​Massachusetts Wind Turbine Health Impact Study Needs Study Update

Title : Wind Turbine Health Impact Study: Report of Independent Expert Panel January 2012 Prepared for: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Governor Deval Patrick appointed the expert panel to study the health affects of wind turbines.

Today in 2017 the wind turbine health impact study has counter points.

The state of Massachusetts Department of Health or any local board of health has never interviewed or examined any single person.The noise complaints started in Falmouth ,Massachusetts in 2010 seven years ago, today the complaints are worldwide.

The expert panel had the Boone, North Carolina study by Scientist Neil Kelly which concluded sleep problems with nearby neighbors concluded it was infra-sound known as low frequency noise. That 1985 report was prepared by for the U.S. Department of Energy, Contract No. DE-AC02-83CH- 10093.

The panel avoided the word infra-sound or low frequency and wrote it off as quote: "Stated that sleep disruption is the most commonly reported complaint by people and discusses this primarily as a result of “unwanted sound” and audible, amplitude modulated noise (“whooshing”) "

In 2011 while the Massachusetts expert panel was conducting their study the Chief Executive Officer of Vestas wind company CEO Engel Ditlev wrote a letter to Karen Ellemann about low frequency noise. The CEO responded that Vestas does not have the technology to stop the noise. (infra-sound)

On page 12 of the wind turbine health study the expert panel states : "The sound power level of a typical modern utility scale wind turbine is on the order of 103 dB(A), but can be somewhat higher or lower depending on the details of the design and the rated power of the turbine. "

After the Massachusetts Wind Turbine Health Impact Study was made public in 2012 the state of Massachusetts and the Town of Falmouth made public through a FOIA , Freedom of Information Act request that Massachusetts has many commercial megawatt wind turbines generating 110 decibels of noise. On a decibel scale 110 decibels is equal to a chain saw or a hard rock band playing 24/7. The noise level of a 110 decibel wind turbine is double that of a 103 decibel turbine.

Also Town of Falmouth emails,maps and memos show before the construction of the Falmouth wind turbines in 2010 everyone involved in the construction was aware the Vestas V-82 wind turbines would exceed 50 decibels of noise at residential homes.
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Letter :
RE: Falmouth WWTF Wind Energy Facility II “Wind II”, Falmouth, MA

Contract No.#3297

Dear Mr. Potamis,

"Due to the sound concerns regarding the first wind turbine installed at the wastewater treatment facility, the manufacturer of the turbines, Vestas, is keen for the Town of Falmouth to understand the possible noise and other risks associated with the installation of the second wind turbine.

The Town has previously been provided with the Octave Band Data / Sound performance for the V82 turbine. This shows that the turbine normally operates at 103.2dB but the manufacturer has also stated that it may produce up to 110dB under certain circumstances. These measurements are based on IEC standards for sound measurement which is calculated at a height of 10m above of the base of the turbine."

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United State history shows the ethical lessons of experiments and agendas carried out on unwilling subjects. We've seen this many times before. It wasn't that long ago doctors didn't think smoking cigarettes was bad for you,only to change their minds a few years or decades later. Sometimes their advice is good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's neutral.

Massachusetts Expert Wind Turbine Panel :

Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen, MD; MMSc Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Division Chief, Sleep Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

Sheryl Grace, PhD; MS Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University

Wendy J Heiger-Bernays, PhD Associate Professor of Environmental Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health Chair, Lexington Board of Health

James F. Manwell, PhD Mechanical Engineering; MS Electrical & Computer Engineering; BA Biophysics Professor and Director of the Wind Energy Center, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH, FAAP State Health Officer, Maine 1996–2011 Vice President for Clinical Affairs, University of New England

Kimberly A. Sullivan, PhD Research Assistant Professor of Environmental Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health

Marc G. Weisskopf, ScD Epidemiology; PhD Neuroscience Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Epidemiology Department of Environmental Health & Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health

Facilitative Support provided by Susan L. Santos, PhD, FOCUS GROUP

Update needed June 2017