Please help protect the health of people living near wind turbines!
Eleanor Tillinghast
RECOGNIZING THAT YOU HAVE A VERY BUSY SCHEDULE…
PLEA: Your presence is urgently needed tomorrow, Tuesday, February 14th, at the State House in Boston, to protest the government’s attempt to permit wind turbines too close to people’s homes. This in an indoor event.
[Also Thursday, February 16, in Bourne and Tuesday, February 28, in Lee:]
DEP MEETINGS: Please attend any and all of these meetings. The one tomorrow on Beacon Hill is most important.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Gardner Auditorium
State House, Boston
Thursday, February 16, 2012
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Bourne High School
Beth Bourne Auditorium
75 Waterhouse Road, Bourne
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Lee Middle and High School Auditorium
300 Greylock Street, Lee
Snow date: February 29, 2012
TUESDAY, WE NEED YOU ON BEACON HILL.
ALTERNATIVE: If you can’t be there, please write emails or make phone calls to key legislators.
EXPLANATION: Last year, a panel was convened by two state agencies to consider the health effects of living near wind turbines. People who are suffering from the turbines in Falmouth, Newburyport, and elsewhere submitted descriptions of their experiences. Other first-hand accounts from around the world, scientific papers, and hundreds of additional materials were sent to the panel showing conclusively that when wind turbines operate too close to dwellings, people suffer the effects and those can become severe and chronic. The majority of complaints occur within 1.25 miles from the turbines, but in some cases can be up to six miles away.
The panel ignored the worldwide wealth of documentation and concluded based on a very narrow literature search that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove direct cause and effect.
Although the seven-member panel was said to be composed of independent experts, at least two have been professionally involved in promoting the wind industry’s agenda. Additionally, one of the two state agencies – the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – has been very busy changing state regulations to permit more wind development in previously protected areas.
DEP’s agenda has been obvious from the beginning, and no one was surprised by the outcome of the panel’s work.
It is apparent from the panel’s conclusions that DEP intends to assert that living near wind turbines is not a risk to human health. Right now, the setback recommended by the state is 1.5 times the height of the turbine blade tip from a property line and twice that from a dwelling. That means, for example, that a 400-foot wind turbine could be 1,200 feet from a house, which is way too close. We expect DEP to lobby the legislature to set that distance into law.
DEP has scheduled three public meetings to gather comments. One will take place in Bourne on February 16th, and another will be in Lee on February 28th. The one that matters most, however, will take place tomorrow, February 14th, on Beacon Hill.
Originally, the meeting in Boston was scheduled at a downtown state office building, but DEP then moved it to the State House. We just realized that the reason must be because DEP and its allies intend to make a big showing to the legislators about the safety of living near wind turbines.
We need as many of our allies as possible at the State House tomorrow, either speaking or lending support to our protest of this travesty.
TUESDAY, WE NEED YOU ON BEACON HILL.
OUR MESSAGE: We have a clear and strong 10-point message to state legislators and DEP:
1.) The DEP / DPH health panel conducted a cherry-picked literature review, not a rigorous scientific inquiry.
2.) Its conclusions failed to account for a wealth of peer-reviewed science, reports, and personal accounts from around the world.
3.) It was no more than advocacy masquerading as science.
4.) Do not change existing state environmental laws to satisfy the politicized agenda of DEP.
5.) Do not allow DEP to reduce protections for human health.
6.) Commission a scientifically valid epidemiological study of the health effects of living near wind turbines, and disregard any attempt to establish setback standards for wind turbines until that study has been completed, peer-reviewed, and presented for comments by the public.
7.) Conduct an independent scientific study using experts with no prior wind-related contracts with companies or state agencies to measure all sound emissions from all wind turbines that have been funded by Massachusetts taxpayers and ratepayers.
8.) Halt all state permitting and funding of new wind-turbine projects until the study results have been peer-reviewed on both the emissions and health effects of wind turbines.
9.) In no case should standards replace existing state law unless they are proven definitively to be more protective of human health and quality of life.
10.) This is not about whether or not you support wind energy, it is about protecting the health of Massachusetts residents!
TUESDAY, WE NEED YOU ON BEACON HILL.
LOGISTICS: If you can come to Beacon Hill, please email me and I can help arrange transportation.
The meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, February 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House.
CONTACT DETAILS: If you cannot attend the meeting on Beacon Hill, email, call, or fax the Beacon Hill leadership immediately. A single email to all four of them is fine.
Please also contact your own state senator and state representative. Here is their contact information:
Senate President Therese Murray
Phone: 617-722-1500
Fax: 617-248-3840
Email: Therese.Murray@masenate.gov
Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo
Phone: 617-722-2500
Fax: 617-722-2008
Email: Robert.DeLeo@mahouse.gov
Senator Ben Downing
Phone: 617-722-1625
Fax: 617-722-1523
Email: Benjamin.Downing@masenate.gov
Representative John Keenan
Phone: 617-722-2263
Fax: 617-722-2160
Email: John.Keenan@mahouse.gov
Here is a link to find your legislators: http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Search [1]
COMMENTS TO DEP: DEP is accepting comments on its report until Monday, March 19 at 5:00 p.m.
Please email your comments to: WindTurbineDocket.MassDEP@MassMail.State.Ma.Us [2]
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please email me or check the website www.windwisema.org [3]
THANK YOU!
Eleanor Tillinghast
etillinghast/greenberkshires.org
(413) 528-9363
Green Berkshires, Inc.
Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/alerts/2012/02/13/please-help-protect-the-health-of-people-living-near-wind-turbines/
URLs in this post:
[1] http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Search: http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Search
[2] WindTurbineDocket.MassDEP@MassMail.State.Ma.Us : mailto:WindTurbineDocket.MassDEP@MassMail.State.Ma.Us
[3] www.windwisema.org: http://www.windwisema.org/