Dear Editor,
Mr. Clubb has sought
to dismiss the idea that low frequency wind turbine noise can cause any health
problems to human beings. In fact opinions on this subject among acoustic
experts are very divided, in the same way that opinions about global warming
are also divided among environmental scientists. Is Mr. Chubb, whose employers
RWE have a vested commercial interest in promoting more wind farms, suggesting
that a considerable number of research projects from all over the world which
demonstrate that low frequency noise and infrasound can cause neurological
problems, have all got it wrong? Perhaps he would like to put his views to
residents of Gwddgrug, who convinced a petitions committee from the Welsh
Government last February that their suffering from the Altwallis wind farm was
all too real. owded island of ours!The truth of the matter is that the ETSU committee, when setting up the guidelines for determining acceptable noise limitations in the placement of turbines, found a way of removing low frequency noise from the equation because they realised that, if it was left in, it would not be possible to have any onshore wind farms in this crowded island of ours.
Does Mr. Clubb want to
ignore the opinions of organisations such as the British Medical Journal and
the World Health Organisation, which expressed concerns on this health issue? I
could list at least 10 research papers from either the USA or Britain which
refer to empirical research on the effects of this type of sound. I suggest
that as a minimum he looks at the work of neurological expert Dr. Amanda Harry. We should not allow
ourselves to be panicked into accepting this flawed wind farm technology to
meet the green lobby allegations that the lights will all go out by 2015 unless
we go all out with wind power. Recent evidence from the Met. Office shows that the
rate of global warming is not ensuring an immediate crisis and that we have
plenty of time to transfer the subsidies presently enjoyed by the wind industry
over to more potentially reliable sources of energy such as tidal and wave
power.
Yours truly,
Ted Razzell
Words in italics were left out of the actual publication!
