Imagine if you will, that people living near a nuclear power plant complain of headaches, sleeplessness, inability to concentrate, and other problems. What would be the reaction? There'd be a 60 Minutes special and the MSM would splash it across their front pages or opening stories and trial lawyers would probably be lining up to sue.
But what if the problems people were experiencing were due to wind turbines? Well, then, it'd deny deny deny. As Robert Bryce relates in today's Wall Street Journal, it's a real problem:
In 2007, a phalanx of wind turbines were built around Charlie Porter's property in rural northern Missouri. Soon, Mr. Porter began to have trouble sleeping. So did his wife and daughter. The noise, he told me, made sleeping almost impossible. "We tried everything—earplugs, leaving the TV station on all night." Nothing worked. Late last year he moved his family off their 20-acre farm.
Mr. Porter's story is no isolated event. Rural residents in Texas, Maine, Pennsylvania, Oregon, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France and England have been complaining about the noise from wind turbines, particularly about sleep deprivation. Dozens of news stories—most of them published in rural newspapers—have documented the problem.
And the reaction of the green-power lobby: ignore and when that doesn't work: deny:
The wind lobby has publicly rejected these claims. In December, the American Wind Energy Association in conjunction with the Canadian Wind Energy Association, issued a report titled "Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Review Panel." It declared: "There is no evidence that the audible or sub-audible sounds emitted by wind turbines have any direct adverse physiological effects." It also suggested that some of the symptoms being attributed to wind turbine noise were likely psychosomatic and asserted that the vibrations from the turbines are "too weak to be detected by, or to affect, humans."
But even the report admits there's been no study of the health effects of wind turbines on people.
We're supposed to get 20% of our energy from wind by 2030 according to the wishes of environmental groups. That's a lot of turbines. And could be a lot of sleepless nights for people unfortunate enough to live near them.
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