1500m Setback to Become Law in County of St. Paul

In what Wind Concerns considers to be a “major step forward” in the battle against damaging industrial wind turbines, the County of St. Paul, Alberta, has passed an amendment to establish a 1500m setback. It’s significant because the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), who gives the thumbs up or down to energy projects, has said they will respect those distances.

During their consultation with municipalities in the Spring of 2026, the AUC stated:

Where a municipality sets setback distances in its land-use planning documents, and the setback distance falls within the approved minimum and maximum ranges, the AUC intends to accept and apply those setbacks in future facility application decisions in that municipality…. The maximum setback reflects the 1.5-kilometre noise receptor review distance already used under Rule 012… The minimum setback [800m] is based mainly on noise requirements in established AUC Rule 012.
“Proposed Standardized Setbacks for Renewable Infrastructure”, media.auc.ab

“The passing of this amendment is a major step forward,” says Mark Mallett, Editor-in-Chief of Wind Concerns, who is part of the community near Elk Point where 207m wind towers have been proposed to be built beside their farms and acreages. “The proposed project was to put turbines well within 1500 meters. By establishing this setback — and more importantly, the AUC agreeing to respect it — this effectively ends any attempt to put these industrial monsters next to people’s homes.”

No one in attendance at the Public Hearing opposed the amendment to existings bylaws, which until now, have no stated predetermined setbacks. Two councilors, Louis Dechaine and Darrell Younghans (who constituently represents many of the impacted families), opposed the amendment. But to no avail. A second and third motion passed by the majority of the Council has effectively made 1500m setbacks the law.

Impacts Highlighted

Mallett readily admits, however, that while 1500m may prevent a wind project from being built there — which was the goal — that distance is not near enough to protect humans should a project be allowed that close somewhere else.

Which is why earlier in the year, Wind Concerns requested that Council implement a 10km setback in light of mounting and recent science confirming the devastating impacts of wind turbine infrasound on the entire biodiversity. While that amendment was denied by Council,¹ Mallett brought to attention at today’s Public Hearing two new peer-reviewed studies confirming the dire health impacts on people and animals. “Infrasound, physically defined as sound at frequencies below 20 Hertz, can travel long distances with minimal attenuation and permeate biological tissues,” say the authors of one of the studies. “Scientific evidence from cellular and animal studies, as well as limited human studies, indicates that high-intensity infrasound can induce oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, calcium accumulation, and activation of apoptotic pathways, ultimately leading to tissue damage and functional disorders in cardiovascular, nervous, and other systems.”²

Mallett then noted a German study published in 2026 with tens of thousands of participants echoing similar results. “The data show a significantly increased risk of new cardiovascular diseases in municipalities with massive wind energy expansion.”³

Elk Point resident, Lawrence Zarowny, highlighted the significant damage that wind turbines have done to water tables, particularly in Ontario (eg. see here, here, and here). Several farmers there now have contaminated wells from turbine foundation construction that drove piles deep into bedrock, including aquifers. Residents are now forced to buy their water. Zarowny concluded, asking Council a somewhat rhetorical question: “Is it more important for farmers and residents to have water — water’s very important — or should they buy water because this corporation doesn’t want to address the fact that they will not take responsibility for what they’re doing?”

But perhaps the most poignant moment of the hearing came when retired award-winning nurse, Levina Ewasiuk, gave the following brief statement (which you can also watch below):

In 1984, I had the opportunity to attend a public health conference in Fort McMurray. The keynote speaker was Dr. David Suzuki, and he’s had something that has stayed with me all these years. He said, “When there’s new technology and products that are introduced, the benefits are immediate, but the harmful effects can take years before they become evident.”

And that is so true. And I can think of many things that we have in our environment… things like asbestos, mercury, and Roundup, which was promoted as being “so safe, you could drink it.”

And the list goes on and on, and I’m sure you can think of many others. And wind turbines will be on that list. I am confident that that will happen.

Science teaches us to be skeptical.

So when when these corporations come to us waving money at us and promising us all these things, we need to remember they’re only interested in the bottom line and maximizing their profits. They don’t care about us, about our environment, about our health and our well-being, nor the impact that it has on our community.

Those are things that we need to work on protecting. That’s our job. So I’d like to just end with another quote from Dr. Suzuki.

He said “If we pollute the air, water, and soil that keep us alive and well and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us.
Levina Ewaskiuk, resident of the Northern Valley and Wind Concerns research assistant

A Major Relief

While the passing of this amendment is a major step forward, it’s certain that Alberta communities across the province will face new challenges with AI data centers, nuclear energy, carbon capture projects, and the like.

But the County of St. Paul Council sent a message to the province and its regulators that municipalities aren’t merely boundaries, maps, ledgers, and roads but people, communities, creation, and beauty.⁴ While the former is necessary to manage and order these things, it should never be at the expense of the latter.

Today was a major victory for one small Alberta community that can rest a bit easier tonight…