To some, caring too much might label you as a ‘left-wing greenie’ trying to convert the world. If you care too little, naivety and selfishness emerge, and you might fall into a group of shortsightedness.

Wind turbines all around the world have brought communities to their feet; and in the Upper Lachlan, this is no different.

Renewable energy is the love child of every former pollution-driven and environmentally harmful regime. As a concept it signals a ‘cleaner future’, one devoid of our ignorant past, and turbines form a sturdy branch of this movement. 

In and among the philosophical questions of how the Australian landscape should be presented or decommissioned, there is always one objection that pierces through every community meeting: noise complaints.

Some people will say they can hear the noise from the turbines on their property; others will adamantly defend the lack of noise emitted.

So it was unfortunate to learn that a scientific committee to monitor the health effects of wind turbines only met once over two years and cost the government $500,000. The Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines was rejected by multiple journals and stated “it must first determine exactly what needs to be measured”, including whether low frequency sounds should be measured.

It seemed the report concluded very little in a debate where conclusions would have been most helpful.

Gossip has no place in progression, and for the Upper Lachlan, a hot bed for renewable energy in the state, you would like to think this point of difference should be clearer.

Former Grabben Gullen resident Ken Marks summed up the issue perfectly: we need to figure out if the impacts from turbines are real or imagined. Mr Marks, who says he was physically affected by the turbines, admitted his wife didn’t notice a thing regarding her own tolerance.

We know the NSW Department of Planning and Environment measures thresholds of noise and companies are required to state the range of noise expected to be emitted. Complexity isn’t the name of this game, clarity is: clarity of research, of why people fear turbines, and of future direction.