#Health
Target:
All Elected Officials and Administrators
Region:
GLOBAL
Website:
www.wind-watch.org

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Large wind energy turbines:

  • Generate a wide range of noises and vibration, day and night, that cause loss of sleep, headaches, tinnitus, irritability, dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms in people who live near them.
  • Raise noise levels to a degree that is incompatible with the rural and wild environments in which they are typically sited.
  • Create intrusive shadow flicker over a long distance when the sun is behind the turning blades.
  • May shed and throw large pieces of ice over a great distance.
  • Are subject to stresses that often cause catastrophic blade failure, collapse, and fire.
Large wind turbines therefore need adequate setbacks to protect the health and safety of nearby residents. A moratorium on building large wind turbines is needed for epidemiologic and acoustic studies to determine safe setbacks. Meanwhile, a minimum distance of 2 kilometers (or 1-1/4 miles) between homes and the turbines is recommended by a number of noise and health experts.

In certain terrains, such as rolling hills, in quiet rural areas, and under some climatic conditions, and with increasing numbers of turbines, greater distances are required to protect the health and welfare of neighbors. Any specified setback, however, must be part of a robust set of regulations to also limit noise and protect wildlife, farm animals, the environment, and the landscape, all of which may well require much greater setbacks.

For more information, see

How to use this petition

Show it to your legislators and government officials in discussing regulation of the wind industry. Use it as a starting point for local zoning. Use it as a model for local petitions.

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Also see the European (epaw.org) and North American (na-paw.org) Platforms Against Windpower.

We, the undersigned, for reasons of human health and well-being regarding onshore wind energy facilities, request that:

1. No large wind turbine generator shall be erected closer than an absolute minimum of 2,000 meters (1-1/4 miles) or 15 times its total height, whichever is greater, from a property line, residence, school, place of business, health care facility, or public road, path, or recreation area.

2. No wind turbine generator shall increase indoor noise levels at night to more than 30 dB(A) and 50 dB(C), nor create "amplitude modulation" ("blade swish/thump") inside homes or at neighboring properties at any time.

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The 2-km Wind Turbine Setbacks for Health and Well-Being petition to All Elected Officials and Administrators was written by Eric Rosenbloom and is in the category Health at GoPetition.