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Dr Arlene King, health effects wind power, health effects wind turbine noise, health research wind power, health research wind turbine noise, noise wind farms, North Gower wind farm, North Gower wind power, Ontario government, Richmond wind farm, sound pressure wind turbines, Wind Concerns Ontario, wind power
Wind Concerns Ontario announced today that it has formally requested the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Arlene King, to follow up on the numerous complaints of excessive noise and ill health, coming from people who are living near or among large-scale wind turbines in Ontario.
Dr King produced a report, which was a simple literature review, in 2010 which found no “direct” link between turbine noise and health problems. That report was widely criticized as being inadequate and based on industry-selected literature, but it has served the wind power development lobby very well, serving as a rubber stamp on health from the Ontario government.
A lot of water has passed under a lot of bridges since: the 2011 Environmental Review Tribunal decision noted that the government ought to keep pace with research on the health impacts, and review and revise regulations as needed—it hasn’t done that.
Dr King herself recommended more research, specifically on the noise. It hasn’t done that either and in fact while acknowledging that infrasound (vibration, sound pressure) could be a problem, it won’t even have guidelines for infrasound until 2015.
By that time, with the government continuing to approve two or three wind power projects a month, everything that is planned or proposed will be built.
Wind Concerns says the government has a duty to investigate the complaints coming from residents under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. With the current Environmental Tribunal concluding this week, after hearing from expert witnesses and actual wind turbine noise victims, it would be appropriate for the government to act.
It is especially important for the people of North Gower and Richmond, where a wind power project would expose hundreds of people–including the property owners leasing land for turbines themselves– to environmental noise and vibration, for the regulations to be revised based on the on-the-ground experiences.
See the news story and actual letter here: http://www.freewco.blogspot.ca/2013/06/wco-demands-investigation-of-noise.html
