Shelburne, a village best known for its annual fiddle festival, located an hour west of Toronto, is now home to about 150 industrial wind turbines. The community was told 20 originally, and now they have over 100, with many many more planned.
What follows is a letter to Melancthon Township Council by a local resident, an organic farmer who has been living amid the turbines with his family for about three years now. The family’s life is in ruins. His doctor has told them they must move, their Realtor says they will never be able to sell their property. This is the reality of “clean” “green” renewable industrial-scale wind power development.
Mayor Bill Hill
PO Box 465 Shelburne, Ontario
Dear Mayor Bill Hill,
I would like this opportunity to introduce myself to you. My name is Farshad Davoodian, I am a registered farmer in Melancthon, Dufferin County. As I am sure that you are aware we are currently living in the middle of hundreds of wind turbines that have been planted here by the Canadian Hydro Company. Initially I did not have an objection to their existence as they gave us incorrect information regarding the discomfort we are now experiencing. They have completely fisrupted our lives, we have trouble sleeping due to the constant sound, they have affected our health. We have now found ourselves in a position that it has become impossible to work, the noise has been unbearable and we cannot rest in our own home, the sound is comparable to a washing machine that never stops. Our health has been in constant decline since their existence and we cannot continue living and working here, we are put in a position of being run from our farm and home. I hope that you can do what you can in your power to bring our concerns to the table. I believe an investigation should be commenced regarding these issues. I am sure I am not the only one living under these conditions. I have enclosed letters that clearly show the company Trans Alta is not denying the excess noise. Our correspondence as well as a letter from my doctor showing her concerns regarding our health.
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We will report if there is any action or discussion following the reading of this letter at the council meeting.
northgowerwindactiongroup@yahoo.ca
On Twitter at northgowerwind
I am sorry to hear of the shattered health (safety of your environment and the right to live without threat) your family is experiencing. I am thankful that your doctor is supporting you. It was recently suggested at a meeting on Amherst Island ( Sunday, January 9, 2012) that many MD’s are reluctant to draw a parallel between residents symptoms and the wind turbines they are living close to. The speaker stated that anyone living around the wind turbines were “lab rats in the Green experiment” and that there was no support for the citizens of these small communities to have their complaints heard and their symptoms taken seriously.
Further to this I have just learned that the Registered Nurses Association of ON who are advocates for healthy environments and activists in health promotion support the wind turbines. I have no idea what we are thinking, when we allow this government’s promise/purchase of this machine to kill protected bird species, injury families physically, financially, mentally, and emotionally while otherwise sensible individuals and organizations without conclusive evidence support the process.
Well, that story isn’t us in North Gower but one that was reported to us. And yes, it is tragic. The wind business position now is that Ontario’s current regulations protect everyone and older developments like Melancthon and Amaranth were too close. So WHY was the one at Grand Valley, approved pre-GEA, allowed to proceed in 2011 under the old rules?
Makes no sense.
On the RNAO, if you are a nurse, would you please e-mail northgowerwindactiongroup@yahoo.ca as we have more information for you, and a possible course of action. Thank you!
This specific blog, “Living with turbines: a sad story from Shelburne, Ontario Northgowerwindactiongroup’s Blog” was great. I’m generating out a clone to show my friends. Thanks for your effort,Jeffrey
That’s total bull. I’ve lived and worked around and ON wind turbines. That’s 10 hours a day living by them and working alongside/within them for 2 years (and working alongside people who have worked on them for decades). You basically need to be underneath one to hear them, and they are made up of MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL parts – nothing different or new. There have been many studies done on the effects the supposed “sound” may have on human health and it’s ABSOLUTELY NONE. It’s about the same as, or less decibels than normal street sound. If you want more proof that wind power has no adverse affects on health – go to Germany or Ireland where they have had them for decades and ask them how many of them are sick or dying because of the wind turbines there, and stop trying to put hardworking people out of a job because of your non-reality based fear of wind turbines.
First things, first: your assertion that to hear the turbine noise you have to stand right underneath one, makes me wonder if you’ve ever actually seen one at all. The truth is, standing right next to the mast is the quietest place–the sound emanates out from the turbine, as anyone knows.
And much of the health problems–this has been proven, your statement to the contrary aside–is due not to the audible sound but something else the wind turbines produce–infrasound.
Medical Officer of Health for Grey Bruce Dr Hazel Lynn and her colleague Dr Ian Arra recently did a review of more than 40 studies and found that the “null hypothesis” was disproved. In other words, it is impossible to say there are no health problems from wind turbine noise and infrasound.
Right now, more than 20 families in the Kincardine area, who have to live next to more than 100 turbines in Enbridge’s Underwood project, are ill—their doctors say so. Many are being advised to leave.
Your assertion that Germany or Ireland (surprised you didn’t mention Denmark) has wind turbines and no problems is completely false. First the turbines they were putting up in Europe were NOT near anyone (in Saarland, Germany, for example, the setback is 2 km) but more recently, as more turbines are built, health problems are appearing and communities are objecting.
What you also don’t seem to understand, which again makes me wonder what your connection to the wind power development industry is, exactly, is that the machines being built in Ontario are far more powerful than anything previously used. Turbines are now well over 2-megawatts and many proposed in Ontario now are 3 megawatts.
I would suggest that you go online and find the CBC documentary film “Wind Rush” which was aired recently, and carefully listen to the interviews with people living with the turbines. Their experience is very different from what you claim. Watch the film and check back with us. Thank you.