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May 12, 2006
Telegraph-Journal

Wind farm noise drives family from home; Man claims=20 inaudible sound made family sick

By James Keller
Canadian Press

HALIFAX - Giant wind turbines spin next to Daniel=20 d'Entremont's home in a tiny rural community in = southwestern=20 Nova Scotia.

The large house in Lower West Pubnico is now empty = and=20 abandoned, Mr. d'Entremont says, because inaudible sound = from=20 the 17-turbine wind farm made his family sick.

"The noise is unbearable," he says from Abrams River, = the=20 nearby community he recently relocated to with his wife = and four=20 of his six children.

"It's like a surround sound - you can't avoid it, you = can't=20 ignore it. It just comes right into your head."

Mr. d'Entremont blames the turbines for sending = low-frequency=20 sound into his old house, located about 400 metres from = the=20 nearest turbine.

He says his family couldn't sleep, his children were=20 constantly tired and suffering headaches, and nobody in = the=20 house could concentrate.

The d'Entremont family's complaints touch on a = little-known -=20 and little-studied - debate over whether inaudible = sounds from=20 wind farms can cause health problems for residents = living=20 nearby.

While the operator of the wind farm brushes off the = family's=20 claims, experts say vibrations from the turbines = embedded deep=20 into the ground have the potential to affect the health = of=20 some.

And new sound testing commissioned by the federal = government=20 hopes to offer more insight into what, if anything, is = happening=20 at Mr. d'Entremont's home.

The Lower West Pubnico wind farm was fully = operational in May=20 2005, and it wasn't long before Mr. d'Entremont's family = starting feeling ill.

Mr. d'Entremont says complaints to politicians and to = the=20 wind farm's owner were largely ignored, but several area = naturopaths told him to relocate.

He finally moved in February after receiving the same = advice=20 from a U.S. pediatrician who has studied the effects of = wind=20 turbines on children.

"Around wind turbines, it appears there are always = some=20 people who are very disturbed by them," Dr. Nina = Pierpont says=20 from her office in Malone, N.Y.

"It's not everybody, so it creates a lot of = controversy."

"When the exposure is inside a house, occurring 24 = hours a=20 day, even if the sound intensity is less, there is = potential to=20 produce serious pathology."

Charles Demond, president of Pubnico Point Wind Farm = Inc.,=20 says Dr. Pierpont has never visited the site.

He says the wind farm was built according to local = zoning=20 bylaws, which determine how close turbines can be to = houses, and=20 that sound tests concluded the noise levels weren't = harmful.

"Here's someone claiming that his world is changing, = but=20 those comments don't add up," says Mr. Demond. "The = sound=20 testing indicated that the noise level from that wind = farm is=20 not outside any guidelines."

Ottawa and several provinces across Canada, including = New=20 Brunswick, have started to promote and foster wind = energy=20 projects.

Last year's federal budget quadrupled the Wind Power=20 Production Incentive, which provides funding for wind = farms, and=20 the plan is to invest at least $920 million in promoting = wind=20 power over the next 15 years.

But the growth is occurring in an largely unregulated = environment.

Ontario, one of the only provinces with any = regulations=20 governing wind farms, requires a noise-impact assessment = for=20 areas up to 1,000 metres from the wind turbine.

In Pincher Creek, Alta., home of one of the largest = wind=20 farms in Canada, turbines must be set back at a distance = four=20 times their height.

In Lower West Pubnico, it's only twice the height of = the=20 turbines.

Noise standards also differ, and none exist to = regulate=20 levels of low-frequency sound.

A report by a Halifax audio specialist measured the = loudest=20 sounds on Mr. d'Entremont's property from the Lower West = Pubnico=20 wind farm at 50.32 decibels - roughly the intensity of a = human=20 voice nearby - below the recommended level of 55 = decibels.

But Mr. Demond concedes previous tests could not rule = out any=20 effects from low-frequency noise.

"To be totally fair, what he concluded is that he = didn't have=20 the equipment necessary to go to those sub-frequency = levels to=20 unequivocally walk away with a concrete answer," says = Mr.=20 Demond.

That reveals a fundamental problem with the way wind = farm=20 noise is measured, making it almost impossible to know = whether=20 wind farms are causing health problems, audio experts = say.

Gordon Whitehead, an audiologist who retired last = month from=20 a 21-year career at Dalhousie University in Halifax, = insists=20 low-frequency noise can affect the health of some = people.

He says such inaudible vibrations - the same kind of=20 vibrations that music fans can feel in their bodies at a = loud=20 rock concert - can lead to symptoms including loss of = balance=20 and blurred vision.

"There's a lot of research out of the U.S. about = killing=20 large animals by hitting them with very large, very loud = low-frequency sound - literally stopping the heart," = says Mr.=20 Whitehead.

"A wind farm doesn't produce sounds loud enough to do = that,=20 but the point is if you're in a situation where the land = around=20 you is very dense, then some people who are very = sensitive to=20 that are going to pick that up."

Mr. Whitehead says noise regulations only deal with = sounds=20 that humans can hear, so tests rarely focus on the = low-frequency=20 sounds in question.

"I'm in favour of wind farms, but in analyzing them = you have=20 to make certain that you're not creating a problem - and = I don't=20 know if they are."

The complaints from the d'Entremont family have = prompted the=20 federal Natural Resources Department to order new noise = testing,=20 which will measure the low-frequency sound in Lower West = = Pubnico.