Wind Turbines — Health
We started this segment with some sound from a wind turbine… to some, it’s the sound of clean, quiet, renewable and cheap electricity. To others, it’s the sound of frustration, grief, sleeplessness and medication.
Wind power is seen and sold as the answer to our energy problems. There are wind farms around the world, in Europe… in Australia. Well over 10-thousand wind turbines are rotating around North America, about 17-hundred of which are here in Canada.
Typically, farmers will rent their land to operators. But as more wind towers go up, the complaints they generate get louder. Some who live nearby claim to suffer a variety of symptoms — symptoms a doctor in the United States is now calling "Wind Turbine Syndrome."
Last year, wind turbines were installed near Shelburne, Ontario, about 2 ½ hours northwest of Toronto. Barbara Ashbee and Denis Lorman live on a rural property with 11 turbines very close by. Initially, they were excited about the prospect. But as they told The Current’s Kathleen Goldhar, that changed very quickly. We aired a clip of Barbara Ashbee and Denis Lormand, just outside Shelburne, Ontario.
Carmen Krogh is a retired pharmacist who began researching the possible links between wind turbines and health… after she’d come to believe she’d suffered ill effects from turbines. Carmen Krogh joined us from her home in Cormac, Ontario.
Wind Turbines — Company
To discuss some of the concerns of residents such as Carmen Krogh, we requested an interview with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty but he was unavailable.
Sean Whittaker is the Vice President of Policy at the Canadian Wind Energy Association. He was in Ottawa.
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Tags: Wind power, Wind energy, Health, Noise, Radio
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