The winds of change appear to be blowing, with myths surrounding wind turbines and those who perpetuate them increasingly losing credibility as time goes on.
Last Tuesday, Senator John Madigan received a copy of a petition with hundreds of signatures from members of the Waubra community who object to the anti-wind organisation Waubra Foundation using their town’s name.
Waubra is home to the Waubra Wind Farm, which became a focus of anti-wind activity in Australia; to the point one group named itself after the town.
“The truth of the situation is that the vast majority of the Waubra community are living happily with the wind farm,” said Waubra farmer, Doug Hobson. “We’ll continue to put the case to the foundation that the decent thing to do is to allow Waubra to have our name back.”
“We are passionate about our town and it hurts when this group drags our name through the mud,” said Waubra resident, Kerryn Gallagher. “We’re very grateful to Senator Madigan for agreeing to pass on our concerns.”
It’s understood that none of the directors of the Waubra Foundation actually live in the area.
Also last week, the Waterloo Wind Farm Environmental Noise Study results were published by South Australia’s EPA. Among its findings:
“The Waterloo Wind Farm meets relevant South Australian and international standards and there is no evidence linking the noise from the wind farm to adverse impacts on residents.”
Finally, approval for Cherry Hill Wind Farm to proceed was granted, based in part on advice from the NSW and Victorian health departments, which have clearly stated that noise below the hearing threshold cannot affect people’s health.
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green welcomed the decision, stating the 16-turbine wind farm was a “significant economic opportunity for the Seymour region, providing jobs and investment for local businesses, hotels and other service providers.”
While no energy generation method is completely without issues; like solar power, wind energy has been the victim of at times quite incredulous accusations.
With Wind Turbine Syndrome being thoroughly debunked and a spotlight trained on one of the major sources of claimed ill effects of wind turbines, the wind power industry may finally be able to start putting this tumultuous (but sometimes comedic) time behind it in this regard.
