Ambrose and Rand Address Turbine Noise

Acousticians Stephen Ambrose and Robert Rand have become experts on industrial wind turbine noise. This fall they produced a report* for residents of Florida, MA living near the Hoosac Wind project, currently under construction. They reviewed the 2003 permit for the project and evaluated the related noise study, concluding that the project is likely to be out of compliance with MADEP guidelines. When the Hoosac turbines begin operating, they will probably lead to noise complaints similar to the ones raised in Falmouth, Fairhaven, Kingston, and now Scituate.

*”Advisory Comments on Noise – Hoosac Wind Project, Florida and Monroe, Massachusetts.”

Rand and Ambrose illustrated the turbine soundscape captured in testing Wind I in Falmouth in March 2012. In an unpublished letter to the editor, “Wind turbine noise being studied to death?” Ambrose and Rand included the chart as part of their response to an article appearing in South Coast Today in September.

The letter was never published because the editor declined to include the chart. National Wind Watch has since published the letter as it was intended.

In it, Rand and Ambrose express the frustration that

Neighbors are very concerned about the DEP and DPH studying IWT noise to death. They already have all the evidence they need. Now the Massachusetts DEP and DPH need to act to protect the public health, or just declare: IWT neighbors live in Public Health Sacrifice Zones.

(About Ambrose and Rand:

Stephen Ambrose and Robert Rand are members of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and each have over 30 years’ experience. In 2009, they became concerned about the very vocal negative reactions by neighbors living near industrial wind turbine sites. They have visited and evaluated noise levels at Mars Hill, Vinalhaven, Freedom, Maine and Falmouth, Massachusetts. Their professional experiences and measurements have confirmed that neighbors are justified in their complaints. Citizen complaints are currently thwarted by regulatory agencies’ failure to protect neighbors from excessive noise and adverse public health impacts).