Brown County Government takes 'unprecedented' action concerning Duke Energy's Shirley Windfarm
On October 14, 2014 the Brown County Board of Health unanimously declared the Shirley Wind turbines a "Human Health Hazard". The unanimously approved declaration reads:
"To declare the Industrial Wind Turbines at Shirley Wind Project in the Town of Glenmore, Brown County, Wisconsin a Human Health Hazard for all people (residents, workers, visitors, and sensitive passersby) who are exposed to Infrasound/Low Frequency Noise and other emissions potentially harmful to human health."
We applaud the integrity of the Brown County Board of Health in the work they have done to carry out their mission to 'promote individual and community health'. Since the erection of the 8 turbines in Glenmore, among the largest in the United States at just under 500 feet tall, three families have vacated their homes and complaints involving over 75 people in the project area have been filed with the Brown County Board of Health (including affidavits representing over 50 people that have been submitted to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin). The root of the complaints and the home abandonments are the conditions created by Shirley Wind, allege the residents.
The Brown County Board of Health, the Brown County Human Services Committee, and the Brown County Board of Supervisors have all taken action on the wind turbine issue. The declaration of Duke's Shirley Wind turbines as "Human Health Hazards" follow a year long study linking the signature of inaudible low frequency noise (created by the passing of the massive turbine blades past their supporting towers) to the homes that have been abandoned and to the homes where people continue to suffer. The Board of Health was asked to look at the study's raw data, the evidence linking the sound data to the wind turbines, peer-reviewed medical research, and the complaints of the people living in the conditions around Duke's Shirley Wind project. They looked at the facts, they listened to the residents, they studied the medical literature, and then made the connection between Shirley Wind's operations and the suffering in Glenmore - declaring the wind turbines a "Human Health Hazard".