Junk Science and the Natural Experiment

An MIT-trained mathematical economist from Shelburne who runs Greylock McKinnon Associates, an economic consulting firm, takes exception to the “The Wind Turbine Health Impact Study.” Calling it Junk Science, Raymond S. Hartman outlines the bases for mistrusting the conclusions the DEP/DPH expert panel reached.

Junk science is faulty scientific data and analysis used to advance special interests and hidden agendas.

The DEP/DPH panel could have called for the needed epidemiological study, but instead the “experts” discounted existing scholarly evidence and called vaguely for further study. The open comment period for responses to the report ends on March 19, 2012.

Residents of Massachusetts towns where industrial wind turbines are proposed are fortunate to have Falmouth residents speaking out about their experiences. In places where commercial rather than municipal turbines have been sited, leaseholders and abutters are often silenced by gag clauses. This has been an impediment to researchers of wind health effects.