Windwise ~ Massachusetts calls for immediate epidemiological study on health effects of wind turbines 

Brimfield, MA – Windwise ~ Massachusetts calls for an immediate epidemiological study on the effects of living near wind turbines, charging that the DEP and DPH have failed the people of Massachusetts with the inadequate study that they released today.

Last year, as the departments of environmental protection and public health (DEP and DPH) prepared to convene their wind study panel, Windwise ~ Massachusetts submitted hundreds of studies, reports, personal accounts, video clips, and other materials compiled from around the world demonstrating the damaging effects of living near wind turbines. In some cases, those impacts were felt over a distance of up to six miles.

Despite all that evidence, the report released by the state today concludes that the available literature shows there is limited and insufficient epidemiological evidence to determine an association between wind turbines and certain health impacts. For that reason, a rigorous epidemiological study by a truly independent team of experts is essential.

Last year, the Falmouth Board of Health asked the state to take a lead role in conducting an investigation to determine if negative health effects are associated with wind turbines operating in Falmouth. So far, the state has not responded with a commitment to sponsor such a study. It is doing a noise study of one town-owned turbine in Falmouth, known as Wind I, but not a health study.

“We have a living experiment right here in Falmouth, and I’m part of it,” Mark Cool of Fire Tower Road in Falmouth said. “We’ve been begging DEP and DPH to come down and do an epidemiological study of wind-turbine neighbors, and gotten nowhere. They did not contact us for this report,” he said.

“We knew from the beginning that DEP’s report would be politically motivated with a predetermined outcome,” said Eleanor Tillinghast, a steering committee member of Windwise ~ Massachusetts. “This whitewash is no surprise,” she added.

Virginia Irvine, another member of the Windwise ~ Massachusetts steering committee said, “The governor and his staff have been dedicated to removing all obstacles to the buildout of hundreds of wind turbines across the state, and dismissing the concerns of the many people experiencing the ill effects of wind turbines has been a goal all along.”

“This panel was not independent, its work was not conducted in public or with any ongoing involvement by the public. Everything was done in secret, so who can take this report seriously?” asked Barry C. Cosgrove, also of Windwise~ Massachusetts.

Windwise ~ Massachusetts expects that people from around the state who are now experiencing the effects of wind turbines as neighbors will participate in the upcoming public meetings that DEP and DPH are planning to accompany the release of their report.

Windwise ~ Massachusetts is a statewide alliance of groups and individuals who support the responsible siting of renewable energy projects and are concerned about the negative health, environmental, and economic impacts of poorly sited wind turbines. The alliance members are all volunteers.

For more information, please visit our website, www.windwisema.org.

CONTACTS:

Mark Cool, Falmouth, (508) 728-6508, (508) 540-6078

markjcool@yahoo.com

Barry C. Cosgrove, Wareham, (310) 717-7503

bcosgrove01@cox.net

Virginia Irvine, Brimfield, (413) 245-3179

irvinvir@gmail.com

Eleanor Tillinghast, Great Barrington, (413) 446-3990

etillinghast@greenberkshires.org

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