Steven Cooper’s Cape Bridgewater Bombshell Sends Wind Industry into Flat Panic

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In the three weeks or so that have passed since Steven Cooper’s Cape Bridgewater wind farm noise study hit the press (see our post here) the wind industry, its parasites and spruikers have been in absolute panic mode.

Pacific Hydro – the operator of the Cape Bridgewater disaster, which paid for the study, but deliberately limited its terms of reference – has gone into absolute “damage control” (see our post here).

Having completely underestimated Cooper’s ability and, lulled into its own sense of delusional belief that its victims are simply “making it all up”, Pac Hydro has enlisted the “help” of the usual band of useful idiots, in an effort to manipulate and control the media and its reporting of Cooper’s groundbreaking research.

The wind industry’s shills – like the Clean Energy Council and the Australian/Victorian Wind Alliance (aka Andrew Bray) – clearly haven’t bothered to read the highly technical and detailed study, which, with its six appendices, runs to nearly 800 pages and, in the unlikely event that they have, are clearly incapable of understanding it.

Or, perhaps, the predictable response from the wind industry and its baggage train of parasites is best captured by Upton Sinclair’s pithy observation that:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Moreover, as we have pointed out before, it’s not Cooper’s study they need to worry so much about but the dozens of others that – following his insights – will involve matched control groups; will involve physicians, including sleep specialists, for example; and be scaled up to include dozens, if not hundreds, of victims at wind farms, both in Australia and around the world.

Properly qualified experts (ie those with acoustic and vibration engineering qualifications, with decades of experience in that field) have identified the significance of Cooper’s study; and rightly applauded it for its rigour and insights; despite Pac Hydro’s deliberate efforts to limit the scope and reach of the study (see our post here).

What those in the know have to say contrasts pretty sharply with the shrill press releases and media comments pouring out of the wind industry cheer squad; as you’d naturally expect from people equipped with little more than self-interest, and media and marketing degrees.

But this merry band of media manipulators has well and truly lost control of the media game.

As it is with the wind industry “case” more generally, what these spruikers pitch up rarely stacks up against the true facts; and is full of internal inconsistencies, fluff, guff and good old-fashioned lies.

One of the giveaways is the Clean Energy Council’s response to the study when it started ranting that it “would not support further research” into Cooper’s findings. What on earth are they so afraid of?

It’s a style that has all the persuasive power of Little Britain’s vacillating Queen of Darkley Noone, Vicky Pollard, whenever she’s put on the spot.

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None of which is lost on STT Champion, Annie Gardner who came out with this crystal clear Opinion piece, published in the Hamilton Spectator. Over to Annie.

Hamilton Spectator
Opinion
7 February 2015

Study is World First Research
Ann and Andrew Gardner, Penshurst

I write in response to the article ‘Study “suggests” health and wind farm noise link’ published recently in the Hamilton Spectator.

It would appear that many adverse comments are not related to the study, but opinions proffered from the media release. The study report is very comprehensive and could not be read, absorbed and understood in a few days, let alone a few hours. The same issue of concern would also apply to the Hamilton Spectator, where the facts have unfortunately been misrepresented in the above article.

World first

This study is world first research, where the brief was to work backwards and discover what wind or noise levels agreed with the complaints made by residents at Cape Bridgewater over six years.

The measurement results show what has been known since Dr. Neil Kelley and NASA’s work, funded by the US Dept. of Energy in the 1980’s which originally identified the direct causal relationship between symptoms and sensations and impulsive Infrasound/Low Frequency noise from various sound sources which included wind turbines, gas turbines and military aircraft.

The study has a number of world first claims that are simply ground breaking. This is the first time a wind farm operator has undertaken a “transparent” study where the wind farm worked with residents and provided all the wind farm data and unlimited access to the study team.

Identified problems

The study is the first that has considered sensation as an observation by residents.

This study has identified problems with instrumentation and measurement of infrasound, and has then provided answers and suggested standardisation for other researchers.

Whilst Pacific Hydro are being cautious with their comments, other wind farm proponents or members of the wind energy consortium are being extremely mischievous with their criticism, as reported in this article, of what has been detailed scientific research.

The limitations which the wind industry are busily highlighting are those which were placed on the acoustic engineer Steve Cooper, purely by Pacific hydro, the developer of the Cape Bridgewater wind farm.

The features cited as lacking were –

1.  Large sample size. The brief by Pacific Hydro to Steven Cooper was for ONLY THREE HOUSES to be studied.

2. Peer review. Pacific Hydro refused to allow Steven Cooper’s study to be peer reviewed.

3. No control group. There was no control group purely by design of Pacific Hydro.

4. No assessment of “compliance” with the permit conditions under instructions of Pacific Hydro.

Contrary to the statement in the article (para 3) the observations from the diaries used in the study were not reporting “health complaints”.

Observations

Contrary to the statement in paragraph 10 of the article, the participants were not “made aware of what the wind farms” (there is only one) “were doing whilst their responses were being recorded”.

Contrary to comment in this article by the wind industry representatives, this study can EASILY be replicated at other wind farms, in particular the Macarthur wind farm, in this district.

The symptoms experienced at Macarthur wind farm are IDENTICAL to those which residents at Cape Bridgewater suffer from. Some families living around the Macarthur wind farm have been forced to move away, whilst others are forced to leave their homes repeatedly, in order to get a decent night’s sleep.

Hundreds of complaints

AGL and ALL levels of government and government bodies, in particular the Victorian Health Department, are in receipt of hundreds of complaints from residents at Macarthur, but are in total denial, and have done NOTHING to acknowledge, or rectify this truly unacceptable situation.

The wind farm proponent interviewed had a swipe at the residents making complaints, even when the turbines were turned off and, by not reading the report, failed to identify the qualification of some sensations (of a lower magnitude) and further investigations that showed pulsations in the turbine towers and the ground following wind gusts.

Around the Macarthur wind farm, residents suffer from infrasound emitted by the turbines, even when they’re not operating, similarly to Cape Bridgewater. Even when the turbines are turned off, we feel the same “sensation”, being headaches, ear pressure, nose pressure, heart palpitations, nausea, dizziness etc., and still cannot sleep at night.

Movement

Due to the mammoth scale of these towers, there is movement ALL the time, whether high or low winds, in addition to when they’re turned off. Due to the extreme size of the towers, they still continue to vibrate, thus emitting infrasound waves. The laws of physics show such structures exhibit natural frequencies that are associated with structural resonances in the infrasound region. Nobody with appropriate qualifications and experience can deny this. The residents at Macarthur have comprehensive evidence and noise testing, showing infrasound emitted whilst the turbines are not operating.

The truth is emerging, and will continue to be exposed as more evidence is brought to light, but for those receiving millions of taxpayer dollars, the truth is beginning to hurt, and it appears they are in damage control.
Hamilton Spectator