January 17, 2020
Vermont

Wind project warrior Steven Therrien dies at 57

Amy Ash Nixon | Jan. 17, 2020 | caledonianrecord.com

Sheffield wind project drove family from land, to Derby trailer.

DERBY – Steve Therrien, whose family left their home in Sheffield in December of 2014, due to effects from the 16 industrial wind turbines that towered over their home, died Jan. 2 at his home. He was 57.

The family had converted a hunting camp into a modest single family home, but had to flee over the effects of industrial wind turbines they said affected their health and sleep.

The Sheffield wind project, which has had two different owners since it came online nearly a decade ago, would not buy out the family and maintained they were operating within the noise standards set in their Certificate for Public Good.

The town of Sheffield – which has a 20-year agreement with the wind project’s owners and receives a $520,000 annual payment in lieu of taxes for hosting the industrial wind project – was begged by Steve Therrien in 2013 to help the family relocate and to assist them with money from that fund to do so.

The town did not act to help the Therriens financially.

In the Feb. 15, 2013 Caledonian-Record, Steve Therrien wrote of the wind industry, “They are using the disguise of green energy to sucker in job poor areas with the promise of jobs and money for the town.”

Therrien’s obituary says “Steve’s zest for life began to wain when he suffered from the effect of infra sound generated by large wind turbines built on the ridge line above the family home. In December, 2014 the Therriens moved to Derby, and in 2018, sold the homestead.”

“Steve became a strong advocate against the placement of industrial sized wind turbines near residential homes.”

Candace Moot, of Morgan, on Wednesday shared that Steve Therrien had been helpful to residents there, including herself when wind developer David Blittersdorf “first bought a ridgeline on Lake Seymour.”

She said Therrien attended a meeting in Morgan to “share with those of us in the standing-room-only hall what the industrial scale wind development near his home had done to him and to his family.”

A near unanimous vote to oppose the project was recorded that night.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/01/17/wind-project-warrior-steven-therrien-dies-at-57/