DIVISIONAL COURT IN TORONTO HEARS WIND TURBINE CASE

Yesterday's K-W Record carrys the following story "Court hears risks of wind turbines". Once again it appears that NIMBY is rearing it's ugly head. Contrary to the acronym: Not In My Backyard I believe a more appropriate acronym would be NIMBY FIYBY which stands for Not In My Backyard Fine In Your Backyard. This has long seemed to be the attitude of authorities when siting landfills, hazardous waste sites, stinky industries and as well, wind turbines. Perhaps a Uniroyal Chemical on one side of the Ontario legislature and a wind farm on the other side might give our politicians an attitude adjustment. The following statements concern me: "...there is no credible evidence to suggest the turbines negatively affect health" and "... a World Health organization found no evidence that night noise below 40 decibels is harmful to health." My two concerns are the belief that the victims are supposed to be providing credible or scientific proof to the authorities and the statement regarding night noise. Most municipalities have noise by-laws, especially at night, specifically to discourage night noise while people are trying to sleep. Does anyone seriously think that disrupted sleep from noise won't affect health? Secondly we pay our authorities (politicians) to protect and take care of us. Are we then expected to pay for scientific studies on top of taxes to protect us? That is the very well paid job of these authorities in the first place. Sacrificing the rights of a minority for the benefit of a larger group is NOT what democracy is about. People have a right to their rest and their health.