| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind Power News: Complaints
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Sami activists set up camp outside Norway parliament to protest wind turbines
An Indigenous Sami activist set up camp outside the Norwegian parliament on Monday to protest against wind turbines built on land traditionally used by Sami reindeer herders, saying he will stay there as long as the turbines remain in place. Norway’s supreme court in October 2021 ruled that two wind farms built at Fosen in central Norway, part of Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, violated Sami rights under international conventions. But the turbines remain in operation today. The Fosen case . . . Complete story »
Akimoto quits LDP as wind farm bribery case heats up
Prosecutors on Aug. 5 searched the home of the president of a wind farm developer as part of a bribery investigation, triggering the resignation of a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who is also embroiled in the case. Investigators with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office searched the home of Masayuki Tsukawaki, 64, in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Tsukawaki is president of Japan Wind Development Co. On Aug. 4, investigators searched the offices of Masatoshi Akimoto, 47. That same day, Akimoto . . . Complete story »
Norway’s largest wind farm violates Indigenous rights. Why won’t authorities take action?
In October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that a wind farm built on the country’s central-west coast violated the protected cultural rights of the Indigenous Sámi by infringing on their reindeer grazing lands. On June 3, 2023, exactly 600 days after the ruling, the $1.3 billion Fosen wind farm was still operating. To mark the anniversary of the court’s decision, members of the Norwegian Sámi Association’s Youth Committee, known as NSR-N, demonstrated outside the Norwegian Parliament. On June 26, Motvind . . . Complete story »
Rexville farmers continue to pay price for wind turbine fire
The now infamous and catastrophic fire at the Eight Point Wind facility in West Union NY littered fiberglass debris over a wide area as it burned. A large portion of the land that was contaminated with shreds of fiberglass debris are hayfields owned by the Mullen family farm. The fiberglass rendered the first “cutting” of hay this season contaminated and unusable. Below is a picture of the tons of otherwise pristine hay, now piled up at the site of the . . . Complete story »
In-depth: ‘No remediation’: A broken turbine in Kansas shows how wind companies evade responsibility
For Kansas state Rep. Carrie Barth, the broken turbine in Marshall County and its fiberglass debris scattered across farmland has confirmed one of the many loopholes industrial wind companies have to distance themselves from responsibilities to the residents who live in their shadow. “We have all of these bureaucracies to deal with health and environment, yet there’s no plan for remediating any problems that arise from these structures,” Barth told The Epoch Times. The wind turbine, which is a part . . . Complete story »
Updates on the March 28 wind turbine fire in Rexville/West Union NY
A second public meeting that focused on the March 2023 wind turbine fire in the Town of West Union wasn’t as heavily attended or as contentious as the first. The little town hall was nonetheless still full of residents who were curious, disgruntled, impacted, and worried about the aftermath from the fire. About a dozen landowners attended the regular monthly meeting of the town board, three representatives from NextEra Energy, and a representative from the New York State Department of . . . Complete story »
Latest well water testing raises toxicity concerns
Area residents have long complained their water wells were ruined when the wind farms came into play. Concerns that water wells in Chatham-Kent may be toxic to human health continue for residents in Dover and North Kent. That’s according to Christine Burke of the Wallaceburg Area Wind Concerns group and geologist Keith Benn who recently obtained test results from nine area wells. The analyses were performed by an independent laboratory in Livonia, Mich, known for its role in the Flint . . . Complete story »
Seven years later, wind farm tax change still irks some South Dakota landowners
“We got screwed over,” one White Lake landowner said. “The politicians in Pierre socialized the wind farm money that was supposed to go locally.” Wind farm developments around the state, sold as a boon for the tax base of local schools, now only fulfill that promise for a few years due to statewide education funding changes. White Lake, S.D. – Jim Headley thought the terms of the Prairie Winds wind farm were straightforward. While he and other landowners who allowed turbines . . . Complete story »
West Texas ranchers sue ERCOT over wind farm connected to Chinese billionaire
A pair of West Texas ranches are suing ERCOT, claiming the state’s power grid operator violated a 2021 law when it failed to stop a Chinese billionaire’s wind farm from moving forward in Val Verde County. It’s the latest battle over the Blue Hills wind farm, a 46-turbine project planned near Comstock and started by Houston-based GH America Energy, whose parent company is owned by Chinese businessman Sun Guangxin. In response to the project, the Legislature passed the Lone Star . . . Complete story »
North Dakota wind turbine blade manufacturer sued for race harassment
LM Wind Power Blades, Inc, a wind turbine blade manufacturer based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, violated federal law when it subjected an African American employee to a racially hostile work environment and then retaliated against him for complaining, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed May 4, 2023. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the African American employee was the target of sustained racial hostility from white employees and supervisors, which included racial slurs and . . . Complete story »
