Wind Turbine Health Impact Study So Called Expert Panel

Comments to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

“Wind Turbine Health Impact Study, Report of Independent Expert Panel,” January 2012.

By Dr. Raymond S. Hartman BA: Princeton University MS and PhD: MIT (More complete qualifications provided below)

February 14, 2012

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1. QUESTION: As citizens of Massachusetts, what are we to make of the purported “scientific” findings of the “Wind Turbine Health Impact Report” commissioned by the Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Public Health (DPH)?

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3. THE FACTS ABOUT THE “WIND TURBINE HEALTH IMPACT REPORT”

The problem with this praise, support and reliance by the Commonwealth (Commissioner Kimmel and Governor Patrick) is that it is based upon the false premise that the Wind Turbine Impact Study has conducted scientific research and offers scientific conclusions. It has not and does not.

 The Wind Turbine Impact Study is not the result of independent scientific research.

 The Wind Turbine Impact Study conducts no primary science, while it grossly misinterprets the real science it purports to review.

 The Wind Turbine Impact Study is not “the best science available to … make decisions on wind energy.” o It is not science at all; it is advocacy. o It certainly should not be used to “help inform future discussions with the public on wind turbines.”

 In fact, the Wind Turbine Impact Study is Junk Science. o It would be thrown out of court as Junk Science. o It would not be acceptable or publishable in an academic peer-reviewed journal.

 These conclusions are not based upon an antipathy toward wind power, as the Governor seems to insinuate. They are based upon facts, many of which are admitted by the Panel in the Report.

Given the enthusiastic reliance by Commissioner Kimmel and Governor Patrick upon such Junk Science, I presume the following:

Had Commissioner Kimmel and Governor Patrick reviewed similar “research” proffered decades ago by the Tobacco Research Institute which claimed to be “independent scientific” research “demonstrating” that there was “little to no evidence that” cigarettes posed “a risk to the health” of smokers and second-hand non-smokers, they would just as publicly have stated “Cigarettes do not cause health problems.” The implication would be “Go ahead, people of Massachusetts, light up.”

Had Commissioner Kimmel and Governor Patrick reviewed similar “research” proffered decades ago by the asbestos manufacturers which claimed to be “independent scientific” research “demonstrating” that there was “little to no evidence that” asbestos posed “a risk to the health” of those workers exposed to it, they would have just as publicly have stated “Asbestos does not cause health problems.” The implication would be “Construction workers and shipbuilders of Massachusetts, you have nothing to worry about when working with asbestos. Neither do your children in the schools in which you are installing asbestos.”

https://www.wind-watch.org/docviewer.php?doc=MassDEP-wind-health-4-Hartman.pdf