Loading

CanWea Responds to TVO Doc Big Wind

Last night  Big Wind, Abbey Jack Neidik’s documentary on the reported effects of wind turbines in rural Ontario, aired on TVO, Ontario’s educational channel. As the TVO site notes, “It is a divisive issue that at times pits neighbour against neighbour, residents against corporations, and the people against their government.” The ill effects reported include sickness among people and livestock.

“I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I went down to 98 pounds,” says a local woman in the documentary, adding that doctors told her she’d have to leave her home because of the wind turbines. Another resident reports something unprecedented: Nosebleeds in cattle. As one speaker bluntly puts it, “This thing is making people sick.”

Today, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has issued a statement via CNW in response to the film. CanWEA says it is “disappointed that the film does not provide balanced, expert views on a wide range of important issues impacting our environment, human health and the future of our electricity system.”

A backgrounder provided by CanWEA says the film “references the start of the Health Canada study [on the health effects of exposure to wind turbine sound] but was completed before the results of the study were released.” These results include “No evidence to support a link between exposure to wind turbine noise and any of the self-reported illnesses and chronic conditions.” It sites other studies on the subject also.

You can view the entire film here. CanWEA’s backgrounder is available here. Health Canada’s report on its study of wind turbine noise is here.

2 thoughts on “CanWea Responds to TVO Doc Big Wind

  1. I watched Big Wind on TVO and felt bad for the farmers (but not the hobby farmers) who can’t bare to leave their land. I tried to think what I would do if I were in their shoes. Not being a sentimental person, if I owned a family farm, I’d put a dozen wind turbines on my property and go buy another farm somewhere else. At $10K annually per turbine, I’d be able to afford a second property. It’s hard to know what will be worse for these farmers, leaving their farms or dealing with their anxiety over wind turbines. My guess is the latter will take more years off their lives.

  2. Now that the Health Canada study is done, it’d be interesting if Neidik revisited this — or if CanWEA made its own documentary.

Leave a Reply to Larse Morrison Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *