July 10, 2014
Denmark

Kæmpevindmøller lukker planteskole på Lammefjorden

Af Anders Tilsted · Torsdag 3. juli 2014 · Uge 27 · nr. 250 · 3. argang · www.nordvestnyt.dk

[The End: The owner of Lammefjordens Perennials is closing virtually the entire company because the nearby giant wind turbines make his employees sick. See English translation of story below. See video by Asta-Julie Lillie Bergen at end. See letter presented by Boye Jensen in 2019 at NA-PAW.]

Boye Jensen, owner of Lammefjordens Perennials

10 kæmpevindmøller på Lammefjorden ved Gislinge har i knap tre år blæst masser af strøm hjem til energiselskabet Vattenfall og til forbrugerne.

Men nu har de også blæst en 43 år gammel planteskole med 15 ansatte og en årlig omsætning på 12 millioner kroner omkuld, skriver dagbladet Nordvestnyt.

For ejeren af Lammefjordens Stauder, Boye Jensen, lukker til årsskiftet ned for næsten hele planteskolen, der ligger inden for 4-700 meter af tre af møllerne.

Planteskoleejeren har taget den tunge beslutning, efter en jysk minkavler kunne dokumentere, at en tredjedel af hans mink fik vanskabte og dødfødte hvalpe, efter at flere kæmpemøller blev sat op i nærheden.

Og tre års naboskab med 127 meter høje vindmøller har for længst overbevist Boye Jensen om, at den lavfrekvente støj fra møllerne gør dyr og mennesker syge.

– Da sagen om minkene kom frem, sagde fem af mine medarbejdere op. Det skal også ses i lyset af, at alle mine kvindelige medarbejdere fortæller om uregelmæssig menstruation, og flere af mine ansatte har konstant hovedpine.

– De er også bange for at få kroniske skader, og jeg vil ikke tage ansvaret for, at en af dem eventuelt føder et vanskabt barn. Så derfor lukker jeg mit livsværk, siger han.

Boye Jensens store problem er dog, at myndighederne endnu ikke er sikre på, at kaæmpemøller gør folk syge, og det er uvist, om han kan få erstatning. Men den 67-årige planteskoleejer gar efter en millionerstatning.

-Jeg lukker virksomheden på grund af møllerne, og ellers ville jeg have fortsat i seks-syv år, inden jeg havde forsøgt at sælge planteskolen. Men nu er ejendommen usælgelig, og jeg vil sammen med min advokat finde ud af, om det er vindmølleejerne fra Vattenfall eller Holbæk Kommune, som godkendte møllerne, jeg skal køre en retssag mod.

I Holbæk Kommune er borgmester Søren Kjærsgaard (V) trist over, at Lammefjordens Stauder nu visner bort til næsten ingenting. Men han tager en eventuel erstatningssag roligt.

– Vi har forsøgt at hjælpe Lammefjordens Stauder ved at få Embedslægen og Sundhedsministeriet til at se på sagen. Men som kommune har vi ikke nogle muligheder for at gribe ind, for Vindmø1lebekendtgørelsen sætter meget klare linjer for, hvad vi må gøre, og Vattenfall overholder støjgrænserne, siger borgmesteren.

Giant wind turbines close down plant nursery

For almost three years now 10 giant wind turbines at Lammefjord near Gislinge have blown plenty of power to the energy company Vattenfall and to consumers.

But now they have also blown away a 43 years old plant nursery and its 15 employees, which had annual sales of 12 million krones [2.1 million dollars].

For the owner of Lammefjordens Perennials, Boye Jensen, has chosen to close down his nursery almost entirely, located as it is within 400-700 meters of three wind turbines.

The nursery owner made this hard decision after a mink breeder in Jutland was able to establish a causal link between the loss of a third of his mink puppies, deformed or stillborn, and several giant wind turbines erected nearby.

Himself a neighbour to 127-metre high wind turbines since their installation three years ago, Boye Jensen has long been convinced that low frequency noise emitted by the turbines makes people ill as they do animals.

“When the mink case became known to the public, five of my staff resigned. You have to know that all my female employees have been complaining of irregular menstruations, and several workers have permanent headaches.

“They are also afraid of getting chronic illnesses, and I don’t want to be responsible for one of them giving birth to a deformed child. So, I am shutting down my life-long enterprise”, he says.

Boye Jensen’s big problem is that the authorities are still not sure that giant wind turbines make people sick, and it is uncertain whether he can get compensation. But the 67-year-old nursery owner is going for a compensation in the millions. “I am closing my business because of the turbines. Otherwise I would have continued for 6-7 years, and then I would have put the nursery on the market. But now the property is unsalable.

“First, together with my lawyer, we need to find out whom we will take to court: Vattenfall, which own the turbines, or the municipality of Holbæk, which approved their installation.”

In Holbæk, Mayor Soren Kjærsgaard is sad that Lammefjordens Perennials are now withering away into nothing. But he is not worried about a lawsuit for damages. “We have tried to help Lammefjordens Perennials by getting a medical officer from the national health administration, as well as the Ministry of Public Health, to look into the matter. But the municipality has no legal ground for stepping in. The windfarm legislation sets very clearly what may and may not be done, and Vattenfall has been complying with noise limits.