An updated map of buffer and visual impact zones as well prime agricultural areas was released by the Alberta Government this December. It shows the mountain regions of the province will be protected by a 35km “no-go zone.” Other regions, such as Cypress Hills Provincial Park, will also require visual impact assessments.
For those who live in the Northern Valley of Alberta where a wind project is slated between their acreages and farmhouses, our Chris Habiak has drawn up this map showing that the project lies directly on prime Class 2 soil:
As reported by The Canadian Press, renewable energy projects won’t be allowed on top-grade agricultural land unless developers can prove the projects can productively coexist with livestock and crops.
However, so long as Big Wind continues to ignore the now well-documented impacts of infrasound on livestock1 and the drought effect of industrial wind turbines on soils, the question is whether the regulatory decision body, the Alberta Utilities Commissions (AUC), finally will?
Of Protecting Farmland
When it comes to soil, it seems the AUC may at last be recognizing and protecting this valuable resource. Last year, Calgary-based Acestes Power ULC applied to build a 24-megawatt solar project near Westlock, Alberta. Their application was recently denied. Nathan Brown was the sole landowner to present at the AUC hearing and told Town and Country Today that ‘it wasn’t just about trying to stop the project’ but about presenting evidence and research to convey the importance of highly productive agricultural land in Alberta.
I hope this is a stepping stone. The main reason that they disqualified this project from being built was because of the soil that they were going to build on.
Nathan Brown, farmer, Town and Country Today, November 4, 2024
While the footprint of solar projects is generally larger in terms of actual infrastructure, industrial wind plants impact far greater swaths of land due to their operation. A recent study found “significant” drought conditions around wind turbines.
Our research shows that the operation of wind turbines will cause significant drying of soil, and this drought effect differs significantly according to season and wind direction.
Prof Gang Wang of the School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University in China, GRIPT News, May 11, 2023
Other researchers have discovered that turbines create a “wake effect”: turbulence that slows the air down after passing through the blades. Ironically, this creates a warming effect (at a time when turbines are being built to counter so-called “global warming”!). To estimate the impacts of wind power, researchers established a baseline for the 2012‒2014 U.S. climate using a standard weather-forecasting model. Then, they covered one-third of the continental U.S. with enough wind turbines to meet present-day U.S. electricity demand. The researchers found this scenario would warm the surface temperature of the continental U.S. by 0.24 degrees Celsius, with the largest changes occurring at night when surface temperatures increased by up to 1.5 degrees. 2
Add to that a 2021 study that confirmed observations of farmers that earthworms flee fields that host wind turbines due to wind turbine “noise” (which includes both audible and inaudible infrasound).3
Therefore, the negative relationship we find between wind turbine noise levels and earthworm abundance could potentially have cascading effects on other soil organisms and processes and should also draw attention to other sources of seismic noise (Lecocq et al. 2020).
Vibrational noise from wind energy-turbines negatively impacts earthworm abundance, March 29, 2021, Oikos‘ p.848
Finally, turbine plants cause fracturing of farmland — dividing it by access roads over several kilometres making farming more difficult and taking up more valuable acres.
Of Impacts on Livestock
Regarding the adverse health impacts on animals, a comprehensive study found:
Reports of adverse effects on animals located near IWTs indicate that there may be a temporal relationship between proximity to wind turbines and stress-related reactions and adverse effects on fertility, development, and reproduction. AHEs in animals that have been attributed to proximity of IWTs include reproduction and teratogenic effects in the USA,[120,121] Canada,[122,123] Denmark,[124] and Japan;[125] deformities in Portugal;[65] mortalities in Canada, France,[126,127,128,129] and Taiwan;[130,131] stress in the UK;[132] and other effects.
“Wind turbines and adverse health effects: Applying Bradford Hill’s criteria for causation”, Dumbrill et al., Sept. 2021 (click here to see footnote references)
See also 320 studies and counting on the adverse health impacts of turbines and infrasonic waves on animals here.
Earlier this year, medical doctor and scientist, Dr. Ursula Bellut-Staeck, concluded her studies on infrasound warning: “With ever larger wind turbines, the frequencies are getting lower and lower. This makes infrasound more problematic and dangerous… [it is] a huge problem for all forms of organisms.”4 And that includes humans. One of the latest studies from Norway found adverse health impacts, similar to what Ontarians have endured, for people living as far away as 15-20km from industrial wind turbines.5
In fact, European courts have now settled several cases in favor of both animals and humans adversely impacted by wind turbines.
No-Go Zones?
While Alberta’s world famous mountain ranges have been declared no-go zones for most renewable energy projects, that is not comforting to Albertans who enjoy other areas of the province that are considered “pristine viewscapes.” That would include the North Saskatchewan River, which was declared a Canadian Heritage River by the Federal Government as of March 22, 2024. Leaders in Northern Alberta united together to send a letter to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith calling for the growing tourist region to be protected.
Our unique landscape — with the North Saskatchewan River, numerous recreational lakes, Provincial and Municipal Parks, campgrounds, Iron Horse Trail, Moose Hill, Kinosoo Ski Resort and Fort George and Buckingham House — are making this a growing tourist and recreational destination. Will the government recognize this region’s pristine viewscapes?
Letter to Premier, March 15, 2024; signed by County of St. Paul, Town of Elk Point, Mitch Sylvestre UCP, MLA Scott Cyr; cf. Northern Alberta Leaders: “No” to Wind Turbines
At the very least, in their Wildlife Siting Guidelines for Saskatchewan Wind Energy Projects, the government there declared a 5km buffer zone around all its major rivers including both the North and South Saskatchewan. But so far, Smith’s government has been silent on the river as well as setbacks from human dwellings.
Jason Wang, senior electricity analyst with the Pembina Institute, an anti-oil “green” think-tank, is disappointed in the Alberta Government’s new guidelines.
“It doesn’t do much to restore confidence in renewable energy developments,” Wang told The Canadian Press.6 His organization estimates that the government moratorium last year led to the abandonment of 53 renewable energy projects across the province.
“It’s not clear exactly how those impact assessments will be used or assessed,” he said. “So for developers it’s still wrapped in uncertainty over exactly how you should be developing a project.”
We hope it’s much more than that: that industrial wind corporations will leave the province altogether. The impacts on animals, soil, and humans alike are actually horrifying — and we haven’t even discussed the decimation of bats, insects, and birds.
That said, we agree with Mr. Wang that there remains uncertainty for rural Albertans as to how the AUC will rule. Still, the Premier was unequivocal that she doesn’t want massive industrial wind turbines marring Alberta neighbourhoods and pristine viewscapes for generations to come. In their letter, the Northern Albertan leaders quoted her saying:
‘Albertans have been vocal that they don’t want large-scale developments to interfere with our province’s most beautiful natural features. You cannot build wind turbines the size of the Calgary tower in front of a UNESCO World Heritage site…. You cannot build turbines… in your neighbour’s backyards.’ We strongly agree, especially given that recent proposed wind proponents in this particular area chose highly populated rural residential areas for their projects. What protections will the government enact to protect people’s “backyards” and our ability for future residential development?
Letter to Premier. (cf. A Blow to Big Wind?)
That remains an open question… one that is troubling to many rural Albertans. In our conversations with the Alberta Government, Wind Concerns was told that, by the end of 2024, the administration would have answers as to how rural Albertans would be protected from the growing encroachment on their residences from industrial wind plants. Any dialogue with Smith’s government has now been pushed into 2025, which doesn’t fare well for Albertan communities who are being forced into an AUC regulatory hearing where they are expected to produce expert witnesses and legal representation to make their case against turbines. (NOTE: at the time of Media Release of this article, I was contacted by the Ministry of Affordability and Utilities to meet with Deputy Minister David James before year’s end).
We ask again: just how is Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Affordability and Utilities, Nathan Neudorf, going to protect Albertans from having wind turbines built in their backyards? After a brief moratorium and a long year of waiting, that question remains just as unanswered.
After weighing the overwhelming evidence, Wind Concerns holds that an outright moratorium on any future wind development is justified.
- cf. here, here, and here[↩]
- cf. O, Irony of Ironies![↩]
- cf. Small Victims: Wind Turbines Drive Away Earthworms[↩]
- cf. Infrasound: A Huge Threat to the Entire Biodiversity[↩]
- cf. Turbine Sickness: How Far Away is Safe?[↩]
- cf. CBC News, December 6, 2024[↩]
Mark Mallett is a former award-winning reporter with CTV Edmonton and an independent researcher and author. His family homesteaded between Vermilion and Cold Lake, Alberta, and now resides in the Lakeland region. Mark is Editor in Chief of Wind Concerns.