BEN Courtice from Bacchus Marsh (March 25) and Premier Daniel Andrews do not understand the terrible multiplier effect of reducing wind turbine setbacks to one kilometre and building them 60 storeys high or more.
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Either that or they just don't care.
Wind companies are already planning turbines of around 200 metres that's 60 storeys high nearly 50 per cent bigger than anything currently operating in Victoria.
There is no regulation to stop companies from doing this, or, in fact, building them even higher. The blades of such mega-turbines would each sweep an area larger than the playing area of the MCG every few seconds.
The air disturbance would be more than double that of any turbine already built here, leading to extreme levels of audible noise and infrasound for nearby residents.
Amazingly, there is still no independent policing of noise levels to protect near neighbours or even the host farmers.
The EPA is not allowed to police turbine noise, so it's up to the wind companies to police themselves.
Unless the Premier empowers the EPA to take charge, there is an extreme risk that turbine neighbour complaints will greatly escalate.
More than 1300 new wind turbines are already planned for western Victoria alone.
The Premier has a duty of care to rural Victorians at least to ensure that the EPA becomes an effective noise policeman.
This is meant to be about jobs, but the tragedy of all this is that there are so few permanent jobs at wind facilities. Even at Waubra, with its 128 turbines, there are only nine full-time jobs.
The only significant job creation is during construction, where most of the workers are "DIDOs" Drive-In-Drive-Out workers.
The way the wind industry is structured, the pain inflicted on rural communities will far outweigh any gain.