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4 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, June 16, 2010 WIND Continued from front industrial wind turbines and to give the planning authority for their installations back to the municipality. According to O'Toole, the Mayor and Council of Clarington should do the same. The Green Energy Act removed planning authority for wind turbines from the municipal government level. As the host community for the Darlington nuclear power reactors, "Clarington is doing its part in providing energy for the province," Abernethy stated. When the new nuclear reactors are built on the Darlington site, Clarington will be providing 40 percent of the nuclear power in Ontario. A retired physics professor from Queen's University, Dr. John Harris was the first guest speaker to address the meeting. Regulations for wind turbine noise presently in force, Harris says, are inadequate to protect rural residents from annoyance. He claims that in many cases, people's health problems result from the annoyance created by wind turbine noise. Harris, along with many other groups and individuals opposed to industrial wind farms, says the guidelines in the Green Energy Act of 40 decibels and a minimum 550metre setback from homes is not enough for the wind turbines. The noise created by one industrial wind turbine is 40 decibles, which does decrease with distance, Harris says, "however industrial wind turbines never come one at a time." The Ontario regulations under the Green Energy Act, apply to the average sound coming from the turbines, Harris explained. He wants the Ontario government to follow the lead jurisdictions in Europe and the U.K have adopted which requires setbacks up to 1.5 km for wind turbines from homes. Carmen Krough, the second guest speaker, a pharmacist from the Algonquin Park area, said she started a support group over a year ago for people suffering health effects from wind turbines. She said she is one of the people whose body does feel the turbines, which causes her to suffer significant symptoms. Annoyance has been recognized as an adverse health effect, Krough told the meeting audience. "If someone is annoyed they will experience an adverse health effect," she stated. In everyday language it might sound like a trivial thing, but in clinical terms it isn't trivial, according to Krough. Norma Schmidt travelled from Kincardine to share her experience of living with wind turbines. She said she was thrilled to learn that wind turbines were coming to her area. When they did come, she began experiencing ear pain and a pain in her head that she can't describe. "It is a pressure and a feeling I can't describe," she said. She says she can't stay in the home she has lived in along with her family for 31 years, and she fears that if she discloses that it is because of the turbines that she can't live there anymore, her property will be difficult to sell. Complaints to the government go unheeded because the turbines are below the 40 decible limit, Schmidt explained, and the wind farm company tells them it is not their problem. Although the rustling of tree leaves in the wind can easily be at a 40 decible level, "that sound doesn't bother me," Schmidt said. She described the noise from the turbines as, "so incredibly irritating." The swooshing sound is not unlike the noise helicopter blades make, according to Schmidt. Heather Rutherford of Clarington Wind Concerns said she was very happy with the turn-out at last Thursday's meeting, and she said her group is looking forward to working with members of Council in the coming weeks to discuss how to proceed at the municipal level to halt this development until clinical studies can be done to determine the full impact of industrial wind turbines on human health. Three wind farm sites have been identified for the Orono and Newcastle area.