(Upstate New York) Residents shocked by wind-turbine collapse

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_066213456.html?keyword=topstory

Published March 07, 2009 09:34 pm - Many area residents are worried that a massive turbine could suddenly collapse.

Residents shocked by wind-turbine collapse

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
Staff Writer

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Altona,+New+York&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.472848,48.164063&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FULxrAIdJhqc-w&split=0&ll=43.468868,-76.135254&spn=7.430584,12.041016&z=6">ALTONA — Many residents were shocked that a massive wind turbine could come tumbling down and officials say it could take months to learn why one collapsed Friday.

Mike Fellion flew over the wreckage Saturday morning and was amazed to see that pieces of the structure appeared to have been thrown "about a quarter-mile away."

…

Neighbors around the Altona wind park reported hearing loud explosions before the turbine apparently snapped in half around 10 a.m. and then caught fire.

Helen Morales, who lives near the fallen Fisher Way turbine, didn't hear anything, but earlier saw the blades on one turbine "spinning at a high rate of speed" and noted that the air appeared "cloudy" around it.

…

[nichomachus]

1. Wind turbines are noisy, pollute the ground water, and kill birds

I live in an area where we have hundreds of them. They're not quite what people imagine them to be.

One problem we have is that we rely on an aquifer for all our water. The wind turbines leak oil, which seeps into the ground and pollutes the aquifer.

[phantom power]

3. Interesting. Has the leakage and contamination been quantified?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. I get the noise and bird problem but how hard would it be to stop oil leakage?

[nichomachus]

5. I don't know -- but the first step is wanting to -- and the energy companies

don't care. Worse still. We get no benefit from the wind turbines. We still pay the sky-high rates we were saddled with by Enron's crimes. The cheap wind-driven energy gets sold off somewhere else.

[Ezlivin]

8. Imagine a diaper the size of a pickup truck...

N/T

[Brazenly Liberal]

9. Wha??!??!?!??

Um, we live near two large windfarms with two more scheduled to go up. People around here love them. They are aesthetically pleasing and an economic boon for the families who let the wind company use their land.

The turbines are virtually SILENT, they are NOT killing birds - and there's no reason why they should - and when we last did the annual tests on our well, the water tested the same as it did before the windfarms went up.

[Javaman]

11. I would like more information regarding the oil leaks. I haven't heard of that one. nt

[Ikonoklast]

2. Sounds like the rev limiter on it failed.

If the blades exceed the maximum allowable speed they will fail.

[screembloodymurder]

7. That was my understanding too.

There's supposed to be a device that limits their speed.

[Lost in CT]

6. As long as they are in non-populated areas it shouldn't be a problem.

[NNadir]

10. This is an increasingly common affair.

It will become more common.

Wind is a trivial form of energy - it has never produced one exajoule of energy in this country out of the more than 100 exajoules we use. But if it ever does get to one exajoule - its external costs are going to be very obvious.

[Berry Cool]

12. The operative part of your post: "in this country."

I think you exaggerate.