noise

Ezra warns of Destruction We are About to Witness, at the Hands of the Liberals

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EZRA LEVANT - LEVANT: Ontario, yours to dismantle

Credits: MICHAEL PEAKE/Toronto Sun

EZRA LEVANT | QMI AGENCY

 

Put aside the scandals and corruption and police investigations into the Ontario Liberal Party. That’s just morality and ethics stuff, and Ontarians are apparently fine with that.

But what about the economy created by the Liberals, happily accepted by voters last Thursday?

For seven years running, Ontario has had a higher unemployment rate than the national average. Ontario is a have-not province, now subsidized by others, including Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, two new have provinces.

Stop and let that sink in.

Ontario’s taxes are high, and about to grow higher: Premier Kathleen Wynne’s campaign centrepiece was a new payroll tax for a provincial pension plan, deducted from every employee’s paycheque.

In other words, a job tax.

There will be other taxes too, including on Pearson Airport, the airport already saddled with the highest user fees in the world.

And Ontario’s disastrous experiment with wind turbines and solar panels will continue for decades — that’s the length of time Ontario will force residents and companies to buy power at inflated rates to subsidize their green schemes.

Even as power prices fall in other provinces and competitor states in the U.S. It’s surely a coincidence that the former president of the Liberal Party is a wind turbine executive.

That’s what’s so dispiriting.

Not that Ontarians are fine with a corrupt political class.

But that Ontarians are fine with economic decline and that more and more economic “success stories” aren’t entrepreneurs, but rather crony capitalists with ties to the government.

Ontarians, for more than a century the economic engine of Canada, are fine now being an economic brake. The decline first brought on by Dalton McGuinty is no longer a blip. It’s a trend.

It seems unthinkable that Ontario could ever be anything other than the biggest and strongest province. But it surely felt that way in Montreal, too, for the longest time.

But take the story of the Bank of Montreal to see how things don’t last forever.

The Bank of Montreal is Canada’s oldest bank, founded in 1817. And for 160 years, it was headquartered in — obviously — Montreal. But in 1970, politics brought risk and cost to Quebec in a way not seen before.

The FLQ crisis brought terrorism and martial law. In 1976, the Parti Quebecois won the election. So in 1977, the Bank of Montreal moved its head office operations to Toronto.

For two lifetimes it was unthinkable that the Bank of Montreal would leave Montreal. But in the course of 20 years it happened.

Politics matters.

Ontarians just renewed their bonds with a party that deliberately campaigned to the left of the NDP; a party that has overtly joined the cause of government workers unions, against the interests of taxpayers.

Ontario’s so-called Sunshine List — the annual publication of government workers earning more than $100,000 — used to be a source of embarrassment. Now it’s the government’s base of support.

Ontario has chosen the takers against the makers. Thirtynine percent of Ontarians were fine with that and voted Liberal. And most of the 24% who voted for the NDP were fine with it too.

The day after the election was instructive. Mere hours after the election, Joe Fontana, the Liberal mayor of London, was convicted of fraud. But Wynne happily met with Fontana earlier this year, while he was before the courts — and merely by associating with him, gave him her political stamp of approval.

At exactly the same time, banks from around the world issued credit warnings about Ontario’s debt, and the province’s cost to borrow jumped the most it had in six months.

An official credit downgrade is imminent, though some banks say they’re waiting for the provincial budget, to make it official.

Corruption and debt.

Can they really bring down Canada’s economic colossus?

Ask Detroit — for decades, the highest-paid, most industrialized city in America. After two generations of Democratic rule, it’s an impoverished ghost town.

Oh, this is just the beginning.

Let’s see what new taxes and rules Toronto’s next mayor, socialist Olivia Chow, will bring with her.

Anyone want to bet on when the Bank of Montreal moves to Calgary?

Another Chance to see the Awesome Documentary….DownWind! Wed. June 11, @ 8pm.

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Speaking of movies, DOWN WIND airs tomorrow at 8pm ET. A tell-all about the Ontario green energy scam!

Whether you are watching it again, or seeing it for the first time, this movie is a must-see!  You will be amazed that

this kind of scam, could be perpetrated, on such a wide scale!  Everyone should watch this, before voting!!!

What the Liberals Have Done to Our Province, Is Unforgivable!

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Opinion: Ontario is deeply in debt

The Liberal record on energy, health care and education

HYDRO

HYDRO

Hamilton Spectator

Energy is not a luxury, it’s a necessity, especially because of our Northern climate, says Ron Cirotto..
By Ron Cirotto

In a Comment page article May 23, Bryan Kerman compared apples to oranges in comparing Canadian provincial politics to American state politics. Let us look at the facts and forget about the past and the Mike Harris era. That was then, this is now, 2014. Now Ontario is a province deeply in debt and sitting on a poor credit rating and lavishly spending taxpayers’ money without consultation or proper bidding.

In simple numbers, after 10 years of Liberal government, Ontario has a provincial debt that has doubled from $150 billion to $300 billion. Ontario has increased yearly spending from $65 billion to $130 billion. Ontario, now in 2014, is running a $10 billion-plus deficit each year. Ontario’s population, now in 2014, is 13 million, up from 12 million a decade ago.

Where have all the jobs gone? Where has all the money gone?The size of provincial government has increased dramatically, along with the total provincial debt and yearly deficit. Yet, the population has only increased by about one million. Government mismanagement is the reason. There is plenty of opportunity to allow 100,000 government employees to be released by attrition over the next four to eight years. This means the well paid remaining government employees will have to work more efficiently just like the private sector.

Energy:

There is plenty of opportunity to allow 100,000 government employees to be released by attrition over the next four to eight years.

Energy is not a luxury, it’s a necessity, especially because of our Northern climate. Ontario’s growing population cannot cut back on energy usage to heat their homes, run their appliances or turn on the lights when it is dark. Steel mills or any manufacturing company cannot run a business on expensive electric power and try to compete internationally. The Ontario Liberals signed an untendered $19-billion electrical energy contract for 25 years with Samsung without a cost-benefit analysis.

For example, aluminum production companies are located near cheap electricity, as is the case in Northern Quebec. The excess electricity Ontario generates, it sells to Quebec at a loss, which resells it to the Northern New York power grid for a profit. A billion dollars-plus, wasted on cancelling two natural gas plants for political reasons. This is not responsible management of taxpayers’ money. This is a blatant example of misguided ideology, needlessly saving the planet on the taxpayers’ dime!

A billion dollars has been spent on smart meters, yet Ontario’s electricity rates are at 15 cents per kilowatt hour in Burlington and Hamilton. Before Dalton McGuinty took Ontario’s rudder, electricity was four cents per kilowatt hour. Currently there are 1,000 wind turbines in Ontario and another 5,000 planned and they will be forced upon municipalities by the Liberal government. Why did the Liberal government spend billions on the new tunnel at Niagara Falls to get inexpensive hydro electricity and still go ahead with very expensive wind turbines? Why did the government plow ahead with a solar panel installation in southern Ontario? They promised it would provide 300 jobs, yet when finished it provided only three jobs and they are low-paying security guard positions.

Health care:

Billions of dollars have been spent on an unfinished computerized eHealth database and taxpayers are still not reaping the benefits. Money has been wasted on the Ornge helicopter mess, an arms-length, government company that only benefitted its directors, not to mention the tragic Ornge helicopter crash that killed innocent people.

Privatization:

At one LCBO location, a union leader justifiably pointed out there are eight employees and 11 managers. This is insulting to taxpayers.

Religious Schools:

In his article, Kerman appeared to be intentionally regurgitating the religious school issue by alluding to a hidden Conservative “agenda,” saying at least one lobbyist is running under the Conservative banner in the provincial election, thus rekindling fear in the voters. Who is this lobbyist? Name him or her so that he or she can be questioned. Publicly funded private schools are not the same as publicly funded private religious schools. This so-called “short step” is scare mongering.

Ontario is in deep, deep financial trouble. Kathleen Wynne’s government needs to be replaced. When you vote on Thursday consider jobs, jobs and jobs. Please do some serious soul searching before voting.

 

Ron Cirotto, BASc., P.Eng., lives in Burlington.

More Information on the Mink Farm Tragedy, in Denmark!

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Mink farm disaster
See our press release of June 7th 2014



Document Nº 1


Here is an article from Denmark dated 16 January 2014, together with a video, about the visit of the owner of the Vildbjerg mink farm, Kaj Olesen Bank, to the Danish Parliament, where he was received by the Parliamentary Environment Commission:http://www.tvmidtvest.dk/indhold/mink-amok-over-vindmoellestoej (see translation further down). This was regarding the 1st incident, which occurred last fall when the wind turbines first began to turn. About 100 mink had to be put down at the time, because of the wounds inflicted when they turned aggressive and attacked one another.


The Danish media are, however, auto-censoring on the second incident which occurred at the mink farm in May 2014: the 1,600 miscarriages. Such news could hurt VESTAS badly, which is arguably Denmark’s biggest employer and exporter. The company has deep pockets, and is an object of national pride. All of this, plus the pressure applied by the powerful Green lobby, motivates the Danish media to look the other way.


Free translation of the article:


Mink crazy from wind turbine noise


Mink breeder Kaj Olesen Bank’s animals are behaving in a completely crazy way. This started to happen when four giant wind turbines were erected close to his farm.


Aggressive animals and deafening mink war – this has become commonplace at Kaj Olesen Bank’s mink farm, after the erection of four giant wind turbines near his residence not far from the village of Vildbjerg.


“I could hear it perfectly from inside our room, and I was shocked when I walked around the farm – there was fighting everywhere”, says Kaj Olesen Bank.


From the day he had four giant wind turbines for neighbors, his mink completely changed behavior. They are now so aggressive… Many of them had to be put down because of the deep bites they inflicted to one another. The farmer is now fearing for his farm’s production.


“It was a nightmare. It is also a mental challenge. A whole production system, one’s livelihood is at stake. And it’s not small amounts we are talking about. We fear the worst, because we know that mink fighting – bites, trauma, fur damage – will cost us millions of kroners”, he said.


Kaj Olesen Bank has now applied for permission to move his fur farm further away from the giant wind turbines.


End of translation


Latest news: the municipality of Vildbjerg has denied him the right to move his mink farm, even though it would still be on his own land. Says our Danish correspondent: “the authorities are having a love affair with the wind industry. But we, the people, must pay the consequences.”


Document Nº 2


Report of the veterinarian from DANSK PELSDYR LABORATORIUM who was called when the second incident occurred, that of miscarriages en masse.


Original in Danish: “BESOGSRAPPORT_5-5-2014_Kaj Olesen Bank”


Translation:
“REPORT FOR CONSULTATION”

This is Absolutely Horrific. Just Think What it is Doing to Humans….

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Danish mink farm
Above: Danish mink farm


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7th 2014


1,600 miscarriages at fur farm near wind turbines



Denmark: 1,600 animals were born prematurely at a mink farm last month. Many had deformities, and most were dead on arrival. The lack of eyeballs was the most common malformation. Veterinarians ruled out food and viruses as possible causes. The only thing different at the farm since last year has been the installation of four large wind turbines only 328 meters away.


still-born minks
Above: some of the 1,600 minks born prematurely



The wind farm consists of four 3 MW turbines, VESTAS model V112, reaching out to 140 meters in height at the tip of the blades. When they became operative last fall, a first mishap was reported by the mink farmer, who was heard about it at a parliamentary committee on wind farms in January this year (1). The World Council for Nature (WCFN) reported the incident earlier: “In Denmark, which is the EU’s leader in mink farming, millions of Danish kroners were lost in damaged pelts when wind turbines started to operate near a mink farm. The animals became aggressive, attacking one another, and resulting in many deaths” (2).

dead minks at Danish wind farm
Above: dead minks at Danish wind farm

 

mink injured in a fight
Above: injured mink in a cage



Both incidents are alarming, as they constitute definite proof that wind turbines are harmful to the health of animals living in their vicinity. And they are not the only ones. In the letter mentioned above, WCFN quoted more of them, all leading to the conclusion that low frequency vibrations emitted by wind turbines can cause serious ill-effects on health, including altered behaviour, deformities, miscarriages and premature births (2).

deformed mink fetus

Above: a deformed mink foetus



It goes without saying that humans are exposed to the same risks. In view of this new evidence, lying to the public pretending that wind turbines are harmless to people becomes a criminal act. Politicians, and wind industry shills who, like often-quoted Mike Barnard or Simon Chapman, deny the risks to health, are now liable to be successfully sued by wind farm victims. And so are governments, as they still refuse to measure infrasound emitted by modern wind turbines.


It is indeed criminal to deny health risks where there is so much evidence, starting with official studies published in the 1980’s, which have been shelved to protect the wind industry (3). Dr Sarah Laurie, CEO of the Waubra Foundation, wrote: “Dr Kelley and his co researchers at the Solar Energy Research Institute in the US, closely connected with the US Department of Energy and NASA, identified in 1985 that the source of the annoyance for the residents living near a single downwind bladed turbine was “impulsive infrasound and low frequency noise, which resonated within the building structures” ” (4).


The wind industry, their friends in government, and self-serving professionals benefitting indirectly from the huge subventions, all have been denying any health problem linked to wind farms. But there is now sufficient evidence to warrant:

  1. A moratorium on wind farms,
  2. Comprehensive epidemiology studies,
  3. Quantification of vibrations emitted by wind turbines, as measured inside the homes of resident neighbours, at night, on windy days, encompassing all frequencies down to 0.1 Hz.



Short of taking these health-saving measures, governments will be liable to be sued for damages, and criminal charges could be laid against decision makers.


The World Council for Nature hopes that the political class will take this public health issue seriously, more so than that of wildlife conservation, for instance. We have denounced before that governments are letting over 100 million birds and bats be sacrificed annually on the altar of this expensive, intermittent energy of doubtful practical value (5). So we can only pray that human health will receive more consideration from our leaders.


Media contact:


Mark Duchamp
Chairman, WCFN
Tel: +34 693 643 736+34 693 643 736
www.wcfn.org
wcfn@live.com



References:


(1) – www.maskinbladet.dk/artikel/tidligere-miljominister-vil-aendre-vindmollebekendtgorelse


(2) – wcfn.org/2014/03/31/windfarms-vertebrates-and-reproduction


(3) – Kelley, N et al, 1985 “Acoustic Noise associated with Mod 1 Turbine; its source, impact and control”
waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/kelley-et-al-1985-acoustic-noise-associated-with-mod-1-wind…


Kelley, N 1987 “A Proposed Metric for Assessing the Potential of Community Annoyance from Wind Turbine Low-Frequency Noise Emissions”
waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/1987-problem-with-low-frequency-noise-from-wind-turbines…


Hubbard, H 1982 “Noise Induced House Vibrations and Human Perception” (1982) 19:2 Noise Control Engineering Journal 49
waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/hubbard-h-1982-noise-induced-house-vibrations-human-perception


(4) – waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/laurie-s-wind-turbine-noise-adverse-health-effects-and…


(5) – wcfn.org/2014/05/21/bullet-news-3

Discussion About the Parasitic Wind industry!

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Exposing wind industry “vampires”: Alan Jones and James Dellingpole

June 6, 2014 by 

 

263977-alan-jones

James Dellingpole was interviewed by Alan Jones on 2GB  last week about the economic, environmental and social fraud of the wind industry.

Alan has a little radio show that more than just a few Australians tune into each morning. Syndicated through over 77 Stations and with close to 2 million listeners Countrywide – AJ as he’s known – is one of those people that leads the political charge on many issues that really affect ordinary Australians and which the rest of the press ignore.

To hear the interview click on the player below. The transcript follows.

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Transcript

Alan Jones: Well I told you yesterday, there’s been more damning evidence if any was needed, that this renewable energy rubbish, the Renewable Energy Target scheme, propping up the so-called “clean energy” sector (whatever that means) is sheer economic madness. Economic vandalism. Economic waste.

There’s now an economic analysis of the scheme, commissioned by the Mineral Council of Australia, but it is an independent analysis, suggests that there will be job losses as economic activity slows in the face of ever increasing power costs, caused by these ridiculous Renewable Energy Targets. Now you’ve heard me on about this for years and years. The economic analysis argues that the scheme’s opportunity cost, that is, money that could have been invested elsewhere will be more than $36 billion in six years time. That subsidies to the scheme could reach between $19 and $21 billion – your money in six years time. It finds that solar panels and wind farm subsidies will cost you, the electricity consumer, nearly $22,000,000,000 by 2020, six years time.

The Renewable Energy Target scheme of Rudd and Gillard is another ‘Building the education revolution’, another ‘Pink batts’, another ‘Broadband’, another harebrained idea of the utterly discredited Rudd and Gillard regimes, and it is now, as we warned, reeking its havoc.

Tony Abbott has an expert panel reviewing the scheme. That is compromised because the Federal Energy Minister, this bloke Macfarlane, is in bed with the wind industry. He dines with them, and that day is not far away when I will start naming some of those people and the occasions on which Mr McFarlane has been both their guest and their host. Talk about ICACs! Quite frankly, this whole renewable energy nonsense should be abandoned now.

The former Queensland Labour Treasurer Keith De Lacy, who is now a significant business figure, has said it is plain crazy to have schemes such as this-solar feed in tariffs and carbon tax that are driving up power bills. He said the Australian public keep complaining about the increases in the cost of living and this is become even more so. One of the biggest increases he said, is the price of electricity. He said it is the most fundamental of services to the Australian public. Now the most brain-dead aspect to all of this, and you’ve heard me say this a million times before, it that this wind power and solar power can only survive with massive taxpayer subsidies. And of course it is seeking to demonise coal fired power which has been the source of our international competitive advantage.

It was Terry McCrann who said to me years ago on this program, that if we de-carbonised the Australian economy, we are writing for ourselves, his words “a national suicide note, albeit by slow strangulation”. And of course it’s not just the decarbonisation that is the so-called carbon tax, well it’s not a carbon tax, that’s a lie too, its carbon dioxide tax, it’s this abject persistence with the so-called Renewable energy targets. The mistaken and dishonest view is that Australia’s energy needs can be met by sources other than coal-fired power.

And that was always the source of our international strength.

Now the fact that we have to feed solar power and wind power into the national energy grid, together with the carbon dioxide tax – are the reasons people can’t afford to have the heater on at night. It is the reason why manufacturing is locating overseas. It is the reason why thousands and thousands of jobs have been lost in the manufacturing industry. 60% of the increased cost faced by business in recent times were a direct consequence of the combination of the carbon dioxide tax and the Renewable Energy target. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, and we would most probably be prepared to cop it, if the science weren’t so obviously flawed.

It’s not just Tony Abbott who has a review and privately believes, as does Joe Hockey, that these Renewable Energy Targets are rubbish. Joel Fitzgibbon, when Labour were in government, has said that the Renewable Energy Target should be dismantled. So we have got wind farms around the country, which can’t survive unless they are subsidised to the tune of about half $1 million per turbine. Billions and billions of dollars are wasted in Renewable energy certificates for wind turbine farms that are non-compliant.

Forget the destruction that they do to the environment, to public health, and all those other things we’ve discussed, now here we got proof of the pudding that subsidies for renewable energy schemes, such as rooftop solar panels and wind farms will cost you the consumer almost $22 billion by 2020.

Well James Dellingpole-well I should just say before we go to James, how can we say, rightly as a government and as a community that we are not going to follow Holden and Toyota and SPC Ardmona down the road with an open cheque-book – yet here we are tipping billions into entities – wind power, wind turbines which are only jacking up the price of energy to you and to business, putting business and people out of work and they couldn’t survive without massive taxpayer subsidies.

Well James Dellingpole, I’ve spoken to him before, an English writer – tough bloke, and fearless broadcaster and he has expressed and written his opposition to this. It wasn’t long ago that in an extraordinary article he wrote and he said, and you’ve got to say this slowly- in Britain, every wind industry job costs the taxpayer 100, 000 pounds a year in subsidies. James Dellingpole is on the line from Northamptonshire. James -good morning.

James Dellingpole: G’day Alan, good to be back on your show.

Alan Jones: Thank you, lovely to have you. How much longer can we tolerate this nonsense?

James Dellingpole: It’s going to take a very long time to turn this oil tanker around. Because there are so many people with their snouts in the trough. And in Australia as I know from the last time I visited your beautiful country, and God knows I want to come back soon, I was astonished to discover how heavily the ALP is involved in this scam. A lot of the pension funds are heavily invested in these wind turbines. I don’t know if you caught that fantastic speech a few months ago by Senator John Madigan?

Alan Jones: I did, We talked to him at the time.

James Dellingpole: Talking presumably under Parliamentary privilege, because I know from my experience – when ever you speak out against the wind industry in Australia you get very nasty threatening lawyer’s letters. Because these guys don’t like the truth and they’ve got various tame academics supporting them, they’ve got …. It is as you’ve rightly said, it’s an industry which can only survive with heavy taxpayer subsidies. And what this kind of industry does is it attracts the very worst kind of people. People who don’t want to make an honest buck. People that just want to live like vampires off the taxpayer. So this is what is going on and John Madigan in this speech pointed out one example about the Waubra wind farm in Victoria. I mean it was an absolute disgrace

And the one thing I think you can console yourself with in Australia is that you really are ahead of the game in fighting back. I don’t know whether it’s that you Aussies don’t take it like other people do, but you are really fighting back hard. And I was looking today actually at the website of the Waubra foundation – this wonderful thing by Sarah Laurie.

Alan Jones: Just for my listeners’ sake, James, James is speaking in his Northamptonshire accent there – that is W-a-u-b-r-a and we have talked about that often here. Waubra, but might’nt have come through, but that is where it is, in Victoria. But of course, Napthine is the Premier of Victoria, and these things are all is in, many of these things are in his electorate.

James Dellingpole: Yes. I was reading the extraordinary story of a guy – he wrote – various people have written letters describing their experiences with the wind industry, and one of these guys actually was conned into having wind turbines on his land and he was told there was going to be no health consequences, no noise, etc. etc. Anyway, once he had signed the deal in blood and there was no escape from it, he discovered that on the contrary, these things ruined his life. To the point where even when he was sleeping 5 km away, 5 km away from wind turbines they were  destroying his health. I’ve spoken to loads of people who have wind turbine syndrome and I can tell you it is a miserable experience. It has all sorts of terrible effects.

And we haven’t even gone to the environmental damage these things do. The number of birds and bats they chop to pieces. I call them bat-chomping eco-crucifixes – because that’s what they are. They are just kind of a symbol of the green movement but they don’t actually do anything useful for anyone other than the rent seekers who’ve got their snouts in the trough.

Alan Jones: It’s frightening isn’t it? I mean even if it were economically viable, which it isn’t, its unpredictable, it’s inefficient, it’s intermittent, you can’t rely on it …I mean it has government protection like no other in a day and age where we are saying we are winding all of this protection stuff back so you’ve now got a large scale wind turbine developer can make nearly half $1 million in taxpayer subsidies, and they call them renewable energy certificates.

James Dellingpole: Yes. The point I think that some people don’t understand. You get some idiot, some naive idiot saying “we are just harvesting nature’s free bounty”, “wind is free”, wind energy is free”. No it is not free and there is a very simple reason for that which you can tell by the fact that wind does not blow all the time. Wind blows when it feels like it. Wind doesn’t blow when you want to take a hot shower. It doesn’t blow when you want to use your air conditioning. It blows when it wants to. So in other words the energy that the wind industry produces is essentially worthless because you can’t have a situation where the supplier decides when to supply you. I mean what kind? … How does that work in a free market?

Alan Jones: When do you think people are going to wake up to the fact that this has destroyed our once comparative manufacturing advantage because we had cheap energy and cheap electricity it has been destroyed now. We can’t compete internationally because of energy costs.

James Dellingpole: Well part of the problem of course is that apart from all these rent seeking politicos and corporations which are involved in these dodgy deals, is that also you’ve got organisations like Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, you’ve got all these organisations are pumping out eco-propaganda saying that renewable energy is the only answer. These organisations are multi-nationals ….

Alan Jones: But James,that shouldn’t matter – if you’ve got a government that listens and understands what the issues our-we’ve got a federal energy Minister in bed with these people.

James Dellingpole: Yes. Well I mean at least Tony Abbott is beginning to turn the tide.

Alan Jones: Yes he knows – And so does Hockey, Hockey knows too. But you’ve got to do something about it.

James Dellingpole: Yes, when I was last there, somebody called Julia Gillard was in charge and would you prefer her back?

Alan Jones: Don’t start me there, thank you very much. But the people listening to you our funding all of this dramatically.

James Dellingpole: Yes.

Alan Jones: Maurice Newman, Maurice Newman is a man I’m sure you know him.

James Dellingpole: I love Maurice Newman – he is a hero.

Alan Jones: He is a very respected Australian businessman, and he called wind farms, quote, “an obscene wealth transfer from the poor to the rich”. He called it “a crime against the people”. Now the people listening to you James this morning are all battlers out there in Struggle Street. They’re having money ripped out of their pockets so some Thai company, or Chinese wind turbine company is going to make a big, big quid.

James Dellingpole: Yes, I know. It is an absolute obscenity. And the depressing thing is that across the world these dishonest political leaders – you know like President Obama. President Obama has built the second term of his administration on creating “green jobs”. Well you’ve seen what’s happened to America. You have the example, for example of Solyndra, this company run by his friends into which he poured $500 million dollars-half a $1 billion of taxpayer’s money down the drain. And there has been research from all over the world. The Spanish economy has pretty much been destroyed by renewable energy. In fact it was a Spanish economist who came up with the shocking statistic that for every green job created by government so called “investment”, 2.2 jobs were killed in the real economy. And in Britain they did a survey and it was even higher – 3.7 jobs killed for every “green job” created.

Alan Jones: And Germany has had a gut full of it.

James Dellingpole: Oh yes.

Alan Jones: I must say last time that you were here, you said this, and it might be a good spot to end, James, James Dellingpole said, “God I wish I could be there at the barricades with the protesters in Canberra today – if ever a cause was worth fighting for, this is the one.

James Dellingpole: Yes.

Alan Jones: It is isn’t it?

James: It is, absolutely. I mean I only wish that – no I can’t say this, I can’t say this – I wish that some Tornado would come along and blow them all down. I’m not going to advocate terrorism but sometimes it is quite tempting.

Alan Jones: Lovely to talk to you. We’ll keep in touch. Okay, there we are, so there we are. Now there is a review of this. Tony Abbott does understand that he has and Achilles’ heel here in that the Federal Energy Minister in Macfarlane is in bed with these people. How this review is objective – I don’t know. But why do you need review? There is any amount of evidence out there – the whole thing needs to be scrapped. If people can make it pay without taxpayer’s money-away you go. But not one cent of our money should be spent. Another Rudd and Gillard failure that has to be dismantled.

Wind Turbines Destroy the Fabric of Rural Communities!

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Wind Farms & “Community Division”: Tales

from Rye Park (NSW) & Northumberland (UK)

June 4, 2014 by 

Money Wasted

Naked greed, institutional corruption and State-sanctioned corporate bullying and thuggery are part and parcel of the wind industry, wherever you go. We recount below a tale from Northumberland that could have been written anywhere giant fans have been slung up anywhere in the world.

In tales like these the phrase “community division” often appears. However, the term appears to suggest the rural communities concerned are equally divided – in the same way that 18 players line up against each other in the AFL. Nothing could be further from the truth. Communities set upon by wind industry goons divide roughly (and unequally) into three groups.

The first is the tiny minority who hope to profit directly: farmers in contracts with the developer paid to host the turbines; gullible local business people who (foolishly) believe that they’ll snaffle work surrounding the project (construction and engineering work is almost exclusively the preserve of large, well-oiled outfits like Transfield or Leighton – the fans are built in China, India or Denmark); the local volunteer firefighters (CFA/CFS) promised a brand-new fire-truck by the developer (never mind that the fire unit will be reserved to look after the developer’s fans ahead of local properties); and the local footy club, promised a little cash and brand-new footy jumpers (featuring the developer’s “stylish” logo, of course).

The second group is by far and away the majority and includes those whose lives will be the all worse for the short-sighted greed of the few mentioned above. This group obviously includes the many who will end up as neighbours, whose homes will become sonic torture traps: hard-working people who will be driven mad by shadow flicker and the incessant turbine generated low-frequency noise, night after merciless night. As part of the so-called “green” energy “bargain”, the value of their properties will be smashed, if it were even possible to find a buyer for their (soon to be uninhabitable) homes (see our post here).

A pretty fair example of the division outlined above was given a week or so ago at a “community consultation” held by Epuron – an outfit hoping to develop what it calls the “Rye Park” wind farm (north of Yass and east of Boorowa, NSW).

Epuron sent a “pretty young thing” equipped with not much more than a Marketing Degree and the developer’s “spin sheet”. This young lass found herself way out of her depth, as locals grilled her on the wild and unsubstantiated claims she made about her bosses planned giant fans. You know, the usual stuff about “powering” 100,000 homes; reducing CO2 emissions; creating thousands of wonderful “green” jobs; and, best of all, lowering retail power prices. Locals hammered her on all of these classic furphies: in trying to defend the indefensible, she didn’t get off to a great start – it quickly became evident that she had no idea what a Renewable Energy Certificate was, let alone the cost impact of RECs on retail power prices or the (critical) benefit of that subsidy to her employer. Oops!

On a show of hands, the 32 present “divided” as follows: 23 locals, firmly against; and 9 in favour – 4 of whom were employed by Epuron, 2 were contracted as turbine hosts and 3 were “unknowns” (check out this video of the count).

And that brings us to the third group. Quite often a few “unknowns” turn up at “community consultations” to voice their loving support for giant fans. These aren’t “locals” and, even if they live in the vicinity, will never actually live anywhere near that (or any other) wind farm. They’re pretty easy to spot: beards are essential, as are socks and sandals. They turn up to the meeting, rant about the mortal perils of “climate change” and disappear into the ether, never to be seen again. Think Dave Clarke of delusional “ramblings” fame. You know, the type that says having a couple of hundred giant fans speared into YOUR backyard is a sacrifice that THEY’RE willing to make.

Take out rent seekers (like the developer and hopeful turbine hosts) – and rent-a-crowd ideologues – and the “division” in communities set upon by plans for giant fans soon disappears.

Remember, that it’s only ever been about the money.

Chop the fat pile of taxpayer and power consumer subsidies directed to wind power outfits and “community division” will soon resolve. The developers will disappear in a heartbeat; the prospective hosts will go back to doing what they were doing before they entered contracts they neither read nor understood; and the locals will return to the peaceful and untroubled lives they deserve.

Here’s The Daily Mail on how mountains of pointless subsidies fuel the utterly rotten and corrupt wind industry; and sustains its parasites.

Dirty tricks, greed and a ruined idyll that proves the wind turbine plague ISN’T over after all: ROBERT HARDMAN on the stormy issue of green subsidies
The Daily Mail
Robert Hardman
24 May 2014

The last time tempers were this high around here was almost exactly 500 years ago at the Battle of Flodden — the biggest Anglo-Scottish punch-up in history. And not much has changed in this stunning corner of Northumberland since then.

The big house is still Ford Castle, where James IV of Scotland spent his last night alive, carousing on the eve of battle. A couple of miles down the road is Etal Castle, where the English army celebrated victory.

Going back further still, there are 60 sites of prehistoric interest in a three-mile radius — including the Geordie answer to Stonehenge.

The views are much the same, across to the Cheviots, the Scottish borders and what is now Northumberland National Park.

But, this week, all that has changed. The diggers and pile drivers have just arrived, along with a lot of heavies in hi-viz jackets.

By Christmas, a great swathe of this ancient and enchanting border country, including the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, will be overshadowed by the Barmoor Wind Farm — six wind turbines, each 360ft tall and with a blade span the size of a Boeing 747.

Thought we’d heard the last of the onshore wind farm? Remember last year’s ministerial pledges to ‘roll back’ those barmy green subsidies for landowners and companies which desecrate the countryside?

As this week’s scenes in wildest Northumberland testify, it’s business as usual.

This racket, which already adds £3billion a year to all our fuel bills, is as lucrative as ever. The planning applications are pouring in, even though Britain has comfortably met its wind energy targets for 2020.

Oh for the days when the worst to fear was a wall of leylandii. It’s a story familiar to rural communities all over Britain. And, with just six turbines, Barmoor is actually at the smaller end of the wind farm spectrum.

But it’s important for several reasons. First, it shows that nowhere, however beautiful, is safe from the predations of developers masquerading as environmentalists.

Second, even the energy company now building these things acknowledges that ‘amazing’ tactics were used to ram through this development in the face of overwhelming local opposition.

Third, the bulldozers have started tearing up the soil here in the very week that Britain’s only overtly anti-wind farm party — UKIP — has made giant strides across the political landscape.

Down on the edge of Brackenside Farm, I find a building site, a digger and several men in hi-viz jackets scratching their chins. It’s the new site for EDF Energy’s Barmoor sub-station. A security guard becomes rather aggressive the moment we start taking photographs, even when I point to the public footpath sign next to me.

‘It’s a hard-hat area and it’s dangerous,’ he shouts.

Three EDF officials appear and say the same, though two must be in mortal danger for they are without hard hats, too.

Eventually, they concede that they have no powers to shut down a public right of way and choose not to engage in further conversation. We go about our business.

A mile further on, I meet another digger ripping up a field to create a new access road from the B6525 to the wind turbines. The sight of our cameras prompts two men to jump in to a van and race over the field to confront us as we stand on the public road.

‘Can I help?’ asks one, in tones presaging the answer ‘no’. He marches off when I explain I am from a newspaper.

As soon as I start exploring the background to this project, I begin to understand why these EDF contractors are so jumpy.

It has taken 11 years of legal battles, bad blood and festering anger to create a hideous eyesore which will, ultimately, generate just 12 megawatts — on a windy day.

That’s enough electricity to power a few villages in the right weather. Yet, as I shall explain, it will pay out a £50 million jackpot over 20 years.

The Barmoor saga began when wind farm developers Force 9 Energy and Catamount persuaded three local farmers to sign up to a deal, which was all sorted before the public had any inkling of what was going on.

The locals, as locals do, formed an action group called Save Our Unspoiled Landscape (SOUL) and produced a few leaflets.

To their astonishment, Force 9 hired a swanky London PR firm and then made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority arguing that the locals had exaggerated the threat from the turbines.

Quite why it was the ASA’s business to adjudicate on a planning dispute is anyone’s guess, but the judges ruled in favour of the developer.

Meanwhile, the action group bought a bright orange helium-filled blimp which they tethered at the proposed site to show people across the region just how visible the turbines would be.

Soon after it was raised aloft, its moorings were mysteriously cut and the local authorities spent several days warning North Sea air traffic to be aware of a large orange UFO with ‘NO!’ written on it.

The local council threw out the project after receiving more objections to this plan than any it could recall.

But, shortly before the 2010 election, the Labour government ruled in favour of the development on the grounds that ‘it involved proposals of major significance for the delivery of the government’s climate change programme’.

Job done, Force 9/Catamount started looking for a buyer and sold the project for an undisclosed sum (thought to be around £10million), via Duke Energy, to EDF Energy Renewables in March. And now work begins.

Politicians love to bang on about ‘vibrant communities’, but this one has just been torn in half. How can the footling energy output from a minor get-rich-quick scheme justify the long-term pain felt by so many?

People who wouldn’t get planning permission for a garage extension must now see their views desecrated and the value of their homes slashed in order to enrich a handful of their neighbours.

Based on the projected output of the plant, the highly respected think tank, the Renewable Energy Foundation, expects the wind plant (how can anyone call this thing a ‘farm’?) to receive a £1.15million annual subsidy on top of £1.4million a year for electricity generated over a 20-year contract.

How is it shared out? The terms are always confidential, but the going rate for a landowner in this situation is £10,000-£20,000 per turbine per year, plus a slice of the pie every time the site is resold.

The locals now realise that there is nothing more they can do.

Nick Maycock smiles grimly outside his comfortable guest house, the Friendly Hound, which overlooks the site. He doesn’t even want to contemplate the effect on his trade.

‘Those farmers have been offered a goldmine. How can they turn it down?’ he asks.

I find only one of the farmers today. Sandy Rievely will have two turbines on his land, but will only say he is not allowed to discuss it under the terms of the contract. So what do his neighbours think?

‘I’d prefer not to say,’ replies Dr John Ferguson, 73, a former GP whose retirement has been consumed by the 11-year battle to stop his cottage being dwarfed by these monstrosities.

‘Well, I will then,’ says his wife, Ann. ‘It’s just completely wrong that a handful of landowners can do this to all their neighbours. I avoid even talking to them now because I’ll lose my temper . . .’

Her voice cracks, the conversation halts and we all look awkwardly out of the kitchen window across the sheep and the fields to the distant treeline. In a matter of months, six giant fans on six masts many times the height of the trees, will look back at her.

Now is probably not the moment to remind Ann of the immortal words of the former Energy Secretary who inflicted much of this unhappiness on the countryside in the name of fluffy Polar bears and saving the planet. ‘It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area,’ declared Ed Miliband the last time Labour was in power, ‘like not wearing your seat belt.’

The very man who now attacks grasping energy bosses for fleecing the poor is none other than the Minister who thought it would be a wise and noble idea to make the rest of us pay dukes and developers an overall £200,000 annual bonus for every single skyscraper-sized windmill they planted in the middle of the countryside.

For these things really are the size of skyscrapers. Each one of the wind turbines going up by the Fergusons’ home near Flodden Field is going to be the height of a 30-storey office block — taller indeed than anything in, say, Edinburgh.

If they were buildings, they would automatically enter the list of Britain’s top 50 highest.

After more than a decade of sleepless nights and legal battles costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, the residents are well-used to the arguments: that they are simply Nimbys, that it is our duty as human beings to place the greater needs of the environment ahead of selfish local considerations.

They’ve heard all this stuff. And they know it’s tosh. These landowners and EDF wouldn’t be doing any of this if it wasn’t for the staggering inducements.

I go for a drive with local farmer Andrew Joicey, 58, whose elder brother runs the family estate covering 15,000 acres in this area, including mighty Ford Castle (now leased to the local council).

He points out that the estate was offered the usual big bucks to sign up for the scheme, but rejected it. And Andrew has devoted a large part of the past 11 years to fighting local wind farm proposals, seeing off three others — but not this one.

‘What is particularly galling is the way these things are just bought and sold without any regard for local feelings,’ he tells me.

Just this week, he had a long meeting with a senior EDF ‘director of construction’ as part of the company policy of ‘engaging’ with the community.

To his astonishment, the executive admitted that he had heard how the developers had persuaded local farm workers to sign meaningless contracts for a few hundred pounds (wind farm noise restrictions do not apply to people deemed to be ‘financially involved’). Force 9/Catamount was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The EDF executive also agreed that it was ‘incredible’ that the local action group had been reported to the ASA.

As for the Government’s claim that this 12 megawatt site was of ‘major significance’ to Britain’s climate change programme, he shook his head and admitted: ‘It doesn’t even feature.’

So there we have it. Lives and livelihoods are being blighted by a project which even the owners concede is of little consequence.

An EDF spokesman points out that it will give £60,000-a-year to community schemes as a gesture of goodwill.

But it’s a gesture which impresses no one, any more than the latest Tory promise, four weeks ago, to cut wind subsidies after the next election.

For these locals are already having to fund yet another legal battle to stop yet another wind project. In January, a government inspector approved a scheme to put a turbine in front of Northumberland’s ancient Duddo Stone Circle.

Next month, they are taking the Government and the farmer concerned to the High Court in a bid to overturn the decision.

As UKIP — with its clear anti-wind farm agenda — toasts its council successes and looks forward to tomorrow’s Euro election results, there is a clear message here for the eco-zealots in all the main parties.

But is anyone listening?
The Daily Mail

dirtyrottenscoundrelsoriginal

 

The Government is Knowingly Harming Residents that Live Near Wind Turbines!

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Wind Turbine Noise & Adverse Health Effects, June 2014

 

What Was Known in the 1980’s About Wind Turbine IFLN and Turbulence

 

Constructively addressing the current conundrum about precisely what is causing the reported symptoms, sensations, sleep disruption and deteriorating mental and physical health of residents living near industrial wind turbines around the world, and trying to prevent such damage to health in future, has not been helped by ignoring important research findings of the past, particularly those of Dr Neil Kelley and his co researchers, and other NASA researchers during the 1980’s. 1,2,3

For those who are not aware, Dr Kelley and his co researchers at the Solar Energy Research Institute (“SERI”) identified in 1985 that the cause of the symptoms euphemistically called “annoyance” for the residents living near a single downwind-bladed turbine was impulsive infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN) from that wind turbine, which then resonated within some building structures. 4 The effects were consistently reported to be worst in small rooms facing the noise source. 5 Sensitisation or “conditioning” was also acknowledged 6 – in simple terms people did not habituate to the sound energy but became sensitised to it. What was also clearly established was that perception of the sound energy was well below the audibility thresholds for hearing in the infrasound range. 7

Subsequent laboratory experiments using volunteers working for SERI (rather than wind turbine noise sensitised residents) reproduced the sound energy and the variable effects on those exposed. 8 In other words, direct causation of the reported “annoyance” effects from the impulsive reproduced sound energy identical to “wind turbine noise” was clearly established. This research was presented to the international wind industry at the American Wind Energy Association Windpower conference in 1987, sponsored by the US Department of Energy. 9

Subsequent NASA research in Hawaii by Shepherd and Hubbard in 1989 showed that modern upwind-bladed wind turbines could also generate higher than expected infrasound and low frequency noise, especially when the inflow air was turbulent. 10 This occurs when wind developers site wind turbines too close together. More recent work by Laratro et al 11 has confirmed that tip vortices have only just broken down at 7 rotor diameters (using free stream speed of 10m/s), providing empirical support for a minimum of 7 rotor diameter separation distance.

Despite the scientific acoustic knowledge from the 1980’s that infrasound and low frequency noise could be generated by both downwind-bladed and upwind-bladed wind turbines, and that these frequencies could directly cause symptoms including sleep disturbance, the global wind industry, and noise pollution regulatory authorities have not measured the full acoustic spectrum, and in particular have ensured that accurate measurement of both infrasound and low frequency noise inside homes is not included in wind turbine noise pollution regulations. It is clear that these regulations, developed with wind industry assistance, have favoured the expansion of the wind industry, at the expense of public health. 12

The following photo shows the wake turbulence generated by wind turbines, from a maritime wind development in the Atlantic called Horns Rev. 13 The turbulence extends to a significant distance many kilometres away, and increases significantly when subsequent turbines are downwind and receive the turbulent inflow of air. These are the precise conditions which Shepherd and Hubbard 14 demonstrated in 1989 markedly increase the generation of ILFN from upwind-bladed wind turbines.

Acousticians

Acousticians as a profession are far more knowledgeable about the range of symptoms and sensations directly caused by exposure to infrasound, low frequency noise, audible noise, and vibration than most health professionals, with the exception of some occupational physicians 15,16 and some ear nose and throat specialists. 17,18,19,20 These symptoms are commonly called “annoyance”.

Rural Health Practitioners

Rural health practitioners 21,22,23,24,25,26,27.28,29 have been at the forefront of trying to raise the alarm with health authorities and their colleagues about the severity of the impacts and clinical consequences they are seeing, particularly over the last ten years. So far, those concerns have not resulted in any multidisciplinary concurrent acoustic and health research, despite the Australian Federal Senate Inquiry’s recommendation for research “as a priority” in June 2011. 30

Flawed Literature Reviews, Studies, Research Proposals and Reports

Some of these and their critiques are available on our website, 31 and include:

• AWEA CANWEA 2009 Literature Review by Colby et al 32

• Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council’s 2010 “Rapid Review” 33

• Health Canada Study, proposed 2012, and currently underway 34

• the Victorian Department of Health, April 2013.35

• the South Australian Environmental Protection Agency’s Waterloo Wind Development acoustic survey 36,

• the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council’s commissioned Systematic Literature Review released in 2014 37

• the Australian Medical Association position paper, March 2014 38

The only explanation for these flawed studies/reports/position statements is that the issuers/authors wished to promote and protect the wind industry, at the expense of the health of the rural neighbours to these wind projects. These rural residents are sometimes openly referred to as “collateral damage” or “policy roadkill” by wind developers and some of the public servants who promote the business interests of the wind industry.

Others Who Deny the Existence and Severity of the Adverse Health Effects

There are others who continue to deny or ignore the existing peer reviewed published evidence of consistent distress and harm to health from wind turbine noise, recently catalogued by Drs Lynn and Dr Arra from the Grey Bruce Health Unit in Ontario, whose literature review has now been peer reviewed and published. 39

In Australia, the most outspoken “denier” of harm to health from exposure to wind turbine noise is a sociologist and public health Professor 40 at Sydney University, whose PhD examined aspects of cigarette advertising. Professor Simon Chapman recently assisted VESTAS with the launch of their “Act on Facts” campaign. 41

Professor Chapman has been invoking the “nocebo” hypothesis for some time prior to conducting his own research, 42, 43 but more recently he has cited new research from New Zealand by PhD candidate, Fiona Crichton 44 to support his frequent assertions that scaremongering is itself causing the symptoms.

Crichton et al’s research used unrepresentative frequencies, exposure levels and durations unrelated to the varying impulsive characteristics of wind turbine noise. Exposure duration was only 10 minutes during the day, with subjects who were fit young adults. Crichton’s research has been strongly criticised by experts in audiology 45 and acoustics. 46

In contrast, rural residents are exposed to wind turbine noise day and night when the wind is blowing, for up to 25 years, and are reporting their sleep is regularly and repeatedly disturbed in addition to a range of other effects which directly correlate with exposure to operating wind turbines. Rural residents are often not young, and may have chronic pre-existing physical and mental illnesses, which make them more vulnerable to the adverse consequences of chronic sleep disturbance and stress.

No Research Evidence for Nocebo Effect in Wind Turbine Neighbours

Inconveniently for Crichton and Chapman, whilst there is no doubt that a nocebo effect exists in the general research literature, there is no such evidence of a “nocebo effect” collected directly from wind turbine affected residents in the peer reviewed research, nor is it consistent with the clinical, acoustic and psychoacoustic findings of health practitioners and researchers from the UK, 47 Australia,48 Scandinavia,49 the United States,50 Canada,51 & New Zealand. 52 Interestingly, the “nocebo effect” is never used by Chapman with respect to identical symptoms occurring in residents exposed to and affected by ILFN from coal mining or gas fired power stations.

The final word on the nocebo nonsense currently being peddled by some is from Dr Michael Nissenbaum, who had this to say about non physicians invoking the use of a diagnosis of “the nocebo effect” in his final response to the Australian Federal Senate Inquiry in November, 2012. 53

“… suggesting a diagnosis of ‘nocebo’ without investigating, ‘boots on the ground’, for more plausible, better understood, or more logical causes of a medical condition would normally constitute medical malpractice in most Western-based medical systems, including Australia. Individuals who are not physicians are not limited by this professional mandate or even necessarily this conceptual framework.

Sleep Deprivation and Physiological and Psychological Stress

There is extensive clinical experience and a body of peer reviewed research evidence, which supports clinical concerns about the adverse health consequences of both chronic sleep deprivation, and chronic stress, regardless of the specific cause of that sleep deprivation or stress. 54,55,56,57 Dr William Hallstein, a psychiatrist from Falmouth, USA stated the following in a recent letter to the Falmouth Board of Health 58:

“In the world of medicine illnesses of all varieties are destabilized by fatigue secondary to inadequate sleep. Diabetic blood sugars become labile, cardiac rhythms become irregular, migraines erupt and increase in intensity, tissue healing is retarded, and so forth, across the entire field of physical medicine. Psychiatric problems intensify and people decompensate. Mood disorders become more extreme and psychotic disorders more severe.”

Those who are young and fit report taking longer to be adversely impacted by exposure to wind turbine noise, unless they have underlying physical and mental health conditions or acknowledged risk factors such as a history of migraines, inner ear pathology or motion sickness, which make them more vulnerable or susceptible.

Dr Hallstein goes on to state the following 59:

“People with no previously identified psychiatric illness are destabilized by sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation experiments have repeatedly been terminated because test subjects become psychotic; they begin to hallucinate auditory and visual phenomena. They develop paranoid delusions. This all happens in the “normal” brain. Sleep deprivation has been used as an effective means of torture and a technique for extracting confessions.”

There are many clinical clues and some animal and human research which strongly suggest that disturbance of the vestibular sensory system, and the consequent sleep disturbance and physiological stress are integrally related and that the direct causal link is sound and vibration energy, whether it is frequencies above 200 Hz, or frequencies in the infrasound or low frequency noise spectra below 200 Hz. This research, 60,61,62,63 together with the clinical and research evidence of Vibro Acoustic Disease 64.65 resulting from chronic exposure to infrasound and low frequency noise, can no longer be ignored.

Behaviour of Acousticians

It is long overdue for all acousticians to act according to their professional codes of ethics 66, 67 and to put the interests of the health and safety of the community first, and to work collegiately with health professionals who are trained in accurate diagnosis of specific clinical conditions. To date, acousticians working as paid consultants with the noise polluting industries have unfortunately all too often chosen to ignore the reported adverse impacts and “shoot the messengers” namely the concerned health practitioners, fellow acousticians or other researchers. That approach will not solve the current problems with respect to wind turbine siting and noise pollution regulation, or the serious damage to health being caused by other sources of infrasound and low frequency noise.

The Kelley research from nearly 30 years ago established a baseline of operating parameters to help prevent annoyance and consequent deterioration in health from chronic exposure to infrasound and low frequency noise,68 yet these parameters have never been implemented.

The ethical responsibilities of these members of the various acoustical societies who have assisted with writing the noise guidelines for government are clear – it is a primary responsibility of acousticians to protect the health of the public. 69 The ethical responsibilities of the medical profession similarly would appear to have been neglected in the case of wind turbine noise.

The health of rural residents has clearly not been protected, and nor has this been the priority of public officials, both elected and public servants who are responsible for public health, noise pollution regulation, planning or siting of wind turbines.

Concerns are being raised internationally about breaches of human rights, resulting from both breaches of professional ethics and statutory duties of care. 70

Abuses of Human Rights

Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture. 71

Sleep deprivation is acknowledged as a method of torture. 72 Sensory bombardment from noise and light have also been used as methods of torture, documented in the report by Physicians for Human Rights called “Leave No Marks”. 73

Australia ratified the treaty of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in December 1990, which the UN adopted in 1989, and therefore Australian governments have a responsibility to ensure that all children in Australia have the rights set out in the Convention. 74 In Australia some children and their families have been unable to continue to live in their homes because of serious adverse health impacts, which have affected children’s health, and affected their schooling. Others report their children’s sleep and health is regularly adversely affected.

It would therefore appear that serious breaches of human rights and breaches of a number of UNConventions are occurring as a result of this systemic regulatory failure on the part of State and Federal responsible authorities, whose wind turbine noise guidelines and planning regulations and guidelines are clearly not protecting the health of the public, including WHO acknowledged vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. 75

The Victorian Government was first warned of serious adverse health effects resulting from exposure to wind turbine noise in 2004 by Dr David Iser. 76

Justice Muse in Falmouth USA issued an injunction in December 2013 to prevent two wind turbines from operating overnight, in order to prevent “irreparable harm to physical and psychological health” of residents in Falmouth USA. 77

The lack of effective action at all levels of government in Australia to prevent the ongoing irreparable harm to physical and psychological health to Australian rural residents is unacceptable, and must be urgently addressed.

There is no reason that similar injunctions to prevent wind turbines from operating overnight could not be immediately imposed and enforced at those wind developments where noise nuisance and adverse health effects are occurring. Daytime exposure limits to infrasound and low frequency noise according to the Kelley 1985 criteria could be immediately implemented. 78 Turbine separation distances could and should be immediately mandated at a minimum of 7 rotor diameters, in order to prevent future avoidable planning disasters.

The harm to human health is serious, and preventable.

We know enough now, to act immediately, to prevent further irreparable and serious harm to physical and psychological health at existing wind developments.

Waubra Foundation 1st June, 2014

References:

1. Kelley, N et al, 1985 “Acoustic Noise associated with Mod 1 Turbine; its source, impact and control” http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/kelley-et-al-1985-acoustic-noise-associated-with-mod-1-wind-turbine/

2. Kelley, N 1987 “A Proposed Metric for Assessing the Potential of Community Annoyance from Wind Turbine Low-Frequency Noise Emissions” http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/1987-problem-with-low-frequency-noise-from-wind-turbines-scientifically-identified/

3. Hubbard, H 1982 “Noise Induced House Vibrations and Human Perception” (1982) 19:2 Noise Control Engineering Journal 49 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/hubbard-h-1982-noise-induced-house-vibrations-human-perception/

4. Kelley, N et al, 1985 op cit

5. Kelley, N et al, 1985 op cit

6. Kelley, N et al, 1985 op cit p 190

7. Kelley, N et al, 1985 op cit

8. Kelley, N1987 op cit

9. Kelley, N 1987 op cit

10. Shepherd, K & Hubbard H “Noise Radiation Characteristics – Westinghouse WWG 0600 Wind Turbine Generator” NASA Langley Research Centre, 1989 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/shepherd-k-hubbard-h-noise-radiation-characteristics-westinghouse-wwg-0600-wind-turbine-generator/

11. Laratro, A et al “A discussion of wind turbine interaction and stall contributions to wind turbine noise” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 127 (2014) 1–10. https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/a-discussion-of-wind-turbine-interaction-and-stall-contributions-to-wind-farm-noise/

12. Cox, R, Unwin, D & Sherwin, T “Wind Turbine Noise Impact Assessment – Where ETSU is Silent” July, 2012 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/cox-unwin-sherwin-where-etsu-silent-wind-turbine-noise/ and Turnbull, C & Turner J “Recent Developments in Wind Farm Noise in Australia” presented at the Denver Conference in 2013 discusses how ETSU 97 from the UK was the basis for the SA EPA Wind farm Noise Guidelines in Australia http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/turnbull-c-turner-j-recent-developments-wind-farm-noise-australia/

13. Horns Rev – further details about the meteorological conditions when that photo was taken are here, by S Emeis, from the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Institute of Karlsruhe, August 2010: http://www.dewi.de/dewi/fileadmin/pdf/publications/Magazin_37/07.pdf

14. Shepherd, K & Hubbard, H op cit

15. Johansson, Dr Mauri 2013 Open Letter “Big Wind Turbines, Health and Disease, a Danish Perspective” http://waubrafoundation.org.au/2013/big-wind-turbines-health-disease-danish-perspective/

16. Hopkins, Dr Gary, Letter to the Australian Medical Association March 2014 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-gary-d-hopkins-letter-re-amas-wind-farms-health-statement/

17. Black, Dr Owen 2009 Statement to Planning Hearing, Illinois, http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-owen-f-black-md-neuro-otologist-re-wind-turbine-syndrome/

18. Farboud, R. Crunkhorn and A. Trinidade, “Wind Turbine Syndrome: Fact or Fiction” (2013) Journal of Laryngology & Otology, 1 of 5 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/wind-turbine-syndrome-fact-or-fiction-farboud-et-al/

19. Enbom & Enbom, Review article in a Swedish Medical Journal, and letter to the Australian Medical Association, March 2014 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/enbom-h-infrasound-from-wind-turbines-can-trigger-migraine-and-related-symptoms/

20. Bernier, Dr Linda http://www.windturbinesyndrome.com/2011/40-doctors-sign-wind-turbine-syndrome-petition-quebec/

21. Harry, Dr A http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-amanda-harry-groundbreaking-survey-sick-residents/

22. Iser, Dr D http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-david-iser-2004-conducts-first-survey-patients-living-near-wind-project/

23. Pierpont, Dr N http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-nina-pierpont-submission-australian-senate-inquiry/

24. McMurtry, Dr R http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/mcmurtry-evidence-known-adverse-health-effects-industrial-wind-turbines/

25. Reider, Dr S http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/dr-sandy-reider-testimony-calls-for-moratorium-wind-farms/ and letter to the Australian Medical Association http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/reider-dr-sandy-md-rural-primary-care-physician-questions-ama-statement/

26. Tibbetts, Dr J letter to AMA, March 2014 http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/tibbetts-dr-jay-j-md-appalled-at-ama-statement/

27. Mitric-Andjic, Dr A submission to the Australian Federal Senate inquiry into wind turbine noise: http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/rural-gp-forced-abandon-her-home-speaks-out/

28. Spring, Dr Wayne submission to the Australian Federal Senate Inquiry into wind turbine noise: http://waubrafoundation.org.au/resources/sleep-physician-dr-wayne-j-spring-calls-for-noise-assessment/

Living Too Close to a Wind Turbine, is Bad for Your Health!

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Updated Research Design and Sound Exposure Assessment

Summary

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in wind turbine generated electricity in Canada. As of November 2012, Canada’s installed capacity was 5.9 Gigawatts, providing 2.3 percent of Canada’s current electricity demands. The wind energy industry has set a vision that by 2025 wind energy will supply 20% of Canada’s electricity demands. Some public concern has been expressed about the potential health impacts of wind turbine sound (WTSFootnote i). The health effects reported by individuals living in communities in close proximity to wind turbine installations are poorly understood due to limited scientific research in this area. This is coupled with the many challenges faced in measuring and modeling WTS, including low frequencies, which represent knowledge gaps in this area. The continued success and viability of wind turbine energy in Canada, and around the world, will rely upon a thorough understanding of the potential health impacts and community concerns.

Health Canada is collaborating with Statistics Canada on an epidemiological study to evaluate measurable health endpoints in people living in 8-12 communities at distances up to 10km from wind turbine installations. Measured endpoints include an automated blood pressure/heart rate assessment, hair cortisol concentrations and sleep actimetry. The seven days of sleep measurement data will be analyzed in relation to synchronized wind turbine operational data, providing the strength of a repeated measures design that incorporates objectively determined health outcome measures.

Read full report at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2013/wind_turbine-eoliennes/research_recherche-eng.php

Footnote i: An important distinction is made between the physical characterization of acoustical energy as "sound" and the subjective evaluation of sound as "noise" when it is subjectively evaluated as unwanted.
Posted on the Health Canada website, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2013/wind_turbine-eoliennes/research_recherche-eng.php

Rural Ontarians Treated Despicably, by the Liberals, and it Was Condoned by the NDP!

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JERRY AGAR - Callous Ontario Liberals ignore wind power’s victims

SOUTH KENT WIND FARM NEAR LONDON, ONTARIO

Credits: Mike Hensen/The London Free Press/QMI Agency

JERRY AGAR | SUN NEWS NETWORK

http://bcove.me/txilhh0p

It is heart wrenching to see and feel the pain of fellow Ontarians breaking down in tears as they explain how the Liberal government drove them from their homes.

But to understand how cold and callous our current political leadership is in this province, you need to experience it.

Rebecca Thompson’s documentary, Down Wind: How Ontario’s Green Dream Turned into a Nightmare (Surge Media Productions), airs on Sun News Wednesday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

It is a story of reckless, agenda-driven politics resulting in shattered lives.

The Ontario Liberal government’s Green Energy Act isn’t just an economic failure; it is an act of brutal indifference to the human cost of politics.

A cost ignored by people living far from the thump of the giant wind turbines, secure in their downtown Toronto homes and politically correct theories; a safe distance from places like Ripley, Clear Creek and Lucknow, Ontario.

Many may not care – worshiping as they do at the altar of so-called green energy – that the jobs promised by the Liberals through their Green Energy Act were never delivered, while the cost of hydro skyrocketed.

But the human cost should matter to us all.

Giant wind turbines, as high as 50 storeys, with blades the size of a 747, were foisted on communities in rural Ontario with no consultation or agreement from the residents, their municipal governments having been stripped of their planning powers by the Green Energy Act.

Unlike politicians who pay lip service to “serving others” while stomping all over people’s lives and looking after themselves, Norma Schmidt spent her life in Underwood, Ontario in the actual service of others as a nurse and instructor of future nurses.

She and her husband spent their lives in the home they lovingly restored over the years; a place they had hoped to share with their grandchildren.

But Norma has been forced out of her home by severe migraines and depression, brought on by the relentless noise and vibration from the industrial wind turbines erected practically in her back yard.

She left both the job and the home she loved, escaping to a room in her daughter’s house.

It is not the life she worked all these years to achieve, and it is not what she deserves.

Do Norma’s tears, and those of others similarly affected, fall to no effect at the feet of Premier Kathleen Wynne?

Norma’s story is one among many, some of them told in Down Wind.

This is the same Dalton McGuinty/Wynne Liberal government that used public money to reward violent aboriginal protesters who seized private property and terrorized people in Caledonia.

That “occupation” continues today and the government, knowing that their voting base in Toronto couldn’t care less about some rubes in the country, keeps the issue quiet by caving into thugs, rather than protecting law-abiding citizens.

Would the government be as forgiving to people across rural Ontario if some were to blow up a few of the industrial wind turbines that have made their lives hell? Of course not.

There are no turbines thumping the night away in Don Valley West or Toronto-Centre.

It remains to be seen whether the people in such ridings, who overwhelmingly voted Liberal in 2011, will care more for their fellow citizens in rural Ontario this time around.

There are any number of political parties to support other than the Liberals.