Alberta wind farm worries residents

Darrel and Jean Gogel’s Trochu acreage is a piece of calm in a hectic world–where Darrel can retreat after working days away as a truck driver, and Jean can unwind from her job as a hospital housekeeper.

That could change, the couple says, if a plan for a 54-turbine wind farm near their house goes ahead.

“It’s a huge concern for us,” said Jean Gogel, whose land is about 135 kilometres northeast of Calgary.

Although she is worried the proposed wind farm will affect their property’s value and the natural backdrop, she said the effect on health is her primary concern.

In Alberta, opponents of wind turbines have fought the developments on the basis of reduced property values, destruction of scenic views, or the turbines’ wallop on wildlife such as birds.

But the Gogels and two other Trochu families are challenging the Ghost Pine Wind Farm –and will push for a public hearing at the Alberta Utilities Commission–based on arguments the noise from wind farms could have an impact on human health.

Plans for the Ghost Pine Wind Farm call for turbines to be placed between 524 and 888 metres away from their homes. The three families want the turbines placed no closer than 1.5 kilometres.

“There’s a growing body of medical evidence that when wind turbines are too close to residents, it’s detrimental to our health,” Jean Gogel said.

Proponents of wind farms, however, say the medical evidence is inconclusive, at best. And already, wind energy is a highly regulated and environmentally assessed industry.

“Can that sound cause annoyance?” Sean Whittaker, vice-president of policy for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said of the movement of turbine blades. “Yes.”

But health impacts from turbines are reported only by a vocal minority of people, Whittaker said.

Health impacts, he said, are “primarily speculation.”

But the battle being fought by the Gogel, Moran and Scheunert families may be a sign of things to come as the province allows expansion of the wind industry in an electrical system where greenhouse gas-producing, coal-fired generation is king.

Until now, Alberta wind farms have been located south of Calgary–in drier, ranching areas such as Pincher Creek or the Cypress Hills.

Now, some are being located closer to more populated rural areas. The Ghost Pine Wind Farm is one of a few proposed wind farms northeast of the city.

“If this starts, how many more turbines are going to be thrown up?” said Dale Moran, one of the other landowners fighting the turbines, which will reach 120 metres high when the blade peaks.

As Canada doubles its wind power capacity, Ontario’s provincial government is proposing minimum setbacks for wind turbines of 550 metres.

Part of the debate in that province is over “wind turbine syndrome,” a newly coined term that includes a gamut of effects such as sleeplessness, ringing ears and headaches.

In Trochu, the families brought up these and other issues during hearings.

But the Kneehill County development appeal board sided with the wind farm developer, NextEra Energy Canada, with officials there saying health evidence presented by the families wasn’t sufficient.

The landowners are now pushing for a hearing in front of the Alberta Utilities Commission.

A public hearing is more likely when there are unresolved issues from landowners.

For wind farms or turbines, the commission’s approach is not based on setbacks, as Ontario is proposing, but noise measurements. It includes consideration of low-frequency noise.

Thomas Bird, environmental services project manager for the Burlington, Ont.-based NextEra, said the company has taken local residents’ concerns into account, and the development already exceeds setbacks required by the county.

Bird added that, in general, most people who are opposed to wind turbines in their area aren’t big believers in greening energy sources in the first place.

“This form of energy is in line with what the province and what the federal government want to see more of,” Bird said.

But Moran said the idea that the landowners lack concern for “green” issues is wrong. He said he was one of the first in his area to institute no-till farming practices.

These turbines are just too close, he said.

“There’s hoards of places in Alberta where there’s no people,” Moran said.

At the Municipal District of Pincher Creek–where Canada’s wind industry saw some of its earliest commercial projects, starting in 1993 –development officer Roland Milligan said he has not heard of health concerns from residents, even though the turbines are located within one kilometre of some homes.

“We have never heard anyone say anything about health issues,” he said.

Milligan said the wind farms have been good for county revenues and for individuals.

At the upper end, he said landowners earn as much as $10,000 annually for every turbine placed on their property.

In Trochu, none of the families fighting the wind farm development will enjoy lease revenues — even though the turbines are located close to their land.

An article on Canada’s wind turbine sector in Canadian Geographic magazine last month suggested that some of the bad feelings between neighbours could be mitigated by “collective land leases,” a model used by European co-ops that allows residents or municipalities to buy shares in the development, so all in the area can benefit financially.

By Kelly Cryderman

Calgary Herald

13 July 2009

Tags: Wind power, Wind energy

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