LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Environmental board debates wind noise 

Credit:  Written by Ken Christian, NEWS CENTER, www.wcsh6.com 8 August 2011 ~~

The state’s top environmental regulators are trying to come up with new rules to control the noise made by those big commercial windmills. Opponents of wind power cite noise as one of their major complaints, and it has become the apparent achilles heel of commercial wind farms in Maine.

The Mars Hill project and the smaller Vinalhaven wind project have both resulted in ongoing complaints from neighbors about notice. The Vinalhaven complaints have trigged a lawsuit against the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

That department’s Board of Environmental Protection has been working since December to decide if Maine needs tougher noise standards. Acting DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho says the existing noise rules come from 1989, long before there were any wind farms envisioned for the state.

A group of wind power critics and opponents petitioned the BEP with a proposal for much lower noise levels. The DEP staff made its own recommendations which were not as dramatic as those from the petitioners.

The Board today voted to approve rules close to what the department staff had recommended. Most controversial: reducing allowable night time noise levels for wind farms to 42 decibels., with a possible “safety factor” of up to 3 decibels less in some cases, at the discretion of the department. That proposal will be put out to public comment for the next three weeks.

The Board will take a final vote in September.

Source:  Written by Ken Christian, NEWS CENTER, www.wcsh6.com 8 August 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon