On Magnolia adopts ordinance regulating wind turbines
Posted on July 4 at 11:05 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
There is nothing wrong with wind turbines if they are properly sited. The problem comes when they are built too close to homes. The turbines are 40 stories tall, and without an ordinance they can be built 1000 feet (about 350 steps) from someones home whether they want it there or not. The turbines make a lot of noise, especially at night. Homes in Wisconsin's Lincoln township, in Calumet County have been made uninhabitable by the noise, purchased by the power companies and bulldozed. One of the people who gave testimony at the hearing was from Fond Du Lac county where the turbines have been on line since March. He talked about how loud they were and how a lot of people in his community could no longer sleep at night. Our family is very green and we were excited about the wind turbines coming in until we did research. We found that they are inefficient, especially in our area which has low wind capacity compared to Minnesota and Iowa, and cause a lot of problems for people who live near them. Solar and manure digesters are a much better option for our area! There is a website devoted to this issue in our community. Visit it at betterplan.squarespace.com to learn more about what this is about. The wind developers aren't happy about this ruling, but I can tell you so many of us in Magnolia township are grateful.
Posted on May 10 at 8:40 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Please visit betterplan.squarespace.com to read about Wisconsin farmers who have great regrets about hosting turbines. This survey was paid for by the developer. What was the exact question that was asked? The issue here is putting 40 story turbines 1000 feet (350 paces) from a home of a non participating residence.At the website follow the link to the Milwaukee TV segment about a wind farm in Fond Du Lac County that ran on May 7 to see what happens when the noise and the shadow flicker and the torn up land are just too much. The people who are paid to host turbines may be happy, and the wind developers may be happy, but for the rest of the community there is a lot of misery. There are better renewable energy options for Wisconsin!Ones that don't tear up farmlands, neighbor relationships, and communities.
On Wind power generating controversy
Posted on April 22 at 3:08 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mind if I take a shot at answering your questions?
"Why do other states have successful wind turbine farms?"
Where there are few houses, there are few complaints. When setbacks are far enough away from homes, the problems with the noise and shadow flicker are few. In Germany, the setback is a mile. In Denmark its 3/4 of a mile. These two nations use more wind turbines than any nation in the world. Because of their setbacks they have few problems.
Did you know that when a farmer signs a contract with a wind developer, often there is a "gag order" in the contract which forbids the farmer from speaking about any problems he has with the turbines or he'll be sued? When you sign that contract, you sign away your right to complain. The turbines that have just gone on line in Fond Du Lac county are causing trouble for the families living near them, but only those who are not hosting turbines are allowed to say anything.
People who stand directly beneath a wind turbine during the day will hear little noise. It's like standing under a speaker high in the air. Right underneath is not where the noise will be loudest, and the middle of the day is not when the noise will be loudest. The main complaint around turbines is the thudding sound at night.
Of course if someone wants turbines on their land in order to get money, no explanation will satisfy them. That money looks too good so to heck with their neighbors! I guess $4000 a year per turbine is worth more than being willing to investigate what all this trouble is about. That's a fact of life. Money talks and money closes minds and makes people turn on each other.
Your second question was "Why was there no opposition to the new one northwest of Madison?"
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, most people in that area are unaware of the turbines going in. Wind developers often contact members on town boards first and try to get them to sign on before anyone else to help push through the permitting process. I'm not saying this is what happened up that way, but as I understand it, two of the three people hosting the turbines are on the town board. And the turbines are going up without a study committee or an ordinance. The reporter who wrote about it said he was wondering how such big machines can go up with little more than a building permit.
Again, it seems that money is behind most of this trouble. And there are people willing to take money even if it means they will suffer and their neighbors will suffer. They won't change their mind until it's too late. But there are also people who are not willing to do this to themselves or their neighbors.I guess it all depends on what kind person you are and what kind of neighbors you have.
My question is, why would people who live beside these turbines lie about the trouble they are having? What's the motivation? They have nothing to gain. It's the people who stand to gain that won't believe there is trouble.
On Senate wind energy bill withdrawn
Posted on March 14 at 7:12 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
This is an open letter of thanks to the people who make up our local governments. I never knew much about what you did, or how hard you worked or what went on at town hall meetings. I never knew how much I was taking for granted until our home was threatened.
I live in a valley below the beautiful hills of Magnolia Township where wind developers want to put 67 turbines. There are real problems with these huge machines. The low frequency thudding noise they make at night has driven people from their homes. Sound really carries in our valley. I did enough research to realize that if the turbines were put in too close to where we live, we’d have to leave our home too.
But how close is too close? Who decides this? Right now it’s our local government.
Last week at the state capitol, a bill came before the senate that would strip our local government of this deciding power and hand it to the Public Service Commission. The PSC believes a wind turbine that is 40 stories tall and has a blade span wider than a 747 can be placed 1000 feet from my door. The bill didn’t pass, but it didn’t fail either. It will come up again next session.
Why didn’t it pass? Because with less than 48 hours notice, Wisconsin town and county supervisors, chairpersons, clerks, planning and zoning board members, citizens appointed to study committees and other local officials came from all over the state to testify against the bill at the capitol. They sat in the hearing room for two long days listening to the PSC, the power companies, wind lobbyists and developers tell them they were inadequate, confused, uneducated and incapable of making intelligent decisions about regulating industry in their own communities. I know this because I was there. Both days. And when members of our local governments were finally given a chance to speak, boy did they prove all of those people wrong. Their testimony was intelligent, informed and to me at least, deeply moving.
You can bet I will go to my town meetings from now on! Thank you to all of you in local government who work so very hard for so very little. I finally get it!
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On Magnolia enacts wind ordinance
Posted on July 4 at 11:22 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
You can visit a website that is devoted to this issue and is LOCAL. It's out of Rock County. All of the information for the ordinances of both Magnolia and Union, and all of the supporting documentation can be found at betterplan.squarespace.com. Our family was very disappointed when we began to research this issue. Did you know that industrial scale wind energy is the only alternative energy source that is dependent on fossil fuel powered power plants? They can't run without them. This means that if the grid goes down, the turbines can't function. Because the wind isn't constant, they need coal fired plants to keep things going. Solar doesn't have this problem, nor do manure digesters. Power companies don't like this because it causes them to lose customers. It's the reason (along with huge tax breaks) that power companies are behind wind turbines, even in areas where there is not enough wind to make them efficient, like in southern Wisconsin. We wish they are the Green Santa they claim to be! But it turns out, when improperly sited, they are the Grinch!