Huron Expositor, 2009-05-20, Page 8Page 8 The Huron iExpositor • May 20, 2009
News
Local residents want greater setbacks from wind turbines
From Page 7
Act and it will pass. But, they haven't
set any rules or setbacks. so there are
still opportunities," he said.
Melady said she left the Brodhagen
meeting with a great sense of help.-
lessness but has since discovered an
organization called Wind Concerns
Ontario, a coalition of 9 community
organizations fighting similar bat-
tles against industrial wind farms.
"They have got the ear of (Ontario
Energy Minister George) Smither
man and we as a group have the op-
tion sof joining them," she said, asking
the group to contribute a toonie or a
loonie towards the $100 fee neces-
sary to join Wind Concerns Ontario.
She said Wind Concerns Ontario
is trying to expose .the myths about
wind energy being promoted by the
Canada Wind Energy Association
(CanWea) which represents the local
wind industry,
"One of the myths is that .it brings
jobs to the community. In reality,
what's left is a bunch of turbines .and
a couple of people needed to main-
tain them," she said.
Showing a map of McKillop Town
ship and the location of the proposed
wind projects, Rob Tetu said that
with a 450 metre setback, five resi-
dences will be within or on the edge
of the properties holding the 95 me-
tre tall towers' with 45 metre tur-
bines.
He added that if the setback were
pushed back to 600 metres, 17 resi-
dences would be affected and if it
were pushed back to 1,000 metres, it
would blanket the whole area.
Murray pointed out that if the prov-
ince can be convinced to set the set-
backs at the 1,500 metres required
in several European countries, wind
turbines would not be possible in
most of Southwestern Ontario.
Dixon, a mother of two young chil-
dren under the age of three, said
her new house on Beechwood Line
between Summerhill and Maple -
which she and her husband built for
the peace and quiet of the country -
will be within the 450 metre setback
of two of the wind turbines.
"We're going to be victims of this
and what kind of suffering will we
have?" she said.
Dixon said she has heard of a three-
year-old girl whose family lives near
a wind turbine in the Ripley area
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who has been to the emergency de-
partment of the hospital 10 times in
the past 18 months after waking in
the night screaming and complain-
ing of earaches. But, since her fam-
ily moved away from their home and
the wind turbine, her complaints
have gone away.
Melady, who pointed out that not
everyone is bothered by wind tur-
bines, said her research showed that
health issues of those who suffer from
their proximity to wind turbines have
sleep problems, headaches, nausea,
exhaustion, anger, irritability, anxi-
ety, depression, heart palpitations
and ringing in their ears.
She said other health impacts come
from shadow flicker, the shadow that
occurs every time the blades rotate
on a sunny day and from stray volt-
age.
"The health issues don't affect ev-
eryone. It's just a small number that
are affected but the question is how
many people is enough. One's too
many," said Tetu.
Ryan said that while the turbine
blades make a "swooshing" noise,
the health concerns come from a low
frequency noise from the hum of the
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Tetu compared the low frequency
noise to the pOuunding of the bass
from a car stereo.
"You can feel it pounding in your
stomach. You can't hear it but you
can feel it," he said, adding that it
can travel up to three kilometres and
through buildings.
Organizers said they contacted
Huron -Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell
and Perth -Wellington MPP John
Wilkinson with their concerns.
Murray said he'd heard from Mitch-
ell that she would be voting in favour
of Bill 150.
Melady said she received an email
in response from Mitchell that said
she was not able to attend the Brod-
hagen meeting but she would speak
to the municipality about the com-
munity's concerns. She also said that
setbacks would be determined based
on science related to health and the
environment.
Wilkinson was not able to attend
the Brodhagen meeting either.
Everyone at the meeting was urged'
to call or write their MPPs.
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