Lapinski, a member of the citizen activist Hamlin Preservation Group, doesn't want to look out his windows and see clusters of 400-foot-tall wind turbines. He doesn't want to hear the droning "whump, whump, whump" of the towers when they're generating power. And he doesn't want to sit through backyard picnics while the sun flickers intermittently through spinning turbine blades.
"The town is not listening to the residents. The majority of people who've attended the public meetings aren't in favor of the proposed setbacks — this is about the health, welfare and safety of the people of Hamlin."
Lapinski's group — which has provided the town with testimonials from various experts and complaints from people who live near wind farms — wants even stronger laws.
"I'm not against green power, but other places where they're putting these kinds of farms aren't as populated as Hamlin," he said, noting there are about 120 homes in the area under consideration.
Paul Carr, a professor of engineering management at Cornell University, wrote to Hamlin officials in February about the law's proposed setbacks, which the town would require at a minimum of 1,200 feet from any residence and 600 feet from any roadway or property line.
Carr said those distances are "dangerously inadequate."
He said his conclusion is a simple "matter of physics," when it comes to such issues as ice chunks flinging off of spinning blades or blades breaking. He's calculated that hurled ice could potentially fly as far as 1,700 feet from a tower.
"My opinion is that setbacks for these towers should be at least four times the height of the tower," he said.
But industry group American Wind Energy Association says such fears are overblown.
According to the group, turbines can sense the build up of ice and stop spinning, thereby eliminating ice throw. And, the group asserts, broken blades being thrown by a turbine is "unheard of," given today's "better turbine design and engineering."
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