February 19, 2016
Letters, Wisconsin

Rural residents know all about shadow flicker

Letter: Rural residents know all about shadow flicker | Fond du Lac reporter | February 18, 2016 | www.fdlreporter.com

Growing up, we were told the definition of an expert is someone who carries a job title, carries a briefcase and lives over 50 miles away. Even the data used for John Anderson’s expert opinion is from far away in Massachusetts. Why not use the research done in Brown County?

Fond du Lac wind project residents don’t need an expert panel to determine if shadow flicker is harmful to humans. There is an easy way to find out for yourself. Just go on the Internet and type in wind-watch.org. Type in “shadow flicker” on the search tab. Watch the flickering for yourself on the computer screen for 10 minutes. There are many videos for you to watch. Then, imagine having six turbines surrounding your home and having this flickering invade your house several times during the day. In the Blue Skies/Green Fields wind turbine project in our county, WE-Energies will install blinds in your windows for free. Why? It is because people were becoming ill from the shadow flicker. We don’t make assumptions. We live with the consequences.

Our question is, “Why would someone such as John Anderson from the American Wind Energy Association write an editorial letter to a small city newspaper in Wisconsin? Could it be that Anderson is truly caring about our health? Or, is it because the EPA of the federal government would like to push the construction of between 500 to 600 more industrial wind turbines in our state? It would mean that some utilities and other industrial wind-turbine project developers could pocket billions in federal taxpayer dollars in production tax credits approved recently in Washington, D.C.

Anderson forgets that out of 8,860 hours only about half of this is during daylight. This changes his calculations. He also uses models that show only 17 to 18 hours per year that a home may be exposed to shadow flicker. Looking on the Internet there are models showing shadow flicker could be from 30 hours to as high as 50 hours per year on homes. This could last 30 to 45 minute per day as the sun’s angle changes. Now imagine you turning your lights on and off in your house every three seconds for this period of time and see how your family members react.

Anderson, you are correct that no further studies are needed for shadow flicker because we already know. Blue Skies/ Green Fields wind turbines were the first large industrial wind turbines in this area. We now live with the consequences of their operation: headaches, ear aches, nausea and sleep deprivation, to name a few. “Fool us once shame on. …” the wind industry. Allowing construction of more industrial wind turbines in rural areas in Wisconsin and thereby having more rural families suffer the same consequences, including leaving their homes to regain their health, would be “… Fool us twice, shame on us.”

To learn more about the adverse health effects caused by industrial turbines go to: wind-watch.org.

Jim Mueller, St. Cloud, and members of the Concerned Citizens of Fond du Lac County.