The Abbott-Turnbull government-appointed National Wind Farm Commissioner has told people raising concerns about medical issues associated with wind farms that they should go see a doctor before blaming wind farms for their health issues.
In his annual report released at the end of last month, National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer said that all the complaints to his office regarding health issues people believed to have been caused by wind farms operating near their home were anecdotal.
“It has therefore been difficult to confirm whether or not the stated health conditions reported by complainants are a direct result of the wind farm’s operations or from some other cause,” he said.
Dyer said it was a concern that residents might fail to seek proper medical advice for a treatable condition because they might incorrectly assume that whatever was wrong with them is the fault of a wind farm.
“Affected residents may need to seek appropriate medical treatment for their health conditions as well as seek ways to resolve their concerns,” he said.
Dyer said his office had received complaints about health impacts from wind farms, including sleep disturbance, headaches, ear-aches, tinnitus, high blood pressure, sight impairment, diabetes, nausea and fatigue, but he said “debate continues” over whether wind farms cause physiological harm to residents living nearby.
Dyer recommended that doctors who identified links between a patient’s health condition and proximity to a wind farm should report back to government.
As of the end of 2016, the National Wind Farm Commissioner’s office had received 90 complaints about wind farms, with the majority of the complainers raising issues related to the noise made by the farms, or the perceived health implications.
Of the 90, 42 complaints were related to proposed wind farms,while 46 were for wind farms already in operation and two were just general wind farm complaints. Victorians complained most about wind farms, with 24 complaints relating to Victorian wind farms, as compared to 16 for South Australia, and six in New South Wales.
The majority of the complaints were finalised by either more information being provided to address concerns or the matter not progressing. Only two complaints resulted in a settlement between the operators and the complainant.
Dyer made a number of other recommendations to wind farm operators to help reduce the number of complaints, including by properly managing negotiations and consultations with the land owners, neighbours and the local community. He has suggested that developers could set up shop fronts in town centres with information about the proposed wind farms, and provide as much transparency over the development as possible to ease community concerns.
Wind turbines don’t have to be perfectly harmless. At the same time that they generate, they are averting many more injuries that would be due to the amount of coal and gas they are replacing, both now and in the future angry climate.
Psychological oppression might also be compared to the spiritual uplift their waving arms give to believers passing by. The net gain or loss would vary with history and region.
In the pages of Crikey I’ve often seen opponents of wind farms derided and their complaints dismissed as imaginary. Generally wind farm objectors are seen as
simple-minded, mentally ill, climate change deniers, stooges of the right, and/or News Corp columnists.
Opponents of other developers – the ones that build the tall buildings and motorways for example, are very different. They’re the “little battlers”, salt-of-the-earth types, community-spirited activists and environmentally sensitive citizens we all like to see ourselves as.
I don’t oppose wind farms. I’m not sure what I’d do if a developer wanted to build one next door to me. I probably would drop in to the shopfront information centre and have a chat to the friendly and helpful staff who are paid by the developer. But since I live in an electorate where my local MP belongs to the Greens, and my local council is dominated by Greens and like-minded councilors who resolutely oppose all developments, I don’t think I’m ever going to find out.
Teddy, I notice that you open your remarks with . . . “In the pages of Crikey I’ve often seen opponents of wind farms derided and their complaints dismissed as imaginary.” You don’t mention whether you mean opponents of wind farms like the ex-Treasurer who thinks they’re all ugly, those who think a particular wind farm might have some local ‘environmental’ issue (say) about erosion, contamination or some engineering issue, or those particular people, near and far who say they will or do already suffer health effects.
You go on to say . . “Generally wind farm objectors are seen as
simple-minded, mentally ill, climate change deniers, stooges of the right, and/or News Corp columnists.” Here’s where I wonder about your evidence. Yes, I’ve seen a commenter and even, in a particular context, a writer make such remarks, but I think the bulk of such remarks in this area are directed towards fringe elements with seemingly dubious claims who appear to be egged-on by fringe lobbyists. That’s why I think this report by the wind farm commissioner is so sensible (without having actually read it – I’m, relying on the article’s thrust). Evidence is so essential. We can’t get tangled in some faith-based ‘debate’ here. Or can we?
Wind farms are great. However…
Being susceptible to infrasound, it’s clearly audible to me when other people don’t seem to notice it. Perhaps I have freak hearing. Sustained exposure to even low infrasound would impact on my wellbeing. Hence, there are no plans to decamp anywhere near a wind farm.
It would be ignorant to dismiss complainants who say they are affected. Sure, possibly some may be imagining their ailments but many may not. Humans vary vastly: we don’t all have the same sensitivity to smell, nor the same eyesight. It naturally follows that some of us hear differently.
I think that windfarms are attractive, kind of swanlike. What I find very unattractive are the wrecked homes, ruined crops, dead animals and eroded landscapes caused by extreme weather events.
Do you react well to being close to a coalmine then?
And I don’t think decamp means what you think it does.
Point taken, the correct word is relocate.
I have never been proximate to a coalmine but the infrasound coming from heavy earthmoving equipment, trucks and trains would be problematic. I am not anti-windfarms, merely offering personal insight as to why a fraction of the population may suffer valid health consequences.
All the wind farms I have seen around the country are in the middle of nowhere. What a waste of money this agency is.
Leaving aside the general debate around wind farms, I think the recommendation to get medical advice before complaining about health issues is basically sound.
I would love to have a wind farm in my backyard – if only it was bigger. We seem to be the only country that has issues with them. They are dotted all over Europe with no real issues.