| Follow Up on WGEM Interview: On February 3, 2010, I was interviewed by Quincy News station WGEM. They used one quote which some may want to know more about. I was making the case (using several reasons--not just this one) that 1000 foot setbacks may not be adequate to protect the health and safety of our citizens. One reason for this concern is an article I found on the Internet about the Vestas Safety Regulations for Operators and Technicians (Vestas is one manufacturer of wind turbines). The safety regulations in that manual called for workers to stay more than 1300 feet from a working turbine, and cautioned not to get under the plane of the rotating blades. My point was that if maintenance workers were cautioned not to stay within 1300 feet of that working turbine, why is it o.k. for the foundation of a home, possibly with children in the yard, to be only 1000 feet away from the base of that turbine? And if there is special danger associated with being in line with the revolving blades, the fact that turbines rotate to face the wind means that at various times, the blades (which reach even closer to the home than 1000 feet) are turning in direct line with that home (or with the children playing in the yard). Granted, this reference may not be irrefutable proof, taken alone, that a setback distance of 1000 feet is patently unsafe. After all, maybe the turbines that will be used in Adams County are different than the Vestas V90 model of turbine, or maybe the article I read was based off of an unfortunate misprint in that safety manual (after wind opponents began to quote that portion of the safety manual, it was later "updated" to omit the troublesome 1300 foot reference). But, doesn't information like this (see more under "safety & health") make it reasonable to ask questions about the safety of a 1000 foot setback in our Adams County Wind Ordinance? Here is the link so you can check it out yourself: http://www.windaction.org/documents/16496
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