State Rep Andre Jacque (R-Depere) is getting hysterical about wind turbines after a study funded by the Public Service Commision found levels of low frequency/infrasound in homes near the Shirley Wind Farm in Glenmore, WI . From the greenbaypressgazette.com:
“Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, has called on the Public Service Commission to issue an emergency rule to immediately suspend the permitting process for wind projects.:
And then this bit of extra-hyperbolic fear mongering:
“I am very appreciative of the Public Service Commission’s willingness to investigate the incidence of debilitating low frequency noise,” Jacque said in a statement. “These results compel them to act immediately to keep this nightmare from spreading.”
First things first. The PSC study found absolutely no scientific evidence linking sound levels, audible or inaudible, with adverse health effects. None. The guys who conducted the study are acoustics experts, not health professionals. They are all absolutely and wildly unqualified to make any professional statements about sound levels and health impacts. Period.
Secondly, the study reports that Robert Rand of Rand Acoustics is almost exclusively hired by wind farm opponents and, coincidentally I’m sure, is the only one of five researchers who reported being able to hear sound both inside and outside all three homes tested, is the only researcher to report ill health effects during the testing, and is the only researcher to have took it upon himself to wander the neighborhood for stories of other people’s health complaints in spite of the fact that he was hired to test sound levels, not conduct a neighborhood health canvass. Go figure.
A final tidbit worth consideration is that the report notes that the adverse health effects reported near the Shirley Wind Farm are ” sparse or non-existent in the peer reviewed literature.”
So, is Andre Jacque just trying to break wind? I don’t know, but something sure smells funny.
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