Waubra Foundation Calls For Investigation Into SA EPA
The Waubra Foundation CEO has written to the South Australian Premier, Jay Weatherill, and asked him to hold a public inquiry into the conduct of the South Australian Environment Protection Authority with respect to the monitoring of Wind Turbine Noise, and the inadequate wind farm noise guidelines.
Dear Premier, Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Greens, Senator Xenophon, and CEO / Chair of the Clean Energy Regulator,
Please find attached an open letter relating to the conduct of the EPA in the recent acoustic survey at Waterloo, our Explicit Warning Notice, and a photo showing the location of the acoustic microphone, underneath a large gum tree, contrary to the SA EPA’s own noise guidelines. The photo was taken by Mrs Mary Morris in April 2013, at the residence in the Waterloo district well known to the EPA from a previous acoustic survey, reported in December 2011.
The resident’s health has suffered greatly from the cumulative impacts of repetitive sleep disturbance over 3 years. She is exhausted, like many others living in the acoustic footprint of this wind development whose sleep is regularly and repeatedly disturbed by the audible high and low frequency noise, and infrasound emissions from the wind turbines. American Psychiatrist Dr William Hallstein gives a very eloquent short summary of what happens to people when they are severely sleep deprived, and describes what is happening to wind turbine noise affected residents as “abuse” and a judge in Falmouth USA has just issued an injunction to stop the turbines turning overnight in order to prevent further “irreparable harm to physical and psychological health”.
Mary Morris’s case series from Waterloo clearly demonstrates what happened at Waterloo when the turbines are inadvertently “turned off” for a week. Residents impacted adversely by the wind turbine noise were able to have restorative sleeps, and many other symptoms went away, but recurred when the turbines went back on line.
Direct causation of sleep disturbance and other symptoms from wind turbine generated infrasound and low frequency noise was established in 1985 by Dr Neil Kelley and his team of researchers in an extensive 3 year acoustic field survey, in the USA. Results of his laboratory research confirming direct causation were presented to the American Wind Energy Association in 1987. Kelley et al established evidence based health protective exposure limits for infrasound and low frequency noise which have been ignored by the wind industry, its acousticians, and governments promoting wind energy at the expense of public health ever since.
We await your response and urgent action on this matter.
yours sincerely
Sarah Laurie
Attachments included the open letter (reproduced in full in Resources), the Waubra Foundation’s Explicit Warning Notice, and the photo of the microphone under a large gum tree.