According to a new report that reviewed 49 cases heard relating to wind farms and health, 48 cases determined that there was no reliable evidence showing wind farms cause health impacts. The report was released by the Energy and Policy Institute and authored by Senior Fellow on Wind Energy Mike Barnard. The report also highlights 16 persons who have self-identified as experts in wind farms and health, even though they lack credentials or experience that would justify an expert perspective in legal cases. Via the report, all 16 people have been rejected outright as experts or the evidence they submitted was rejected.
Mike Barnard said of the report findings, “Countries, states, and towns considering wind farms do not have to worry about legal cases related to health. The evidence does not hold up in court. The witnesses that are brought-in to help by those opposed to wind farms are not actually experts. And despite the disinformation campaign by anti-wind advocates, the courts have ruled that wind farms do not cause health impacts.”
The report also discusses ethical issues that plague a number of anti-wind “experts” who are leveraging no-longer-active or irrelevant medical credentials to lend weight to campaigns against wind energy, and are performing research without oversight.
According to the Energy and Policy Institute, there are about 320 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind capacity worldwide providing safe, clean electricity to the grid, two thirds of which has been added in the past five years. In total, 21 reviews of evidence have concluded that, with the usual minimum setbacks of 400-600 meters, wind turbines cannot make people sick.
Barnard added, “The rapid growth of the wind energy industry has drawn opposition from individuals and local groups claiming health impacts in order to prevent wind farms from being built. But these efforts have not been successful, and for good reason: wind farms do not cause health problems. Government entities and developers should not expect to be held liable for health issues blamed upon wind energy, as the cases have been rejected time and time again.”