eaton, his wife, Sherry, and a small group of other opponents that Willow Creek, a wind farm directly behind the Eatons\u2019 modest house on Highway 74, was indeed exceeding allowable noise levels. The commission ordered the company that operates the site, Invenergy, to come into compliance within six months.<\/p>\n

Invenergy quickly appealed \u2014 and so did the Eatons and their allies. The county\u2019s board of commissioners also asked the planning commission to clarify its decision. A hearing is scheduled for this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appeals were all based on the same questions,\u201d said Carla McLane, the county planning director. \u201cWhat does \u2018not in compliance\u2019 mean, and what does it take to be in compliance in six months?\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents say the constant whooshing from the turbines makes them anxious and that the low-level vibrations keep them awake at night. Some say it gives them nausea and headaches. Many other residents say they hear little or nothing at all, and the question of whether windmill noise can harm health is in dispute.<\/p>\n

Critics say those complaining about Willow Creek are just angry that they were not able to lease their land to wind developers. Some opponents say they would be happy if Invenergy just turned certain turbines off at night, but others say they want reimbursement for losing their pastoral way of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re really trying to do is get Invenergy to the bargaining table,\u201d said Dan Williams, a builder who is part of the group frustrated with the noise from Willow Creek.<\/p>\n

While Invenergy is still dealing with the noise issue even after Willow Creek, which has 48 turbines, has been up and running for more than 18 months, Caithness Energy, the company asking some residents to sign waivers allowing noise to exceed certain limits, hopes it can solve the issue upfront. It also has more at stake.<\/p>\n

Caithness is building a much larger wind farm adjoining Willow Creek called Shepherd\u2019s Flat. The new farm is expected to have 338 turbines and generate more than 900 megawatts when it is completed in 2013, which would make it one of the largest wind facilities in the country.<\/p>\n

Large farms like Shepherd\u2019s Flat are regulated by the state. Tom Stoops, the council secretary for the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council, said that large projects must prove they will comply with the noise ordinance and that noise waivers, or easements, are among the solutions. Asked if it was common for companies to pay people to sign such easements, Mr. Stoops said, \u201cThat\u2019s probably a level of detail that doesn\u2019t come to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Pilz, the local Caithness representative, did not volunteer the information that Caithness offers people money to sign noise easements, though she eventually confirmed in an interview that it did. She also would not say how much money it offers, though several property owners said she had offered them $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t do in general is change the market price for a waiver,\u201d Ms. Pilz said. \u201cThat\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people who did not sign said that Ms. Pilz made them feel uncomfortable, that she talked about how much Shepherd\u2019s Flat would benefit the struggling local economy and the nation\u2019s energy goals, and that she suggested they were not thinking of the greater good if they refused.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lady that came said everyone else signed,\u201d said Jarrod Ogden, 33, a farmer whose house would be directly opposite several 300-foot turbines once Shepherd\u2019s Flat is completed. \u201cBut I know for a fact that some people didn\u2019t. I\u2019m all for windmills, but I\u2019m not going to let them buy me like that. I think they\u2019re just trying to buy cheap insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u2014William Yardley (7\/31\/10) Click here for original IONE, Oregon \u2014 Residents of the remote high-desert hills near here have had an unusual visitor recently, a fixer working out the kinks in clean energy. Patricia Pilz of Caithness Energy, a big company from New York that is helping make this part of Eastern Oregon one of the fastest-growing wind power regions in the country, is making a tempting offer: sign a waiver saying you will not complain about excessive noise from the turning turbines \u2014 the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of the future, advocates say \u2014 and she will cut you a check for $5,000. \u201cShall we call it hush money?\u201d said one longtime farmer, George Griffith, 84. \u201cIt was about as easy as easy money can get.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[167,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324"}],"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=9324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}