Environmental Law

Grievances aired over wind turbines on Vinalhaven - Bangor Daily News

By STEPHEN HOLZER

VINALHAVEN, Maine ? Residents expressed grievances about turbine noise at a Thursday meeting that allowed islanders to ask questions of two wind professionals who will be collecting noise data in an attempt to identify specific mechanical perpetrators.

via www.bangordailynews.com

Two years ago, the residents voted 383-5to put these things up. Just a little reminder, to quote the theme song from Wizards of Waverly Place, that "Everything is not what it seems."

As two residents who were quoted in the newspaper article said:

At Thursday?s meeting, held in Vinalhaven School's auditorium and hosted by Island Institute in Rockland, some residents among the more than 100 in attendance complained of unusual sounds generated by the turbines. Some said they felt vibrations and others were worried about health risks.

Cathy Frierson said she was sitting in her home working on her computer last week when noise from the turbines disrupted her.

?All of a sudden I felt a sternum vibration and felt ill,? she said. ?I had to leave my home and go to the other side of the island.?

Resident Ethan Hall said the sounds the turbines make never fade into background noise.

?The complaints I?m hearing and everyone else is hearing are very real. It?s a remarkable sound like nothing I?ve ever heard,? Hall said Thursday night after the two-hour meeting. ?It affects everyone in the community. We were promised sound wouldn?t be a problem. It is a problem.?

The article points out that a majority of residents say they are not bothered by the increased sound fro the turbines. Fine. But what about the people who live closest to them and are having their sanity destroyed by the noise? Are they not part of the environment, too?

Full post as published by Environmental Legal Blogs on August 21, 2010 (boomark / email).