Champaign County Wind

Join your friends & neighbors in downtown Urbana to learn more about the presence of industrial wind in Champaign County and what it will mean for you and your property rights. It should be informative and inspiring! We all need to realize that this county belongs to the people who live here, not the state of Ohio and certainly not the wind industry. See you in the Square on December 5th!

...if industrial turbines are built. CareFlight must land on roadways in a variety of conditions, and what will happen to certain areas around Urbana (in terms of whether or not CareFlight can land) is one of the uncertainties around installing multiple 492-ft industrial wind turbines. Care Flight arrives at an accident south of Urbana on November 18, 2009.

Just a week after it was first reported that mechanics liens had been filed on three area property owners on land used by Noble Environmental Power LLC, 43 more such documents were filed in the Franklin County Courthouse including two on the Village of Chateaugay. ...Late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the 43 new liens totaling just shy of $3 million were filed in the Franklin County Clerk's office. March 26, 2009 by Darcy Fargo in Malone Telegram www.mtelegram.com Just a week after it was first reported that mechanics liens had been filed on three area property owners on land used by Noble Environmental Power LLC, 43 more such documents were filed in the Franklin County Courthouse including two on the Village of Chateaugay. On March 11, three liens filed by electrical contractor Stuart C. Irby Company of Jackson, Miss., indicated that Noble has not paid $784,692.88 for "electrical materials and equipment and related services in connection with the construction and installatio...

Farmer Files Lawsuit Against Ontario Over Health Hazard Of Wind Turbines To Be Built Near His Home October 21, 2009 6:23 a.m. EST Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - The initiative of the Ontario government to turn to green sources of energy met opposition from a farmer who brought a lawsuit against the provinces because of the potential health hazards posed by a wind turbine to be built near his home. Farmer Ian Hanna filed an application seeking a court review of Ontario's Green Energy Act. He complained that Ontario's plan to build five wind turbines near his Prince Edward County residence would bring with it noise level and even low frequency sound which could cause him and his family to lose sleep and risk acquiring cardiac arrhythmia, tinnitus and hypertension. Hanna is supported in his battle against the wind turbines by former University of Western Ontario dean of medicine Dr. Robert McMurty, who cited more than 100 resident of Ontario who live near wind turbines have experienced ...

Good story from Channel 2 News in Dayton, although this issue is about so much more than the landscape,which is what the reporter focused on. Thanks to those of you in Champaign County who exercised your democratic right to make your voice heard - Keep it up!

The following information is from the proposed wind turbine manufacturer's website. www.nordex-online.com. It concerns the manufacturer's recommended minimum distance from homes, due to noise and shadow flicker concerns, and recommendations for wind farm employees in terms of the distance they should remain from the turbines. NORDEX Micrositing Choosing the type of wind turbine (WTG) and its exact position are very important parts of the planning work of a wind park. This process is called micrositing. During micrositing many aspects have to be regarded: wind conditions (statistical data concerning wind speed and wind direction) building requirements (e.g. distances to residences) ownership structure of the area accessibility (existing roads) influence of the WTG on the environment (e.g. shadow flickering, noise emission) distances between the individual turbines in a park The knowledge of the wind conditions is very important for the decision about the development of a wind ...

Two homes have been abandoned in “Turbine Town” (Clear Creek, Ontario) Clear Creek, Ontario. Quiet, peaceful. The sound of the lake; the overhead passing of migrating geese; tundra swans in the early spring. Deer and wild turkeys. Clear starry skies. Silent except for the sounds of the crickets and bullfrogs. The sight of a small country church across the way; the church I remember attending as a young girl with my Grandmother. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? That was my retreat of 11 years. A place I called home, a place I loved, a place I miss. It was my heaven on earth. My home now sits among huge, massive turbines. Sixteen turbines surround me, all within a 3 km radius of my home. The closest is 400 metres from my back door. People often ask me what my problem is with the turbines. (”They are not very noisy,” I am told.) The noise is constant, some days louder than others. It is not noise I enjoy or choose to be around. It is noise I cannot escape. What most don’t understand is that it is...

Source: www.windaction.org Mark and Kate Harris of Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Roxbury, ME on March 26,2008. You have asked for a description of how our lives have been affected by the wind farm on Mars Hill. These comments may be used in any way you please in assisting your town in making their decisions. I serve three congregations here as their pastor and my wife is an administrator in the area hospital. We moved here four years ago, coming from Vermont. We reside in the town of Bridgewater, Maine, which is eight miles from Mars Hill. We have purchased eighty acres on Mars Hill with the intension of building a home and living there when we retire. Unfortunately this cannot happen with the wind farm destroying the peace and safety of the residents all along the east and north sides of the mountain. What has convinced us that we not invest ourselves and our life savings here are our own observations, not what someone else has said. Over the past four years w...

Click on this link for a transcript of a radio interview conducted in March 2008 with some concerned local citizens about life with the wind turbines in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. Here in Champaign County, we can stop these wind farm projects if we take seriously the suffering of people currently living next to these giant turbines and stand up for our rights! Tell your neighbors and friends and family to write and call Gov. Strickland, the County Commissioners, Zoning Boards, Township Trustees, state and federal representatives and senators - anyone with any decision-making ability and let them know that we need their help! The electoral cost will be huge if our officials give away Champaign County to global profiteers. And don't forget to write the Ohio Power Siting Board - let them know where you stand!

British Investor Guy Hands, whose investment firm Terra Firma, now controls Everpower and 9,000 acres of Champaign County. Our new neighbor and in control of the most land in Champaign County. I don't think we'll see him at a Farm Bureau meeting any time soon.

Top British investor takes stake in U.S. wind power August 26, 2009 by Camilla Rickets Source: www.green.venturebeat.com Terra Firma, the private equity firm chaired by well-known British investor Guy Hands, has acquired EverPower Wind Holdings for an estimated $350 million — indicating significant European interest in U.S. wind developments. German and Spanish companies — significantly Fotowatio — have staked out U.S. solar opportunities with less emphasis on wind. Headquartered in Manhattan, EverPower has wind farms in the works in Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania (including one that’s already operational there) and New York state. Wind developments, considering the amount of turbines necessary for commercial scale, are known for being incredibly capital intensive, requiring bigwig investors that can pony up hundreds of millions at a time. That’s why players like Berkshire Hathaway have dominated the space so far, with private equity firms playing a minor role. The economic downturn took ...