Legislators decline to protect Mainers from health impact of wind turbines


For immediate release, February 9, 2010

Legislators decline to protect Mainers

from health impact of wind turbines

MEDIA CONTACT: Dr. Monique Aniel, 207-364-8422, sherwats2@wildblue.net

(Augusta, Maine) The Maine Legislature has once again rejected an attempt by citizens to

secure protective measures that would require the State of Maine to establish appropriate

rules for the low and high frequency noise that wind turbines emit.

Last week the Legislature’s Utilities Committee rejected an amendment, proposed by

Rep. Tom Saviello, that would have directed the Maine State Department of

Environmental Protection to establish rules that would help prevent health impacts to

humans caused by wind turbine noise. According to Steve Thurston, a spokesperson for

Citizens’ Task Force On Wind Power, legislators are out of step with health care

organizations and the growing number of Maine citizens concerned about rapid and

aggressive development of land-based wind power in Maine. They say Maine should

review the health consequences of wind turbines every bit as vigorously as it is

promoting the expansion of the wind industry.

“In 2008, Maine’s legislature enacted the Governor’s wind law promoting the rapid

proliferation of wind projects, with very little consideration of the impacts,” Thurston

said. “We’re asking, what’s the rush? Slow down and think things through. Evidence is

now coming in from Mars Hill, Freedom and Vinalhaven that the state has not moved

carefully enough. The experience in these towns is consistent with evidence from around

the world. The noise from giant wind turbines damages human health.”

Dr. Monique Aniel, a Citizens’ Task Force organizer, said Saviello’s amendment asked

legislators for accountability in regard to health impacts caused by turbines.

“I don’t think our representatives and senators realize quite yet what is coming,” Aniel

said. “It’s been a year since Rumford Community Hospital and the Northern Medical

Center requested a moratorium on all wind farms. Citizens are comparing notes, and we are organizing.”

“Public health is a prime responsibility of our elected officials,” Aniel said. “The

problems that wind turbines cause are real. People are suffering. A few weeks ago we had

very reasonable legislation turned away, and now a similarly very reasonable health

protection amendment has also been rejected. In our opinion, ignoring measures based on

data collected by respected physicians and scientists from around the world is a reckless

course for our lawmakers to pursue. It puts Maine people at risk.”

Citizens’ Task Force On Wind Power is a coalition of citizens advocating responsible,

science based, economically and environmentally sound approaches to Maine’s energy

policy. For more information visit: www.windtaskforce.org.

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Comment by Joanne Moore on February 9, 2010 at 2:46pm
Is there a way to get a list of all the legislators who voted against these protective measures?

THEN, VOTE THEM OUT!!

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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