June 23, 2011
Australia

Senate inquiry calls for wind farm health study

ABC Rural, www.abc.net.au 23 June 2011

A Senate Committee has recommended an urgent independent study of the health effect of wind turbines.

The committee has tabled its much anticipated report in Parliament.

The report also recommends that planning bodies must calculate the potential low frequency noise impacts and indoor vibrations from nearby windfarms.

Chair of the committee, Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, says the inquiry was highly controversial.

“We have found that there have been adverse health effects found in some people near windfarms,” she said.

“However, and this is a very important however, we have not found that is necessarily associated with noise or vibration.

“That is particularly important, because I don’t want people running around saying that we have found that this is associated with some of the claims that are being made.

“We are saying that there’s not enough information, but that people that are feeling possible adverse health effects, it could be related to other factors, and we had a lot of evidence around stress associated with location of windfarms.”

A dissenting voice on the committee, Liberal Senator Judith Adams from WA, wanted a stop to new wind farms.

“I would like a moratorium on wind farms, that’s probably my own personal view,” she said.

“I’m not knocking renewable energy, but unfortunately wind power is a very very expensive renewable and there are other renewables that are a lot cheaper.

“I just wonder, the reason why this is going so crazy is there’s such a generous subsidy.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/23/senate-inquiry-calls-for-wind-farm-health-study/