Willful blindness in evidence presented on turbines
The News | www.ngnews.ca 18 July 2012
Health Canada announced last week they will conduct a study of the human health impact of industrial wind turbine noise. This announcement has implications on the upcoming announcement of Power Purchase Agreements by John Dalton, Renewable Energy Administrator, particularly on Shear Wind Inc.’s bid for their Glen Dhu South wind power project which straddles Highway 104 through the Marshy Hope area.
In March of 2009, The Eco Awareness Society (EAS) filed an investigation against Shear Wind Inc., for providing false and misleading information to Nova Scotia Environment in the environmental assessment application for their Glen Dhu North wind power plant. The filing alleged extensive plagiarism and five counts of false and misleading statements in the addendum’s health section where conclusions and data were altered from the original health literature and Shear Wind’s author was falsely represented as an expert on the health effects posed by industrial wind turbines.
A Freedom of Information Request revealed notes conceding the consultant had made a “mistake.” However the Nova Scotia Environment (NSE) investigator’s response failed to provide a decision as to whether or not the statements were false and misleading or whether there was significant plagiarism and literary fraud, thereby allowing this information to remain on the NSE web site, where it continues to misrepresent the adverse health and safety effects of Shear Wind’s project.
EAS also presented documentation from an engineer outlining the flaws in Shear Wind’s noise modelling studies to Antigonish County Council, the UARB and the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. In every venue, through legal manoeuvring on both the government’s part and Shear Wind themselves, this documentation has never been heard or responded to. Yet, in Shear Wind’s own Glen Dhu North Environmental Assessment document from Aug. 13, 2008, they write “Sound levels generated by the operation of the WTGs (wind turbine generators) may have a negative impact on residents close to the site.”
I live two kilometres or more from the nearest wind turbine in Shear Wind’s Glen Dhu North wind power project and yet there have been times during these hot summer nights that I must close the windows in my house due to the overwhelming noise coming from the turbines. Never have I had so much trouble sleeping in this once peaceful community and it has in turn affected my well-being. Now I find their new project, Glen Dhu South, will put turbines as close as 622 metres to a home. I’m disheartened that after all the evidence we have put in front of them, they would still put turbines this close to a home. Are they willfully blind?
Faye Kinney, Treasurer
Eco Awareness Society
Baileys Brook
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/21/willful-blindness-in-evidence-presented-on-turbines/