MY LETTER to the Mass Wind Turbine and Noise Tecnical Advisory Group.... Thank you for allowing me to take advantage of Mr. Suuberg and Ms. Carlsons interest in receiving comments on findings to date, specific to unresolved concerns. I will expect my comment to be disseminated to all group members and I thank Stacey in advance for seeing this through and for a quick reply signaling it’s completion. As the state’s Wind Turbine and Noise Technical Group (WNTAG) draws nearer to it’s conclusions, I can’t help asking; Will the final report be just a detailing of academic speak that will safely preserve the problem, and not solve it? I’ve watch the taped meetings and as a lay person, I feel disconnected and that my real concerns have been discounted without reasonable explanation. The simple question is - will WNTAG’s labors and forthcoming recommendations provided for acceptable public protection specific to wind turbine noise effect? Will the recommendations and revisions to noise compliance standards and sampling protocol, at face value, honestly fix the existing setback problem? My deep skepticism is due to WNTAG’s refusal to consider very low frequency sound. This was, in fact, a recommended subject area for further research by the state’s Wind Turbine Health Impact Report. Since the release of that report (Jan. ’12) growing research points to very low frequency sound being a contributing factor to adverse health effects from wind turbine proximity. Yet, very low frequency sound considerations were instructed to be off the table when this process started. It was my hope that the group would, at some point, reverse that position, recognizing that by excluding all plausible components involving adverse health effects, the final recommendations would meet professional and public challenge, and would have effectively lost any hope of credibility. It’s my strong belief that limiting the scope of noise components examined, the group’s suggested guidance levels and sampling protocol will likely do little to prevent further mistakenly sited wind energy projects. Limiting the scope of sound components to be examined is seemingly in contempt of the general noise guideline advocated by the World Health Organization: “In all cases, noise should be reduced to the lowest level achievable in a particular situation. Where there is a reasonable possibility that public health will be damaged, action should be taken to protect public health without awaiting full scientific proof.” [World Health Organization. (1999). Guidelines for community noise. Geneva; OMS, 1999, p 94. Ilus, Berglund, B., Lindvall, T., and Schwela, D. H.] The unfortunate conclusion I predict is that public protection regulators will be no closer to effecting acceptable resident health protection. It’s deja vous Falmouth’s Wind Turbine Options Process (WTOP) all over again! A lot of time, effort and taxpayer’s money wasted. Years later, after the Governors praise and the patting-on-the-back is forgotten, the report and it’s recommendations will do little to prevent future resident health complaints from a turbine too close; communities from being torn apart or the public’s trust in government from eroding. No one will be better off for it. Please, take the state expert panel’s recommendations, argument this process with the research address of very low frequency sound impact.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:59:01 +0000
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