Alerts
These postings are provided to help publicize the efforts of affiliated groups and individuals related to industrial wind energy development. Most of the notices posted here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch.
First Run Features to release award-winning documentary: WINDFALL
and other cities nationally as well as on select VOD platforms
Wind power: it’s clean; it’s green; it’s good. Or is it?
Wind power … it’s sustainable … it burns no fossil fuels … it produces no air pollution. What’s more, it cuts down dependency on foreign oil. That’s what the residents of Meredith, New York, first thought when a wind developer looked to supplement the rural farm town’s failing economy with a farm of their own – that of 40 industrial wind turbines.
WINDFALL, Laura Israel’s richly photographed feature-length film, documents how this proposal brutally divides the people of Meredith as they fight over the future of their community. Attracted at first to the financial incentives that would seemingly boost their dying economy, many residents grow alarmed once they discover that the 400-feet-high windmills slated for Meredith may bring side effects they never dreamed of. Opposition intensifies when they discover that the fiscal model for wind energy development produces huge profits, not for host towns like Meredith, but for a mysterious group of outside investors, aided and abetted by huge tax breaks and Wall Street sleight-of-hand.
Israel also turns her camera on Tug Hill, New York, another small upstate town, where wind power is a done deal. Tug Hill’s 195 wind turbines create low-frequency “whomping” sounds and strobe-like effects, which have significantly downgraded the quality of life and, in some cases, the health of wind turbine neighbors unable to sell their homes. Meanwhile, the Meredith Town Board pushes to put their wind turbine plan through.
With wind development in the United States growing annually at 39 percent, WINDFALL is an eye-opener that should be required viewing for anyone concerned about the environment and the future of renewable energy.
Director Laura Israel was born in New Jersey and after earning a degree in film from NYU, she edited music videos for Lou Reed, Keith Richards, David Byrne, New Order, Patti Smith, Ziggy Marley, Sonic Youth, and many others. Laura has worked as photographer/filmmaker Robert Frank’s editor for two decades. The films have screened all over the world and won many awards. She also edited Stephanie Black’s feature documentary Africa Unite: Life For a Child directed by Academy Award-nominated DP Ed Lachman; and Music of Regret by photographer Laurie Simmons. Editing credits include advertising and television promo campaigns that have garnered AICP awards, International Film and TV awards, a GLAAD award, an Emmy award, and a Monitor award for editing. This is Laura Israel’s first film as director, and she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Laura is currently working on her next film, a documentary about Robert Frank.
Founded in 1979, First Run Features is one of America’s notable distributors of documentary and foreign films. Recent releases include Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey’s EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER, DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus’s KINGS OF PASTRY, Ken Bowser’s PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE, Joe Berlinger’s CRUDE, and Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith’s Academy Award–nominated THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS.
SnagFilms will be the exclusive digital on-demand distributor for WINDFALL across all platforms.
Honors and acclaim for WINDFALL:
World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2010
WINNER: Grand Prize, Doc NYC 2010
HONORABLE MENTION: Talking Pictures Festival 2010
WINNER: Best Documentary, Woods Hole Film Festival 2011
OFFICIAL SELECTION: IDFA Green Screen Competition 2010
Screened in 30 festivals internationally since TIFF
“Beautifully produced, elegantly structured, edited authoritatively, with unforgettable characters.” —Patricia Aufderheide, Center for Social Media
“Fascinating, insightful, and fair. An intimate portrait of one New York community in heavy battle.” —Stewart Nusbaumer, Huffington Post
“The film isn’t agenda-driven advocacy, but an invitation to think critically about an alternative energy source often presented as a panacea.” —Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Never alarmist or patronizing…strung so tightly and effortlessly together that it’s hard to believe this is a first-time filmmaker at hand.” —Christopher Bell, The Playlist, Indiewire
“Provides a much-needed view of the growing backlash against the rapid expansion of the wind industry.” —Robert Bryce, Energy Tribune
“Emotionally charged human conflict that results in a genuine cliffhanger.” —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
“Chilling.” —Stanley Fish, New York Times
| NY PRESS SCREENING
Wednesday January 11th, 11 a.m. RSVP to: kelly.hargraves/firstrunfeatures.com |
Windfall
83 minutes, English, Digital, 2010, Documentary
Director/Producer: Laura Israel
Director of Photography: Brian Jackson
Producer: Autumn Tarleton
Co-Producer: Stacey Foster
Executive Producer: Don Faller
Production Services: Doublewide Media
Art Direction: Alex Bingham
Editors: Laura Israel, Stacey Foster, Alex Bingham
Technical Advisor: Lisa Linowes
Animation: Deen Modino
Voice Over: Chuck Coggins
Soundtrack Composer: Wade Schuman
Music Supervisor: Olivier Conan
Music: Hazmat Modine, Barbès Records
Press materials are available at: firstrunfeatures.com/windfall_press.html
Advertisements, Puerto Rico •
Source: Coalición Pro Bosque Seco Ventanas Verraco
Feliz Navidad
Aesthetics, Australia, Economics, Flyers, Health, Impacts •
Source: Liberal Party South Australia
Wind Farms Can Generate Angst
South Australians don’t want to live too close to industrial scale wind generators.
We have more wind generation than any other State – in fact, we have one of the highest proportions in the world of wind power generation. More than half of Australia’s installed wind power is in South Australia.
Wind-powered generation is seen as totally eco-friendly and green.
However, concern is building over its cost, health effects and aesthetics.
Community opposition to industrial scale wind generators is increasing. At the same time, Labor is planning to approve more and more wind farms closer and closer to homes, villages and schools.
Neighbouring homeowners and primary producers want to be protected from encroaching wind farms.
The ALP wants to remove third-party appeal rights.
Liberals believe wind farms must not be approved on sites where they create negative economic and social effects.
We will protect residents by banning new wind turbines from being built closer than five kilometres from an existing home.
The Liberal Party stands for fairness. It’s a principle the ALP has long forgotten.
Cost
Wind-generated power is very expensive, but wind farms don’t reduce the need for conventional generating capacity because we still need to meet peak demand on hot or windless days.
The Energy Retailers Association warns we’re footing the bill for both wind and back-up electricity generation. We still have to pay for all that infrastructure even if it isn’t used.
Then there is the cost to individual homeowners. Homes and properties are often devalued when nearby turbines are in line-of-sight. Experts assess the loss of value to be in excess of 30 per cent and sometimes up to half.
In Sickness and in Health
“The debate should not be simplified to one about whether wind turbines can cause harm to humans. The evidence provided demonstrates that they can if facilities are placed too close to residents.” – Court Judgement, Ontario, Canada, July 2011
Like car sickness, turbines don’t affect everyone, but no one doubts the validity of the sufferer’s condition.
Peer-reviewed studies show those living over a kilometre from industrial wind turbines suffered sleep disruption so severe it affected their daytime functioning and mental health.
The Clements and Waterloo wind farms can be heard three kilometres away. Many people report sleep disruption and nausea.
Fire!
Turbines reduce the effectiveness of aerial fire-fighting. Planes have to keep their distance from turbines.
In November last year the Southern Fleurieu CFS was called to a fire at the Starfish Hill Wind Farm near Cape Jervis. CFS officers could do little but watch the blaze from a kilometre away when Work Safe deemed it too dangerous to approach.
Done and Dusted
Primary producers who use crop-dusting or aerial applications are often restricted from spraying crops resulting in financial loss. The Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia (AAAA) says wind farms are a direct threat to aviation safety.
“They also pose an economic threat to the industry,” says the AAAA. “As a result of the overwhelming safety and economic impact of wind farms and supporting infrastructure on the sector, the AAAA opposes all wind farm developments in areas of agricultural production or elevated bushfire risk.”
It is Liberal Party policy that farm management practices and rights of neighbours and adjacent landowners must be protected. This includes protection against economic losses caused by restrictions on aerial fire-fighting, spraying, crop-dusting and mustering.
Taking the Fight to Labor
Wind generation facilities are ferociously opposed by many communities. The first real test was in 2002 over a proposed 20-turbine generator around Myponga and Sellicks Hill. A seven-year-long campaign against the proposal – some generator towers were less than 750 metres from homes – led to the proposal being scrapped.
A State Liberal Government will:
• Impose a moratorium on building new industrial wind turbines and associated infrastructure less than five kilometres from an existing dwelling without the owner’s consent.
• Allow third-party appeal rights, which the ALP wants to remove.
• Help develop national guidelines regarding separation distances and noise emissions.
• Support a South Australian university peer-reviewed study into the effects of industrial wind turbines on nearby residents and communities – if SA is to be Australia’s leading wind generation State, we should be the national leader in academic research into the industry.
• Develop a State-wide zoning plan setting out where industrial wind turbines will be prohibited. This means no wind farms in inappropriate, sensitive, or visually and culturally iconic parts of the State like designated Ramsar sites and places on heritage registers.
• Adopt an approval process for wind farms which will consider associated infrastructure such as transmission lines and substations, rather than considering just the turbines and towers.
Advertisements, Americas, Asia, Environment, Europe, Health, Oceania •
Source: North American and European Platforms Against Wind
Holiday wishes
(click to enlarge)
Information, Law, Scotland •
Source: Concerned About Wind Turbines in Aberdeenshire - cawt.co.uk
Aberdeenshire Councillor takes planning consultant role with Green Cat Renewables
Debra Storr, representing Ellon and District (Formartine), is now working as a part-time planning consultant for Green Cat Renewables.
On her Linked In profile, Councillor Storr writes:
“As well as continuing as I am a councillor on Aberdeenshire Council , i am now working part time for Green Cat Renewables as a plannng consultant. This builds on my recently completed an MSc in Urban Planning and Real Estate at the University of Aberdeen.” [sic]
Click here to read Councillor Storr’s Linked In page.
Debra’s own website (http://www.debrastorr.org) has the headline ‘Working for social and environmental justice’. Which may interest Aberdeenshire residents who may be suffering the adverse effects of nearby wind turbines that she has voted to approve in her role as an Aberdeenshire Councillor.
For Councillor Storr’s voting record on wind energy developments in Aberdeenshire, click here.
To contact Debra Storr in her role as an Aberdeenshire Councillor, click here.
“Too Close”
A look into the siting of industrial wind turbine projects in residential areas. You’ll hear from those who experience the shadow flicker and ill health effects of the Hull and Falmouth Massachusetts turbines. You’ll see how another small town is gearing up for a fight against government and the goliath that is the big wind industry.
Action alerts, Aesthetics, Campaigns, Economics, Fundraisers, Impacts, New York, Noise, Property values •
Source: Protect Richfield
We Have 20 Days to Stop Industrial Wind Turbines in Our Area!
We Have 20 Days to Stop Industrial Wind Turbines in Our Area!!!!
492 ft. Industrial Wind Turbines Do Not Have To Be Our Future
Our area will be forever changed if we allow this project to go forward
We don’t have to have it – and we don’t need it
Turbines today – Fracking tomorrow
We believe town laws have been disregarded – and we won’t stand for it!
Remember 6 turbines will be only the beginning – Don’t let the area become another Tug Hill!
You Can Do Something about it! Don’t stay on the sidelines …
Join the fight!
We are already taking legal action – and we need your help!!!!
NO contribution is too small
Make a Check or Money Order payable to our Attorney: Douglas Zamelis
Mail to:
Protect Richfield
P. O. Box 95
Richfield Springs, NY 13439
For more information – or to get involved – visit our web site:
protectrichfield.com
or call 985-5814 or 360-2873
→ The project will have negative effects on property values. Many sources cite 40% decrease in property values near these turbines. There will be no reduction in property taxes and in time, the tax base of a community will decrease.
→ Turbine noise is described as a jet plane that never lands. They also create shadow flicker, vibrations and serious health problems related to a lack of sleep.
→ These turbines will be the tallest in the United States!
→ The wind developers push these projects because they make huge profits with our tax dollars. It is a massively subsidized industry and they also receive huge tax reductions. We are not even a good wind area per the New York State Annual Wind Speed Map. IT IS CORPORATE GREED AT ITS WORST. THEY GET OUR MONEY AND WE GET THE PROBLEMS.
→ You can be green and against wind turbines. Wind developers paint a rosy picture but little of what they say is accurate. In fact, wind power is expensive and controversial and has never resulted in a conventional power plant being closed. It does not meet base or peak power demands.
For additional information on Industrial Wind Turbines, visit these sites:
windpowerfacts.info
wind-watch.org/video-tughill.php
savewesternny.org
windturbinesyndrome.com
wind-watch.org/documents/real-time-wind-production-various-regions
