As I type this morning’s blog posts, the noise level in my office is floating between around 50 decibels when I type and 35 decibels when I stop to think (gotta keep it down—some people are still sleeping!). I get those figures from my Decibel Meter app on my phone.
Wind farm operator Crowned Ridge Wind says such amateur observations have no place in formal hearings concerning complaints about the noise its wind turbines make. Amber Christenson of Strandburg and Linda and Timothy Lindgren of South Shore complained over a year ago to the Public Utilities Commission that Crowned Ridge Wind’s turbines make too much noise when they get frosty, the company hasn’t properly studied sound at its sites, and Crowned Ridge Wind has thus not obeyed the conditions of its PUC permit.
Crowned Ridge is arguing, via a motion from Sioux Falls lawyer Miles Schumacher, that Christenson in particular is no expert and thus should not be allowed to say much about the soundness of sound studies:
Schumacher in his motion stated, “Ms. Christenson is not an expert in the specialized field of conducting post-construction sound studies on wind turbines, nor does she profess to be an expert.” He added, “It is axiomatic that conducting post-construction sound studies on wind turbines requires specialized knowledge, skill, experience, and training. On their face, the highly technical 2020 and 2021 sound studies submitted by Epsilon Associates, Inc. (‘Epsilon’) and the studies submitted by Hessler Associates, Inc. (‘Hessler’) reviewing the Epsilon studies demonstrate the high degree of scientific and technical knowledge needed to opine on the sound produced by wind turbines and whether the wind turbine sound is within the Commission’s sound thresholds. It is undisputable, therefore, that the field of post construction wind sound studies is not one a lay person can testify on with regard to the validity of the sound study, the techniques applied in the sound study and the results of the sound study, for example” [Bob Mercer, “Crowned Ridge Wants to Limit Complaint Testimony,” KELO-TV, 2023.10.03].
Christenson responds vigorously on behalf of all of us lowly lay people:
Christenson, who is representing herself, said in her response, “Crowned Ridge keeps telling you that I am just a lowly lay person. This lay person wants to hold their feet to the fire. This lay person wants you, the Commission, to remedy the noise problem here where we live. WIOM (winter ice operation mode) doesn’t solve it, and I don’t have to be an expert to read the spec sheet. I don’t have to be an expert to know that when turbines run at full power, they are louder than when they run at low power; not only is that common sense, that has been testified to you in hearings” [Mercer, 2023.10.03].
The PUC will hear these arguments at its October 10 meeting and decide how much Christenson can say at the evidentiary hearing on the complaint October 11–12. Perhaps Bob Mercer could bring his phone and test the decibel levels of Christenson and Schumacher.
City folks like me use their phone’s decibel meter w/ record feature to dispute claims by neighbors that our music is too loud. Cops love to tell neighbors to knock off the complaints until after 9:00 when the noise ordinance gets stricter.
Of course these make noise. https://pubs.aip.org/aip/sci/article/2021/22/221106/365242/A-porous-edge-on-turbine-blades-and-aircraft-wings
Mid-America energy spent beaucoup bucks to place noise reducers on their turbines in my area. As for the noise levels, when it is windy enough to spin turbines, the breezes in my hearing aid sound like a tornado anyway.
Sounds more like a case of nimbyism unless said parties do not use the electricity off the power grid.
e platypus–as a fellow hearing aid wearer, I agree with your assessment that we, with augmented hearing, are poor judges of sound volume. I am afflicted with the neighbors hard rock bass lines pounding out of his giant speakers. I like loud rock and roll music myself but isolated bass lines can drive a person nuts over a period of years. I am trying to be tolerant but understand the complaints of those going before the PUC.
Bass lines are a physical feeling as well as a sound. My youngest son moved in with me when he was 14 and nI did not restrict his choice of music, but when the bass started to vibrate my bedroom wall, I bought him a decent pair of headphones and shut that problem down.
It is somewhat surprising to grudznick that Mr. P.h would play really loud music at his cafe before 9pm. Or play really loud music at his cafe at all. I imagine the other short-order cooks at the diner like to dance to it. Is it…the Chicano Rap? I bet it is.
grudz – I was able to retire when I was 50 and the incident you refer to was at my 450 sq. ft. palatial apartment. And yes. The “New American” cooks loved the Chicano Rap music. So do I. What Roy Rogers/Dale Evans song is your favorite, buck-a-roo? heh HEH ho!
The cost of subsidizing, manufacturing, transporting, erecting, maintaining then removing and disposing of just one wind turbine eyesore bat and bird killer would take a thousand subscribers to energy self-reliance. Microgrid technologies are destined to enhance tribal sovereignty, free communities from electric monopolies and net-metering only gives control back to utilities enabled by moral hazard.
Dale Evans, hubba hubba. She’d have never allowed giant pinwheels to kill bats on her farm.
On the other hand, I like wind turbines on the prairie. South Dakota can be the Saudi Arabia of wind.
Can the sound of a wind turbine be more irritating that dogs barking, kids swinging on playground equipment that needs WD40, the train one block away, the loud 4 x 4s with dual exhaust that point toward houses instead of blowing out the back, or sirens? Need I say more.
We are surrounded by noise as it gets louder by the generation. Gardening is no longer enjoyable when the neighbors bring out the weed eaters, industrial size riding lawn mowers, weed blowers, bobcats with the beep beep when they back up, and the ol chain saw that sends me running inside even with my noise canceling headphones on.
Is the noise necessary? Most of the time, it’s not. It’s a combination of inconsiderate people with their right to be as loud as they want. Wind turbines on the other hand are necessary. I wonder if oil pumps put out noise or the Oahe Dam?
Use solar in the highway right of ways. Real quiet and real cheap. “NextGen Highways grew out of an effort in Minnesota to review and adapt state policies to allow utilities and grid operators to consider highways as an alternative route for new transmission projects. It expanded to a national coalition this year after winning funding from the Bill Gates—founded Breakthrough Energy, and it is now working with a dozen states, [Satterfield] said.
Highway rights of way offer “the greatest bang for the buck” for transmission projects, Satterfield said, because they avoid the painstaking work of securing permission and permits to cross land under the control of hundreds of individual public and private landowners. “We could be giving utilities and transmission developers the tools to develop highway rights of way now.” https://nextgenhighways.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/NextGen-Highways-Feasibility-Study-Minnesota-DOT.pdf