While numerous studies and court cases reveal the devastating impacts of industrial wind turbines and other “renewables” on mental health, few examine those impacts even before a project has begun operations. The devastation of losing the peace and beautiful views in one’s rural community, the upheaval of major construction and interruptions, significant drops in real estate, and divisions among neighbours are just some of the most common impacts on people’s mental health.
NSW’s [New South Wale’s] first renewable energy zone project has had a big negative impact on local residents well before it’s operational, The Daily Telegraph reports. The zone spans about 20,000 square km, covering the communities of Mudgee, Dubbo, Dunedoo and surrounding towns and villages located 330 to 400 km northwest of Sydney, Australia.
In a scathing report released by the Upper House, EnergyCo, the state’s renewable energy facilitator, was found to have conducted inadequate community consultation around the Central-West Orana (CWO) Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).
The report found the project had led to “significant” mental health impacts on community members and adjoining landholders. It called on EnergyCo to provide mental health counselling for impacted farmers.
The report said the growing size and scale of the REZ without appropriate planning had led to frustration and angst among the community.
The project had caused workload challenges for local councils that have struggled to respond to significantly increased work pressures.
The report said the NSW Government’s attempt to assist had been “insufficient”.
The interim report into the impact of Renewable Energy Zones on rural and regional communities presented a bleak assessment of EnergyCo and other state agencies. It was confirmation that country communities have been right in their frustration and anger about the renewable energy tsunami rolling across the state. (Read The Daily Telegraph’s full story here.)
Australia’s ABC News reports that the Hampton Park solar development, 11 kilometres outside Dubbo and part of Australia’s first declared renewable energy zone (REZ), has triggered an emotional response from affected landholders. One family living near the proposed Hampton Park site could have the renewables development as close as 100m from their doorstep.
“This development is driving a nail in our community out here,” Michael Edwards, who has lived in the area for 35 years, said.
“The construction out here is going to turn our lives upside down.”
The parliamentary interim report found that there has been “inadequate consultation between the NSW government, renewable energy developers and the Central-West Orana community”.
It said that among the impacts of this were the mental health of community members and the “eroding of social cohesion”.
The Director of the Institute for Infrastructure in Society at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University professor Sara Bice explained why the rollout of renewables projects had caused backlash in some communities.
“For many rural Australians, the energy transition will require major, likely irreversible, changes of scale and nature that could alter their local communities, land, livelihoods, or identities,” Dr Bice said. “Far fewer urban residents will be asked to make such trade-offs or sacrifices for the common good.” (Read ABC News full story here).
Parliamentary Upper House Committee chair of the report, the Hon Mark Banasiak MLC, said: “It is clear from the evidence put to the committee that there is frustration and angst in the CWO community about the growing size and scale of the REZ.”
While the report includes a recommendation for an urgent impact study, Mr Banasiak expressed dissatisfaction that it did not go further: “While one of the recommendations called for an urgent cumulative impact study on the CWO REZ and ensure identified impacts are addressed, I am disappointed that this did not go far enough to make sure that the real and pressing concerns raised by the CWO community are properly addressed.”
“Instead, I called for an urgent moratorium on further renewable energy projects in the CWO REZ until an independent cumulative impact study on the region is complete and any identified impacts have been addressed,” Banasiak added. 1
- cf. hunternewenergy.com[↩]
Wind Concerns is a collaboration of citizens of the Lakeland Alberta region against proposed wind turbine projects.