{"id":13495,"date":"2011-02-13T12:46:37","date_gmt":"2011-02-13T17:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=13495"},"modified":"2012-01-25T09:32:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T14:32:08","slug":"decibels-from-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/decibels-from-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Decibels from hell (Maine)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note<\/em>: \u00a0Art and Cheryl Lindgren\u00a0have been much in the News<\/a>. \u00a0They have become the anguished face of a well-intentioned community project gone terribly wrong<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

On a crisp autumn day filled with speeches, hot dogs, and much applause, Fox Islands Wind<\/a> cut the ribbon and powered up its 3 GE 1.5 MW turbines<\/a> on the island of Vinalhaven. <\/span>Within seconds, the home of Art & Cheryl Lindgren—mere yards away—turned into a living hell<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A year and a half later—a massive heart attack<\/a> later—much acrimony and expense<\/a> later—nothing is resolved. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hell, like the preacher says, is forever. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Lindgrens and their neighbors desperately hope the preacher’s wrong. \u00a0The turbines, agrees the State of Maine, are at least occasionally “out of compliance<\/a>” with State noise standards. Fox Islands Wind disputes this<\/a>, and says it’s a question of whose measurements one believes. \u00a0And there the matter rests—deadlocked. \u00a0 Lawyer eyeball-to-eyeball lawyer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Lindgrens and the Wylies<\/a> and Faragoes<\/a> and others<\/a> live in torment, and, as if that were not enough, endure the malice and taunts of neighbors.\u2020<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

Behold the torn asunder community of Vinalhaven, ME. <\/span><\/p>\n

Monitoring the noise levels of the wind turbines outside their window has turned into both a heroic campaign and a nightmare. \u00a0Hell, with whistles & bells. \u00a0For the past year, Art has set about to prove unequivocally that the noise\/vibration from the machine, seen below, exceeds even the wholly out-of-date State standards. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here is his report.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

View from the Lindgren home, Vinalhaven, ME<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014Art Lindgren, Vinalhaven, ME<\/p>\n

In an effort to restore peace and health in our lives, our neighbors and we formed Fox Islands Wind Neighbors (FIWN). \u00a0One of its objectives has been to document noise compliance violations by taking certified sound level and MET tower measurements and submitting them as formal \u201ccomplaints\u201d to the Maine Dept of Environmental Protectoin (MDEP).<\/p>\n

We have met with limited success.<\/p>\n

The problems with this method and our current set-up are the following. \u00a0I offer these observations to communities who find themselves, sooner or later, in the same predicament as ours:<\/p>\n