The Trempealeau County Board is to be commended for its recent rejection of the proposed draft ordinance on wind turbine development in the county and for responding favorably to our petition to extend the moratorium on wind turbine development until a truly comprehensive ordinance can be put together with the guidance of a citizens advisory committee to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the county.
With all due respect for the hard work the Zoning Committee put in on drafting a wind turbine ordinance, we feel that in trying to be fair to people who stand to profit from developing wind energy, they are compromising the health, safety and welfare of the general public, in their concern for mere logistics and economics of turbine placement in the county.
The six-month moratorium will give us time to demonstrate some serious and very real health issues associated with the larger turbines, especially for developing infants and elderly and sick people, who are particularly vulnerable to vibro-acoustic disease. Perhaps this is why the manufacturers of the turbines recommend that they be installed no closer than 1.5 miles from residences. The World Health Organization recommends two-mile setbacks, and medical expert Nina Pierpont, Ph.D, recommends two to three miles in areas with hills and valleys.
Having been provided this data, one would think our Zoning Committee could have done a little better than the one quarter mile they suggested in their draft version of the wind turbine ordinance.
Ron Reimer
Ettrick, Wis.
28 June 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/28/turbine-rejection-a-good-decision/