Cleburne residents object to proposed wind farm

A group of Cleburne County residents questioned the Cleburne county commission Monday about a  proposed wind energy project on Turkey Heaven Mountain.  Residents urged the commissioners not to allow the project into Cleburne County without more research.  Several people talked about wind turbine syndrome – an illness that some say is related to noise so low it’s not audible to the human ear, but still affects the ear physically.  Robin Saiz, the developer for Nations Energy Systems, the company considering a wind farm in the county, has worked in the wind energy business for years. Saiz said Wind turbine syndrome is unsubstantiated and advised people to not rely on Internet search engines for their research about wind turbines.  Saiz said neither he nor the companies that he has worked for have been sued for wind turbine syndrome, and he doesn’t know of any company that’s been successfully sued for the syndrome.  A number of people at the meeting seemed most concerned that the county had no regulations for wind farms.  Residents brought up state legislation that would have regulated wind farms. Noting that the county commissioners requested Cleburne county be exempted from that legislation. The regulations didn’t pass the state Legislature, but the people in the audience still questioned that decision and how it was made.   Residents in both Cherokee and Etowah counties have filed suits in an attempt to halt windfarm developments in their counties.