Waubra residents are tired of their town name being used as a political football by an anti-wind group, writes Andrew Bray.

Last Friday morning, a group of locals from the small western Victorian town of Waubra left what they were doing on their farms and at their working bee at the community hub, and did something which for them was pretty unusual.

They held a media event to explain why they had collected a petition of over 300 signatures to ask an organisation called the ‘Waubra Foundation’ to give the town its name back.

How had things reached the point where a small Victorian town had to petition a group run from South Australia, whose directors hail from as far away as Melbourne and Sydney, just to stop them using their town’s name?

The answer provides a rare insight into the way groups opposing wind farm developments have used local communities as political footballs to achieve their own ends.

Waubra hosts a wind farm and has done for four and a half years. The effect on the town’s economy has been transformational. Dependable income now flows on to 28 Waubra farms every year, no matter the state of the weather or the commodity markets.

At least one of those farmers was only able to weather the end of the drought because of wind farm income.

Money from a community fund has been available to a variety of community groups, and has been used for upgrades at local community facilities and sporting clubs as well as to employ an extra music teacher at the primary school this year.

All up, according to a report by PWC Consulting, the wind farm will boost the economy of the Central Highlands region by $346 million or 6 per cent.

more in link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-07/bray-waubra-want-their-name-back/5075806

Even better….the Greens are going to try to get the tax breaks removed from the Waubra Foundation who get them as a health organization or something.

If this isn’t put in the public spotlight and beaten to complete and utter, never to return, death, I will have lost all faith in Australian intelligence. Why is there not a penalty for wasting public time with this type of inanity?

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3885638.htm

The tax stuff.

Let he who lives within sight of the wind farm cast the first stone.

Well if I go to the local cemetery I can see one lot of turbines, and if I go up Mt Rouse I can see another lot with the biggest blades in Australia. And still I don’t have a problem with them.

:)

morrie said:

Let he who lives within sight of the wind farm cast the first stone.

The point being, are commenters here any more relevant than the other off-site commenters? Do any of the declarers of idiocy live within cooee of a wind farm? No, not just a once off visit, I mean right next to one.

The cure for such ills is money. As far as I know none of the host farms has any problems with health stuff.

And “Waubra Disease” doesn’t occur in Europe, where wind turbines have been around for a long time now.

buffy said:

The cure for such ills is money. As far as I know none of the host farms has any problems with health stuff.

And “Waubra Disease” doesn’t occur in Europe, where wind turbines have been around for a long time now.

I beg to differ. There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.

Let he who lives within sight of the wind farm cast the first stone.
———————————————————————————

Well yes,

But the Birds and Bats vote was lost in the recount.

>>There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.<<

On health grounds? I thought that was the aesthetic thing. (Wales)

As far as the birds and bats are concerned, solar should be the way to go.

Nobody seems to complain about the ones they have stuck in the sea. I wonder if the seagulls have worked out how to drive around them yet?

buffy said:

>>There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.<<

On health grounds? I thought that was the aesthetic thing. (Wales)

Yes there is a groundswell of aesthetics protesters.

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

>>There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.<<

On health grounds? I thought that was the aesthetic thing. (Wales)

Yes there is a groundswell of aesthetics protesters.

Yes, and perhaps with fair reason.
But there have also been the same sort of health effect claims there as here.

morrie said:

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

>>There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.<<

On health grounds? I thought that was the aesthetic thing. (Wales)

Yes there is a groundswell of aesthetics protesters.

Yes, and perhaps with fair reason.
But there have also been the same sort of health effect claims there as here.

I wonder if the seagulls have worked out how to drive around them yet?
————————————-

Hard to count as it’s all flotsam and jetsam for the failures.

But there have also been the same sort of health effect claims there as here.
——————————————

Kinda stands to reason… as the young fella next door, who is too young to drive, but can still set his woofer to Duff Duff.

Messes with my harmonic balance.

Mr Ironic said:

But there have also been the same sort of health effect claims there as here.
——————————————

Kinda stands to reason… as the young fella next door, who is too young to drive, but can still set his woofer to Duff Duff.

Messes with my harmonic balance.

A bit of lead will fix that.

buffy said:

>>There is significant opposition in the UK, for a start.<<

On health grounds? I thought that was the aesthetic thing. (Wales)

And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon Englands mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/curious-distribution-for-wind-turbine-sickness/4323486#transcript

So how is a wind farm alleged to affect anyone’s health?

Bubblecar said:

So how is a wind farm alleged to affect anyone’s health?

it’s an ill wind that blows no good.

Bubblecar said:

So how is a wind farm alleged to affect anyone’s health?

Or bikes for that matter.

morrie said:

Bubblecar said:

So how is a wind farm alleged to affect anyone’s health?

Or bikes for that matter.

Oh, bikes make pony tails all knotty and ratty.

>And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

Blake was full of imported religious shit, and more a Middle Easterner at heart than an Englishman.

Bubblecar said:

>And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

Blake was full of imported religious shit, and more a Middle Easterner at heart than an Englishman.

I was under the impression that religious shit was made up on the spur of the moment.

Bubblecar said:

>And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

Blake was full of imported religious shit, and more a Middle Easterner at heart than an Englishman.

Ah, but Parry make it into a nice chune.

morrie said:

Bubblecar said:

>And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

Blake was full of imported religious shit, and more a Middle Easterner at heart than an Englishman.

Ah, but Parry make it into a nice chune.

and Greg Lake sang it well.

>I was under the impression that religious shit was made up on the spur of the moment.

?

Making up stuff on the spur of the moment requires creativity. Nothing creative about most religious followers. They subscribe to a cheap pre-fabricated fantasy that needs a minimum effort to install, and then a lifetime of drab, repetitive ritual to maintain.

So how is a wind farm alleged to affect anyone’s health?
———————————————————-

Low frequency Duff Duff…

Messes with the arr…arrr…Arrhythmia

.

>Duff Duff

I diagnose hypochondria.

There is a vast National Park near me. D’Entrecasteaux. A constant wind blows in there from the west. I wonder what the Greens would think about covering that with windmills?

Anyway, from watching birds all my life I’d suggest that they are capable of seeing and reacting quickly enough to avoid ever hitting one.

I diagnose hypochondria.
—————————————

Yes like all those asbestos workers who didn’t die from asbestosis symptoms

Try again.

Bubblecar said:

>Duff Duff

I diagnose hypochondria.

How are the earmuffs? Resting on your armchair?

Bubblecar said:

>I was under the impression that religious shit was made up on the spur of the moment.

?

Making up stuff on the spur of the moment requires creativity. Nothing creative about most religious followers. They subscribe to a cheap pre-fabricated fantasy that needs a minimum effort to install, and then a lifetime of drab, repetitive ritual to maintain.

Dear oh dear oh dear. True though.

Anyway, from watching birds all my life I’d suggest that they are capable of seeing and reacting quickly enough to avoid ever hitting one.
———————————————————

Really?

What if their refresh rate is equal to the rotation…

>Try again.

So we’re supposed to believe these people are actually getting ill from wind vanes turning around in the wind? Surely this is obvious bullshit.

Bubblecar said:

>Try again.

So we’re supposed to believe these people are actually getting ill from wind vanes turning around in the wind? Surely this is obvious bullshit.

It is a vast international conspiracy, apparently.

Bubblecar said:

>Try again.

So we’re supposed to believe these people are actually getting ill from wind vanes turning around in the wind? Surely this is obvious bullshit.

Most of them live within a Km of a busy road.

Surely this is obvious bullshit.
——————————————-

Please be more creative.

Try to think about it before your beliefs set in…

roughbarked said:

Anyway, from watching birds all my life I’d suggest that they are capable of seeing and reacting quickly enough to avoid ever hitting one.

The speed of the outer blade exceeds 100 km per hour and much faster than most birds can fly.

>How are the earmuffs? Resting on your armchair?

?

I’d imagine wind farm noise is far more restful than trail bike noise. And trail bike noise doesn’t actually cause disease, just annoyance & stress.

Bump

PermeateFree said:

roughbarked said:

Anyway, from watching birds all my life I’d suggest that they are capable of seeing and reacting quickly enough to avoid ever hitting one.

The speed of the outer blade exceeds 100 km per hour and much faster than most birds can fly.

Yes. I’ve noticed that driving at 98 Kmph the incidence of hitting a bird on the windscreen is almost nil but that at 120 Kmph, almost every bird that comes close enough will get hit.

Bubblecar said:

>How are the earmuffs? Resting on your armchair?

?

I’d imagine wind farm noise is far more restful than trail bike noise. And trail bike noise doesn’t actually cause disease, just annoyance & stress.

Well, whatever you think.

Bubblecar said:

>How are the earmuffs? Resting on your armchair?

?

I’d imagine wind farm noise is far more restful than trail bike noise. And trail bike noise doesn’t actually cause disease, just annoyance & stress.

I reckon it would be hard to get used to trail bikes all day every day.

In 2011, the British Acoustics Bulletin published the 10th independent review of the evidence on wind farms causing annoyance and ill health in people. And for the 10th time it has emphasised that “annoyance has far more to do with social and psychological factors in those complaining than any direct effect from sound or inaudible infrasound emanating from wind turbines”. Two factors repeatedly came up. “The first is being able to see wind turbines, which increases annoyance particularly in those who dislike or fear them. The second factor is whether people derive income from hosting turbines, which miraculously appears to be a highly effective antidote to feelings of annoyance and symptoms”.

A 2009 expert panel review, sponsored by the Canadian Wind Energy Association and American Wind Energy Association, delved into the possible adverse health effects of those living close to wind turbines. Their 85-page report concluded that wind turbines do not directly make people ill. The study did allow that some people could experience stress or irritation caused by the swishing sounds wind turbines produce. “A small minority of those exposed report annoyance and stress associated with noise perception…” “Annoyance is not a disease.” The study group pointed out that similar irritations are produced by local and highway vehicles, as well as from industrial operations and aircraft.

…..Eighteen research reviews about wind turbines and health, published since 2003, all showed that there was very little evidence that wind turbines were harmful in any direct way. Simon Chapman, professor of public health at Sydney University, said that if wind farms did genuinely make people ill there would by now be a large body of medical literature that would preclude putting them near populated areas. But this is not the case. Sickness being attributed to wind turbines is more likely to be caused by people getting alarmed at the health warnings circulated by activists. Complaints of illness were far more prevalent in communities targeted by anti-wind groups. Chapman’s report concludes “that illnesses being blamed on windfarms are more than likely caused by the psychological effect of suggestions that the turbines make people ill, rather than by the turbines themselves”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_wind_power#Safety

I’d be more inclined to suggest that power lines can make people feel ill. The hum they generate can be most disturbing if one comes close enough to them.

The real problem is that these idiots don’t realise that the wind farms are going to stabilise the global climate.

“that illnesses being blamed on windfarms are more than likely caused by the psychological effect of suggestions that the turbines make people ill, rather than by the turbines themselves”.
————————————————-

Well that is just silly.

A couple of “Ain’t life great near turbines” adds would solve the the problem then.

Picture a young couple, picnic basket and a blanket and all, opening a Coke…

morrie said:

The real problem is that these idiots don’t realise that the wind farms are going to stabilise the global climate.

Over the time of my life, I have come to realise that they don’t give a shit. All they care about is today and this years income.

Mr Ironic said:

“that illnesses being blamed on windfarms are more than likely caused by the psychological effect of suggestions that the turbines make people ill, rather than by the turbines themselves”.
————————————————-

Well that is just silly.

A couple of “Ain’t life great near turbines” adds would solve the the problem then.

Picture a young couple, picnic basket and a blanket and all, opening a Coke…

So the signs out in front of churches work?

Maybe we should suggest that church steeples disturb our sex drive or some such.

roughbarked said:

morrie said:

The real problem is that these idiots don’t realise that the wind farms are going to stabilise the global climate.

Over the time of my life, I have come to realise that they don’t give a shit. All they care about is today and this years income.

Damn those wind farm objectors!

And because it isn’t in this thread yet…..one of the greatest creators of infrasound is the ocean. Yet a place by the sea is desirable, and a holiday by the sea is considered restful.

buffy said:

And because it isn’t in this thread yet…..one of the greatest creators of infrasound is the ocean. Yet a place by the sea is desirable, and a holiday by the sea is considered restful.

I’m an inlander and whenever I camp near the sea, it keeps me awake and is quite disturbing. I presume I could get used to it but then I deliberately stay well away from main roads for the same reason and I’m more than 50% deaf. However the noises in my own head start screaming if it is too quiet outside.

• Do any of the declarers of idiocy live within cooee of a wind farm?Do any of the declarers of idiocy live within cooee of a wind farm?

Well, for a number of years I lived in a peaceful community dominated by evil wind turbines up on the hill. I probably couldn’t hit them with a stones throw but probably could with a cooee – they were ever visible from the kitchen window. I prayed to them as my masters and never once did I get sick nor did I hear tell of anyone else in the area falling to the supposed ills of such things. I also got the high and mighty feeling that all my households electrical needs were supported by renewable power…

furious said:

• Do any of the declarers of idiocy live within cooee of a wind farm?Do any of the declarers of idiocy live within cooee of a wind farm?

Well, for a number of years I lived in a peaceful community dominated by evil wind turbines up on the hill. I probably couldn’t hit them with a stones throw but probably could with a cooee – they were ever visible from the kitchen window. I prayed to them as my masters and never once did I get sick nor did I hear tell of anyone else in the area falling to the supposed ills of such things. I also got the high and mighty feeling that all my households electrical needs were supported by renewable power…

I’d like one in my backyard as it would make the crop dusters skim someone else’s roof.

Waubra hosts a wind farm and has done for four and a half years. The effect on the town’s economy has been transformational. Dependable income now flows on to 28 Waubra farms every year, no matter the state of the weather or the commodity markets.
————————
What about when the weather is a drought of no wind?

The farmers who have towers in their paddocks are paid an annual fee. I understand it is of the order of $10,000 per tower around here. This is what the farmers refer to as drough proofing the farm. One of the larger properties here has quite a Large Number of towers…

Stealth said:

Waubra hosts a wind farm and has done for four and a half years. The effect on the town’s economy has been transformational. Dependable income now flows on to 28 Waubra farms every year, no matter the state of the weather or the commodity markets.
————————
What about when the weather is a drought of no wind?

They probably get monthly or quarterly cheques. It would be an unusual month with no wind at all.

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4388

6 Problems with Wind Turbine Syndrome