Canadian Sierra Club Refutes Claims That Wind Turbines Cause Ill-Health

During a presentation to the Bruce County Council, in Ontario, Canada, on 1 September, the head of the Sierra Club of Canada said that there’s plenty of research worldwide to show that a link between well-placed wind turbines and health concerns is unfounded. The executive director of Sierra Club Canada, John Bennett, said: “Concerns about the health effects of wind turbines have been grossly exaggerated by those who have other agendas involved”.  The address followed a motion passed last year by Bruce County Council, calling on the provincial government to impose a moratorium on the further development of wind energy in the province. This is interesting because it is an example of debates that are occurring in many places in many countries between pro-wind power groups, the wind power industry and representatives of the people who live and/or have livelihoods in the areas where wind turbines are proposed to be sited.

The Sierra Club is a lobby group linked to a similar group in the United States and says its mission is to “empower people to protect, restore and enjoy a healthy and safe planet”.

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“I’ve talked to hundreds of people who oppose wind turbines and it comes down to that they just don’t want them and then they go looking for reasons. . . I think what happens is that people have aesthetic responses to this and then they go looking for arguments” said Mr Bennett. He then described a study using people who claimed that low-frequency sound caused them to be sick. The subjects were placed in an isolation booth and told they would be hearing the low-frequency sounds of a turbine which lead to the production of their symptoms. In fact, what they were hearing wasn’t the sound of a turbine.

While stopping short of saying that people who were anti-wind turbines were the ones who always seemed to claim they felt ill effects from proximity to them, Bennett says he doesn’t dispute they are ill but he says they should find out what’s really making them sick. “Just because you live next to a turbine and you have some symptoms and you didn’t have them before doesn’t necessarily mean those symptoms are the result of the turbine,” he said.

He compared and contrasted the difference between wind energy companies in Ontario which have been more than willing to buy properties of people living next to wind turbines who claim they are ill- and the oil and gas industry, where a fight for compensation is likely to be extremely tough.

Bennett said the 550-metre setbacks for wind turbines in Ontario are the most generous in the world and if they are properly placed and the noise levels are within the guidelines, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Bruce County Warden Mike Smith said “I know they always quote these peer-reviewed studies from scientists, but to deny there is no legitimate health concerns does a great disservice to the wind energy industry. We know some wind energy companies have been buying people out.” He argues in favour of more independent information about the effects of the proximity of wind turbines to homes and animals. Smith also felt that Canada’s Green Energy Act takes away local planning powers that would allow municipalities a say in where wind turbines are located.

Bennett said that local people were being misinformed. He said in respect of wind turbines:

“They are being told they are inefficient. That’s not true. They are being told they have no say where they go. That’s not true.” He said that when you misinform people who have genuine concerns and have health problems you’re going to create a bad reaction. He urged that people be told facts and the truth. Bennett drew comparisons to traditional production industries, saying the people of Ontario haven’t had a say in the location of the province’s three nuclear power plants. Yet nuclear power plants pose a threat a million times greater to personal safety and the environment than a wind turbine, he said.

Bennett claimed that the renewable energy industry is helping to kick-start Ontario’s economy in the wake of the most recent recession. “We’re not nearly back to the jobs we lost from the automotive industry but this is the one industry that’s growing globally and we can compete internationally and we should be doing it,” he said.

At the end of his presentation, Bennett asked county councillors to reconsider a motion they passed last year calling on the provincial government to impose a moratorium on the further development of wind energy in the province.

Wind turbines in Bruce County. This particular wind farm has 110 turbines. To complete its plan to dramatically increase the per centage of Ontario’s energy supplied from wind, the province will approve the installation of thousands of turbines across the province.

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Location of Bruce County In Ontario

The presentations occurred a few months after Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Carol Mitchell, talked to a round table forum put on by the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture about the government’s handling of the Green Energy Act renewal energy policies as part of a 25-year plan to develop a sustainable energy system while getting rid of coal-fired generators.

She said that Nuclear power provided the baseload of electricity supplemented by other forms of renewable energy including hydro generation, solar power, bio-energy and wind turbines. Mitchell explained later during an interview that the evidence available to the government indicates no relationship between industrial wind turbines and health-related problems.

“We know from the chief medical officers of health reports and every report that we’ve seen and also a ruling by the supreme court that there is no direct correlation”.  This is disputed by those in close proximity to wind turbines.

The issue is exacerbated by the lack of hard medical evidence as to what is causing the symptoms experienced by those claiming illness from close proximity to wind turbines and the fact that Canada’s aggressive Green Energy Act effectively takes away planning powers from the local municipality. It’s clear this issue has not yet run its course!