Monday, August 27, 2007

From today's Chronicle Herald

Quietly sounding alarm
Forced from home after noise from wind farm turbines made family sick, d’Entremont telling others his story
By Yarmouth Bureau | 6:04 AM


DANIEL D’ENTREMONT has become somewhat of a poster boy for people opposed to having wind farms in their neighbourhood.

He was in Kincardine, Ont., this spring for a speaking engagement and recently returned from Chilton, Wis.

An Illinois trip is also on the horizon for Mr. d’Entremont, the Yarmouth County man who relocated his family of eight away from a local wind farm.

He says the noise from the turbines was making his family sick.

In Ontario, a group of people who had formed a wind-action group invited him to speak.

"They weren’t opposed to wind power but they were just fearful of the effects it would have when wind farms would encroach too close," said Mr. d’Entremont.

In Wisconsin, he was invited by local homeowners who had heard of him.

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Daniel d’Entremont says this poster of his house in Pubnico Point is being used in Manitoba by a group opposed to windmills being built too close to homes. (brian medel / Yarmouth Bureau)

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"When they found out these wind companies were proposing wind sites . . . close to their homes they got together and they were afraid for their homes. . . . They want these windmills set farther back," he said.

"They learned of me through Dr. Nina Pierpont from Upstate New York."

She’s a pediatrician who studies the effects of wind turbines on kids.

She did a clinical interview with Mr. d’Entremont over the phone early last year and "presented it to a wide audience," he said.

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Daniel d’Entremont stands in front of his Lower West Pubnico home. He moved his family out of the house last year after noise from the nearby wind farm was making them sick. The nearest wind turbine is about 350 metres from the house.(brian medel / Yarmouth Bureau)

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He and his wife Carolyn decided to move last year with their six children back to her parent’s home in Abrams River, about 35 kilometres from the 17-turbine wind farm at Pubnico Point, operated by Atlantic Wind Power Corp. Ltd.

The constant swooshing sounds from the turbines — the closest being 350 metres from their Lower West Pubnico house — was making everyone sick, he said.

No one in the household could concentrate for long and headaches were frequent among family members, he remembers.

Now people want to hear all about his experiences first-hand.

He said there is a common question: "What was life (like) with (wind) turbines next door, in the backyard?"

And what did these audiences find interesting or startling?

"Everything – from the health affects to just the shear magnitude of the noise," said Mr. d’Entremont.

His said his family, for instance, had to use noise to block out noise.

"All (bed)rooms had fans eventually, but the kids would have fans right at their heads, especially the small ones, just to mitigate the noise.

"They could sleep with the fan noise but not with the windmill noise.

"It’s an intrusion. It’s a violation. You feel violated," said Mr. d’Entremont.

People often seemed surprised after hearing him speak, he said. "It really opened their eyes to the potential problems.

"Everybody is not impacted the same way, but a large number of them would be impacted severely."

Mr. d’Entremont has had his expenses covered on these speaking engagements, but has refused to take a fee for both speaking engagements. He said he has another session coming up in Illinois sometime soon.

And Dr. Pierpont contacted him again this month, asking that he undergo some tests at a U.S. medical centre after his upcoming appearance in Illinois.

Dr. Pierpont has arranged for a doctor in Lafayette, Ind., to do some work, he said.

She wants to speak with the d’Entremont children individually.

"She’s going to publish this in a medical journal," said Mr. d’Entremont.

He’s e-mailed the premier to let him know what he’s been doing and wants the government to agree to relocate his family.

"They’re both responsible, the government and the wind farm," said Mr. d’Entremont, about decisions made to operate wind turbines so close to dwellings.

Natural Resources Canada ordered a study of noise levels at the site. Testing in 2005 by an Ontario firm determined that sound from the turbines is continually audible, to varying degrees.

The wind power company has made some noise reducing alterations to some of their equipment, president Charles Demond said this week.

"We’ve reconfigured some of the turbines so that they do not engage or generate any power until a higher . . . wind speed," he said.

"At lower wind speeds, if the wind is coming from a southerly direction, then certain of the turbines will not come on until a higher threshold," said Mr. Demond.

He could not say what the wind speeds were or how many machines have been reconfigured.

Mr. d’Entremont said he has seen the three windmills closest to his home shut down during daytime hours, but has heard the same units operating again after dark.

"You can hear them from (my house)," he said.

No one from the company has told him of any changes to turbine operations, he said.

Daniel d’Entremont and his family still live in Abrams River with in-laws and their home in Lower West Pubnico is vacant and still for sale.

"Nobody wants to live near a wind farm," said Mr. d’Entremont.


TURBINE TALK:

•The company that owns the Pubnico Point Wind Park is Atlantic Wind Power Inc.

•The Pubnico project includes 17 turbines connected by 5.2 kilometres of access roads.

• Atlantic Wind Power is also one of two companies now proposing to build upwards of 21 wind turbines on Nuttby Mountain in Colchester County, which is said to be the highest spot in mainland Nova Scotia.

• Atlantic Wind Power, together with Cobequid Wind Power, will operate the wind farm under the name Cobequid Area Windfarms Inc.

• Developers are leasing more than 200 hectares of land on Nuttby Mountain and the turbines would be built approximately 1.5 kilometres from the nearest home, say proponents.


26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seeing the D'Entremont home gives me better appreciation for what they lost because of this windfarm. It is a beautiful and well maintained house,and the province of Nova Scotia should not only compensate and relocate them, it should give serious pause to all the homeowners here who stand to be forced out of their homes because of this same company, AWPC. I like what another writer said on the opinion page today, this government ignores the will of its people to pander to special interest and for profit groups. This has to stop.

Anonymous said...

You won't be forced from your home. Poor old Dan. A turbine within 350 meters of his home. In Pugwash there will be an extra 150 meters distance. That is no stones throw, but it sure will make a difference in sound. A positive one too.

By the way this blog is getting way too out of hand. If the government should do anything it should be to step in and shut down these pages of lies on this blog!

Anonymous said...

Talk about sticking your own foot in your mouth in the very first comment here. You as the opposition are a special interest group and I agree the government should stop pandering to your needs. In terms of for profit corporations that the government panders to; it is sometimes for the purpose of keeping jobs in rural areas. I at times believe that this should also stop. I wonder how many other for profit companies are pandered to in Pugwash and the surrounding area to keep jobs. How far is Oxford from Pugwash anyways?

By the way how long has this guy in Pubnico been complaining about this wind farm near his house. Why is he wasting his time with you guys and not some big shot lawyer to take on this behemoth that you keep talking about, AWPC? The truth is if this were a fight worth fighting you would take it to the courts, but lets be honest here he DOES NOT HAVE A CASE! otherwise he would have done it a long time ago. Keep picking your losers as heroes for your cause folks!

M Anderson said...

Government pandering to our needs? Ha ha. What a joke.

What jobs??! What a silly comment.

So you want to stop citizens from speaking out against placing industrial turbines too close to residents. What is your financial interest in this? And why are you so threatened? Why are you so hostile?

You obviously know nothing about the d'Entremont case. Do some reading before you post these inane rants.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps M. Andersen should pay for Dan's legal bills then, since he knows so much about his case.

I am waiting to see a decision in Dan'd favour M. Andersen, but I guess I will be waiting a long time.

And for the record I have no financial interest in this project all I am interested in is not allowing good projects to be destroyed by lies and misinformed radicals. You are the one that has to do some reading M. Andersen, you are the one that has to look across the globe and see how many wind farms are actually installed versus the amount of people that are being made sick by these things. 500 Meters is plenty of space especially when these machines can be tuned to only start up when the winds are at a certain point. Get with the program here M. Andersen the rules are set on acceptability standards of wind farms and this faciltity will exceed those standards. So all it comes down to is the whole issue of "I don't like the looks of wind turbines!" Because you M. Andersen will not be put out or made sick by these machines. Get with it man your cause is lost!

Anonymous said...

I saw and heard Dan in Puwash. I was struck by the beauty of his photographs. I didn;t take one because I don't know who paid for them and I won't take any chances.

The photocopies did show the beauty and majesty of the Pubnico windfarm. How silly for someone to pay for his show and tell when it showed wind power in such a positive light.

John McManus

ps. to anonymous who thinks I have a financial interest: as I said before call me. You think I am raping the landscape . but let me assure you. my sex life is not nearly that exciting.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting read here.

http://www.gardnermountain.org/reviews/86

I know, It's probably all just a pack of lies, but lets allow those who wish to read it anyway and form their own opinions.

Anonymous said...

Yeah what an interesting website!

I am glad that you did however admit that it was a pack of lies beforehand, because it makes my job easier, but here are my retorts to some of the arguments posted on that website anyways:

1-There is mention in the first articles about the wind farms sounding like airports and that the machines themselves sounded like airplanes or helicopters. Lets debunk that first by stating that the sound of an airplane or helicopter over your head is perhaps louder than 75 Db minimum. The airport sounds itself would be about the same. Living next to an airport would make you go mad, but there is no way in hell that a wind farm even comes close to an airport or that a turbine can be linkeed to an airplane or helicopter, come on!

2-We have already discussed the issue of ice throw, but here are the facts. Machines today are synchronized so that if one or two of the blades are off balance because of weight (i.e. ice on the blades) than it will not start up. Also the materials used on the blades are not conducive to allowing ice to build-up for long periods of time. So the blade won't spin if ice is on it, thus reducing the ice throw factor to nil.

3-Sunlight strobing will also not be an issue with this wind farm as well, because it is proposed on a east to west axis and is not on a high ridge. On ridges I agree that sunlight strobing can be an issue, but here in Pugwash it is not. Shadows from these machines will not be cast for several hundred meters, because the sun will not be behind the machines to produce that effect.

4-It seems in the articles on the website mentioned above that there is a lot of mention about wind proponents stating that wind is being proposed as a substitution for oil. This is perhaps the most ridiculous argument, because anyone in the know realizes that wind is only part of the formula. When you have a significant balance of renewable energy resources only than can you count on a predictable amount of production. As it stands right now NSPI can count on the fact that at any given time it knows that atleast 10% of the current wind production will be online at any given time. It is only a little amounjt and you will probably state that this helps your argument, but it doesn't. Wind coupled with many other renewable resources will bring the predictability factor above 50% or dispactachable factor as some may say.

There are many other points to address in the attached website, but I think what is stated above outlines the key points. One thing to take into account though when you post a website like that is that it wreaks of pro-fossil fuel consumption. A lot of what is stated on that website wants to burn fossil fuels cleaner, but the truth of the matter is we have to reduce our dependance. Your argument that you are not anti-renewable energy advocates flies further out the window as you keep on posting websites like that one.

Anonymous said...

With reference to point #3, Strobing or shadow flicker. Having lived on the Gulf Shore for many years, knowing the arc the sun and moon make through my little piece of sky and knowing the proposed location and height on the turbines it would be absolutely impossible for there NOT to be shadow flicker much of the time. Do you think you're dealing with gullible school children here. Why in God's name would anyone of us take your word for anything when we have so much to lose here. Go flog your windmills to the good people of Nuttby Mtn. or Rodney or anywhere you think they'll give you free rein to tear the landscape all to hell in the name of a greener future. It's definitely not being bought here.

Anonymous said...

Our Danish friend, whose name escapes me, explained the simple solution to any shadow flicker problem at the Cumberland Council meeting attended by many Gulf Shore residents.

If any household is bothered by shadow flicker the problem can be measured. The turbine involved can be shut down during this 6 to 8 minutes a day using the supplied software.

Shadow flicker is just misdirection for the real reason people oppose wind power - NIMBY.

John McManus

Anonymous said...

I think Mt. D'Entremont wants a new house from the government. His employer must be very compliant to allow him to travel all over the place preaching the bad effects of wind power. You people opposing wind power are neurotic. Do you think the burning of coal from NSPC is not going to hurt you? Also, try giving up electricity for awhile. I am sure you want it as much as the next person. Just NIYBY. Someone has to have it in their back yard.
Anne Murray would do the world good if she sacrificed one of her houses for the good of a clean environment.
She should stick to music and you should stick to your own knowledge , whatever that is. Stop preaching like an evangilist to the public, please.

Anonymous said...

Praise be to the last comment!

Anonymous said...

Whose hare-brained idea was it to take one of the most naturally beautiful and peaceful places in Canada and turn it into an industrial generating complex?
There are many other places where such a project would be better suited. I've been watching this blog for a while now and I'm amazed that there is any argument from anyone. It's just a "no-brainer" that you don't use such a delicate and serene place to satisfy the whims of big business.

Anonymous said...

THIS JUST IN! Reliable sources informed us this morning that AWP has been paying John McManus to monitor this blog and contribute on behalf of the proponents.

Anonymous said...

I guess that explains his keen interest in other peoples affairs.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean that mycheck is in the mail?

John McManus

Anonymous said...

Get a grip folks. AWP is not going to admit paying someone to post to this blog. If someone is paying me, I wouldn't tell you. There would be no benefit to either party: only negative results.

Only opponents of wind power could benefit from this type of anonymous newsflash and only one of these people ( or a committee) would have written it.

John McManus: What's your name?

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't someone solve Johns problems and rent-loan him the D'entrement house so he can prove first hand its all in his head!

Anonymous said...

..some imformation from a British site on proposed windfarms there
"The Noise Association carried out a comprehensive review of the research done into wind farm noise and produced a report entitled Location, Location, Location.
The report recommends that:
as a general rule turbines should not be sited within a mile of where people live
the official government guidelines for the siting of wind farms be revised to take account of the more intrusive nature of the noise in areas where the overall background noise is low
There is a clear and public recognition by the Wind Power Industry, which has tended to dismiss noise as an issue, that wind farms can cause real noise problems for some people.
See the Noise Association website for more information."
http://www.ukna.org.uk/index.htm

Anonymous said...

We're glad to hear that Charles Demond is recovering nicely from his surgery. It was a landmark procedure but the operation was a complete success. He now has a small window in his tummy so John McManus can see out. Congrats Charlie. Hope you're feeling well soon.

Anonymous said...

....are you sure its not out his "bum"

Anonymous said...

I guess that would be an "entry level" position :)

Anonymous said...

All this publicity is casting a very dark shadow on the issue of wind farm placement and showing the proponents as being inconsiderate of the rights & wishes of the people living nearby.
This will only be made much worse if the time comes when construction is to commence. Public demonstrations, road blockings & who-knows what else are bound to catch lots of media attention. Should make for an interesting "Live at Five".
Where was our Municipal council, our representatives in local government, when we needed them? What were they thinking when this all could have been avoided? All they could see was that big $240,000/annum check & to hell with what their constituants want. There'll be no anonimity then. The gloves will be off, no turning back & sadly some wounds will never heal. Too bad for everyone. It all could have been avoided with just a little thoughtful planning.

Anonymous said...

Its me that has the medical problem. Its called optical rectitis. It happens when your optic nerve is directly connected to your rectum. It gives you a shitty outlook on life.

John McManus

Lisa said...

Ha ha ha .... good to see some humour here LOL

Anonymous said...

john
try sunglasses.
your blinders aren't working!