May 13, 2015
Wisconsin

New Board of Health member questions wind farm speaker’s credentials

Doug Schneider, Press-Gazette Media | May 12, 2015 | "Board of Health debates wind farm speaker's credentials" | www.greenbaypressgazette.com

The newest member of Brown County’s Board of Health is voicing concerns about an author the county plans to invite to speak about wind farm issues.

Karen Sanchez said inviting author and retired pharmacist Carmen Krogh to speak to the public amounts to stating “a foregone conclusion as to what you want to hear.” Krogh, who recently presented to a Canadian audience about dangers associated with wind turbines, could address Brown County residents as early as next month, board members said.

The board considering inviting Krogh to speak via Skype at the county’s central library or other facility with a large auditorium. They are doing so at the suggestion of members of Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy, a group concerned about health effects on people living near the Shirley Wind Project.

“It would be highly beneficial to the community to hear what she knows,” said Barbara Vanden Boogart, an official of the group.

Several board members insisted they’re open to hearing from people on both sides of the wind issue. They said they’ve heard from backers of the wind facility in the past, and would willingly do so in the future.

The board last year declared the Shirley Wind Farm, in southern Brown County, a human health hazard, but continues to receive and study materials about the potential effects of wind turbines on people’s health. At meetings over the past few months, they have spent hours behind closed doors discussing the turbines in Shirley.

Sanchez, a nurse appointed to the board last month, questioned Krogh’s credentials. Krogh was scheduled this past week to deliver a presentation entitled “Harm from Wind Turbines: What Has Been Known for Decades,” at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

“If the discussion was about vaccinations, I wouldn’t invite someone (to speak) who believes autism is caused by vaccinations,” Sanchez said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “That’s been debunked.”

But Audrey Murphy, the board chairwoman, said Krogh’s work has been peer-reviewed. Peer review, used in scientific publications, assures that an article meets a publication’s standards.

“The Board of Health has never, ever said we’re opposed to wind energy,” she said. “We have only focused on the health impacts of wind turbines that are sited too close to dwellings.”