In 2012 The Guardian published a document written by Rich Porter - an Illinois anti-wind energy attorney and edited by John Droz, a senior fellow at the American Tradition Institute, an anti-renewables right-wing non-profit . Porter had submitted the document for discussion at a summit of a coalition of anti-wind power organizations in Washington DC in February of 2011.
Porter's paper laid out a proposal for a public relations offensive specifically designed to "subvert" the efforts of wind power proponents through collusion with right-wing organizations such as ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, The Heartland Institute and The Cato and Brookings Institutes.
The enemy of my enemy is, indeed, my friend it seems; between neighborhood NIMBY organizations, Big Oil & Gas, right-wing think tanks and special interests of every stripe, clean wind energy has a fight on its hands; and ground zero is the state of Wisconsin.
By the end of the year, Chua Xiong, the Director of the Brown County, Wisconsin Board of Health, a Master's prepared nurse, must decide whether there is sufficient credible evidence to support the contention of the medical advisor to the board of health, and the health board president and prominant ALEC member and Wisconsin State Senator Frank Lasee along with a handful of residents belonging to a local group of wind energy opponents that Lasee had enrolled in the process, that the sound of turbine blades is hazardous to health.
In 2009 the Wisconsin Public Service Commision (PSC) began a three year project to establish setback rules (minimum distances from residential dwellings and proposed turbine locations).
The process had received input from locals, energy developers, and anti-renewable pressure groups. However, at the behest of one of Lasee's largest corporate sponsors, the Wisconsin Realtors Association, the Republican dominated State Legislature rejected the findings on the same day they were published. The PSC ultimately prevailed on appeal but
wind turbine companies were already looking outside of Wisconsin toward states with more friendly business climates.The Republican's concerted effort to shut down wind energy had backfired as public opinion turned against them as it became clear jobs and investment to the tune of $1.6 billion had just walked out the door.
Senator Lasee, however, continued his personal crusade on behalf of his corporate sponsors. Since 2012 Lasee has proposed two more bills, one to make it easier to sue turbine operators and another to propose a moratoria on new wind turbine projects until the Brown County Board of Health could conduct an epidemiological study to prove the existence of Wind Turbine Syndrome or other health related hazards.
Although neither bill made it to committee, quite unexpectedly, a report that was authored in support of Labee's bill by a number of sound specialists which showed that the presence of low frequency sounds was mostly indistinguishable from background sound beyond the established siting limit, turned out to be the tool the Republicans were looking for.
In the summary of the published report, the investigators had detected infrasound levels in the closest of the properties tested that had a signature attributable to the turbines - but in the other properties the levels tailed off to be indistinguishable from background noise. Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, jumped on language in the report that called for further research by calling for an emergency moratorium on new permits, claiming the turbines were responsible for "dangerous" infrasound levels.
“These results compel [the Board of Health] to act immediately to keep this nightmare from spreading," Jacque told the press. The Health Board agreed sharing in the alarmist sentiments; both the medical advisor to the board and the health board president have already admitted they are swayed more by the anecdotal evidence and their personal relationships with the locals who claim to be suffering, than the science.
Which way the decision goes will depend on the neutrality, scientific integrity and level of motivation the health board can muster to execute the required due diligence. Xiong may have her work cut out for her.