“Granted, the acoustic pollution caused by sonar – particularly powerful navy systems – is greater than that from wind turbines. But wind turbine noise is nearly constant, lasts as long as the turbines and comes from multiple directions, as in the area where the whales were recently stranded.”

“We would be far better off simply ending wayward, wasteful offshore wind energy programs. The free market can neuter wind short of the assessing the environmental damage.”

Between January 9 and February 4, 2016, twenty-nine sperm whales got stranded and died on English, German and Dutch beaches. Environmentalists and the news media have offered all manner of explanations – except the most obvious and likely one: Offshore wind farms. Indeed, the area has Europe’s and the world’s biggest concentration of offshore wind turbines, and there is ample evidence that they can interfere with whale communication and navigation.…

“As you can see, with larger turbines coming on line, we now have understandings of the effects over distances longer than previously assumed, and that requires us to rethink setbacks. The Shirley Wind Project [in Wisconsin] has engendered such severe health problems that the Public Health Unit declared the wind project a “human health hazard.”

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) has consulted with interested parties to update requirements for industrial wind turbines in the state regarding siting, wildlife impacts, health and safety, construction impacts, decommissioning, shadow flicker, ice throw, and noise (including infrasound).

Governor Kasich has instituted five year re-evaluations of the regulations and statutes under the Common Sense Initiative (Executive Order 2011-OlK). The consultation described here is carried out under the OPSB’s second finding and order in case number 12-1981-EL-BRO, finding 17, which welcomes further consideration of concerns expressed by the Stakeholders.…

Abstract: Governor Andrew Cuomo, who supports an energy quota forcing New York to buy half of its energy from qualifying renewables by 2030, does not see the problems that would be caused by coating Upstate, Central and Western New York with sprawling, low-output, intrusive, bird-unfriendly wind turbines. All would be paying for the high upfront costs of the unneeded investment, including additional power lines that will be necessary to run the intermittent, unreliable wind energy from rural New York to New York City. Fortunately, the people are fighting back with proposed ordinances against wind turbines. This is not only good for residents and the environment, it is good for ratepayers across the state and taxpayers across the nation. (Part II tomorrow will overview Ohio’s wind turbine siting debate.)

The New York towns of Yates and Somerset are faced with the prospect of up to 70 massive turbines, 600–630 feet tall, which would tower over everything else.…

 “Industrial wind is a NET LOSER: economically, technically, environmentally, and civilly – no matter where it is sited.”

Thanks to crony capitalism between both major political parties and wind developers, the federal wind Production Tax Credit was extended for the 7th time for this ‘infant’ industry (for a history of the first six extensions, see here). As a result, Big Wind LLCs continue to target Western, Central, and Upstate New York. And so the multi-decade grass roots backlash against Big Wind rages on.

One battleground is on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Despite overwhelming community opposition, APEX hopes to blight these shores (a major migratory flyway) throughout the Towns of Somerset and Yates (Niagra and Orleans Counties respectively) with 620-foot-tall industrial wind turbines.  These massive turbines would be the largest land-based wind turbines in the U.S.…