New York wind farm foes describe noise
Jul 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Nancy Madsen Watertown Daily
Times, N.Y.
"At times, it is almost unbearable."
Cohocton Wind Farm leaseholder Hal E. Graham told North Country residents
Wednesday night about the noise and other effects the 50-turbine wind farm
has had on his and his neighbors' lives.
Mr. Graham has one turbine on his property, 2,000 feet from his house. A
neighbor has one 1,050 feet away from Mr. Graham's house.
The developer, First Wind, Newton, Mass., assured Mr. Graham and his wife
they would not hear anything louder than the sound of a refrigerator 900
feet away, he said.
Instead, the noise makes the windows on his house rattle, and he hears some
turbines a mile away in his living room. On the walk to his mailbox, it can
reach nearly 100 decibels.
"They never intended for us to have the peace and quiet they promised," he
said.
Mr. Graham was joined by fellow panelists Gail Kenney, a nonparticipating
resident on Wolfe Island and a founding member of opposition group Wolfe
Island Residents for the Environment, and Stephen Trude, a nonparticipating
resident in Cohocton and president of opposition group Cohocton Wind Watch.
The session was organized by groups of local citizens opposed to unregulated
wind turbine placement, including the Wind Power Ethics Group in Cape
Vincent and Concerned Residents of Hammond. More than 150 people attended
the session at Thousand Islands High School.
The three told stories of neighbors and residents who have difficulties
because of seizure disorders, or developed anxiety attacks, learning
disorders or other ailments after the turbines started turning.
"This is not about electricity production," Mr. Trude said. "This is about
installed capacity -- this is about money."
Cohocton Wind Farm has 50 turbines rated at 2.5 megawatts. One turbine was
placed 1,500 feet behind Mr. Trude's house, higher on a ridge.
When the turbines started spinning in December, he began hearing and feeling
that turbine and three others across a ridge in front of his house.
Low-frequency noise creates a vibration he can feel in his chest, he said.
"They're noisy in the wintertime," he said. "It sounds like Kennedy
airport."
He said he wakes up at least once a night and has to turn on the television
to have some white noise to allow him to sleep. Noise measurements regularly
hit 58 decibels at his property lines and 68 decibels at the property line
of his neighbor, who is closer to another turbine.
Cohocton's zoning law is supposed to limit noise to 50 decibels at the
property line and 45 decibels in a house.
Despite the turbines spinning, Mr. Trude said, the wind farm is not selling
into the grid. Cohocton Wind Farm, UPC Wind and First Wind are not listed as
generators that sell into the grid on the Web site of the New York
Independent System Operator, which operates the state's electric grid
system.
Because of that, the town has not gotten its money yet, Mr. Trude said. Mr.
Graham added that leaseholders also have not seen a cent.
Mrs. Kenney, a 47-year resident of Wolfe Island, said the construction
wreaked havoc on the island community.
"You're going to be affected one way or another even if it is just the
change in your viewscape," she said.
During that project's construction, she said, the problems included the
number of workers, the amount of heavy equipment and need for additional
fuel supplies, road damage, dust and air pollution, destruction of
hedgerows, a 1,500-gallon oil spill and lengthening workdays to remain on
schedule.
"There's definitely blasting involved in the construction, and we were told
there wouldn't be," Mrs. Kenney said.
Wolfe Island Wind Project is operated by Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., a
subsidiary of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., Calgary, Alberta. The
developers used 2.3-megawatt turbines that are 410 feet tall with carbon
blades 150 feet long.
Now that the turbines are installed, she said, the lights are far brighter
than residents expected.
"We were told the lights would be the best, newest and softest of lights,"
she said.
The three implored the local residents to work with town officials to fight
turbine installation or have stricter turbine zoning.
Mr. Graham said, "If we knew what would happen, never would we have signed a
contract that puts our friends and neighbors through this."
(c) 2009,
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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