Over 120 people were in attendance at the Minster Knights of Columbus Hall on Wednesday to listen to a presentation on Wind Turbines. Jim Niekamp of St. Henry presented information on both the pros and cons of wind turbines.
Benefits to hosting the turbines include monetary gain to approximately 30-60 landowners, tax money to the communities and schools affected, and a few permanent jobs created. The negative impacts include: loss of property values, noise nuisances, health effects from noise and shadow flicker, and wildlife and livestock issues, to name a few.
An audience member commented on the likelihood of stray voltage from the turbines. He has experienced stray voltage problems before and does not want to go through it again, and warned of the danger to livestock.
Another question was asked about Care Flight. From a conversation with Miami Valley Hospital, if wind turbines are in their flight path from Coldwater hospital, Care Flight will have to come up with an alternate flight path, which could take longer.
One of the main concerns is the process of developing a wind “farm”. The local governments-county commissioners, township trustees, zoning boards and village councils-have no control. They can only state their opinions. The decision about whether a wind turbine development will be built in any community in Ohio is decided by the Ohio Power Siting Board in Columbus, which consists of a group of 11 individuals, 7 of which have a vote. The voting members are the heads of the following departments: Department of Agriculture, EPA, Department of Health, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Development, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and one public member.
The group, Mercer County Citizens Against Turbines, conducted the meeting. As the meeting came to an end, participants were asked to contact their representatives at the state department and let them know they feel. Also, many individuals signed petitions against wind turbines and were given signs to place on their properties opposing wind turbines.
Mercer County Citizens Against Turbines will also be at the WCSM Spring Fling on Sunday, February 27 from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm. They will also hold public petition signings on Saturday, March 5 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at St. Henry American Legion and Maria Stein American Legion.
A few Darke County residents attended the meeting and hopefully they will educate others in our county about this serious issue.
Maria C.
The article notes that questions were asked, but makes no note of the answers given (if any). Can that be elaborated upon?
ReplyDeleteAlso, is there empirical evidence of health effects caused directly by the windmill?
One last question, was the audience member's experience with stray voltage due to a malfunction of a wind turbine? Or with some other technology?
Thank you Maria for all the time and work you are putting in this project. I have learned so much from the articles you submitted. It is better to be educated or inform before making a decision. Only a fool would rush in. In Fort Recovery there are signs warning residents not to have turbines.
ReplyDeletemore info can be found at http://windworrier.com/.
ReplyDeleteThey've posted the presentation from the meeting.
@Kurt - search for wind turbine syndrome. I can't tell you if everything you will find is 100%. You need to do your own research and think about if it would effect you or your family. Like a lot of things, it can effect others differently.
"In this engagingly written report by
a Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine trained M.D. and Princeton Ph.D.,
we discover wind energy’s dirty
little secret."
http://www.windturbinesyndrome.com/
Kurt,
ReplyDeleteWhat questions do you have that didn't get answered? I believe we listed the pros and cons of the wind turbines. As far as the stray voltage, yes the man that spoke up about it has had experience with it. That is why he is very concerned about it. He has livestock and warned against stray voltage of any kind when you have livestock! His experience was with a local factory where he lives. Also, what do you mean by imperical data for health issues? If yo go to www.windworrier.com you can read about the health issues.
W K,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your encouragement. I believe this is a serious issue for our local counties and people need to be educated. If you visit www.windworrier.com there is information on how to contact your state reps and Gov. Kasich's office to voice your concerns. They will listen and calling does make a difference. I know Rep. Jim Buchy's office wants to hear from people in Darke and Mercer counties. This is a great concern to him as well. There is a wind developer currently signing up land leases for a possible wind farm project for parts of Franklin and Van Buren Twps.
Questions regarding the ones I asked about (stray voltage, etc). In addition the following:
ReplyDelete“Another question was asked about Care Flight. From a conversation with Miami Valley Hospital, if wind turbines are in their flight path from Coldwater hospital, Care Flight will have to come up with an alternate flight path, which could take longer.”
This doesn’t really answer any of the question. It seems like it is still unknown if this is even an issue, and if it is, what the actual impact would be. It feels sort of like saying, “if you step in front of me, I’ll have to walk around you.” This is obvious, but tells nothing about the likelihood of you stepping in front of me, or how much you being in front of me will impact the time it takes to get to my destination.
Was the stray voltage the farmer experience due to wind turbines? Or some other technology? I believe that is what you’re implying, but you do not explicitly state it.
Regarding the health issues, it seems that it is still at best a very heavily debated issue among the science/medical communities. While there are suggestions that the wind turbines cause the issues you mention, there are several reputable studies that claim to show they do not produce these effects.
Here is a decent look at the debate:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/are-wind-farms-a-health-risk-us-scientist-identifies-wind-turbine-syndrome-1766254.html
Here’s a report contradicting the idea of health effects
http://www.canwea.ca/pdf/talkwind/Wind_Turbine_Sound_and_Health_Effects.pdf
I appreciate your dedication regarding this issue and hope to see more articles like this one, where an open discussion can be had and individuals can educate themselves. I have taken a look at windworrier, and I will continue to check it from time to time for new information. However, noting that the site obviously has a bias against the wind farms, I can only educate myself so much on the issue there without looking for things that are written from the opposite point of view.
I've heard that it has helped out in Mercer County. I've heard Nextera canceled their meeting and are now moving out of the area.
ReplyDeletesorry to post again but I just visited "Our Life with DeKalb Wind Turbines" and it's amazing people have to live with this. The Icing effects really cause the noise to go up.
ReplyDeleteThis couples blog is lifewithdekalbturbines.blogspot.com.
I highly reccomend going to that site as well. Loads of information updated weekly on what it's like to live next to one. A BIG eye opener!
Yes, for now they have pulled out of Southern Mercer County, but they are now targeting Northern Mercer County and Northern Darke County. The article in the Daily Standard newspaper describes the plans of the energy comapny. Darke County really needs to wake up to this. Jim Buchy's office needs to hear from us! Please call or write letters to show your opposition. Urge them to overturn the renewable energy mandate SB 221!
ReplyDelete