Asking Adams Co. residents to do research
ADAMS COUNTY, ILL. -- "I'm against irresponsible wind energy, and that's what this is," says Dave Hulthen.
That is Dave and Stephanie Hulthen from DeKalb County Illinois.
They are in Quincy for a couple of days sharing their thoughts on wind farms.
The Hultens live on a wind farm in DeKalb county, and they don't like it.
There are no wind turbines on their property, so they are not compensated by the wind energy company.
However, they tell KHQA their quality of life has been blown apart since the turbines came online this past December.
This is video of the Hulthen's house. You can see the shadows of the big turbines as they rotate from the wind. They tell me this happens just about every morning during a large part of the year. This is a look from the inside of their home.
"We are exposed to shadow flicker as well. That's where the turbine comes between the sun and our residence. We have a flickering in the morning where it could go for 45 minutes," says Dave Hulthen.
Dave Hulthen says there are two turbines within 1400 feet of his home. There are 13 within a mile. And the problems are more than just shadow flicker.
"It's like a jet plane just sitting on the property. Not flying overhead and leaving, but always sitting out there spinning. It's a hum, hum, hum. a low frequency drum noise," says Stephanie Hulthen.
Watch the video to listen to video shot around midnight one night.
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The Hulthens didn't really know what it would be like to live on a wind farm. They visited one before the one near their house was built. They heard some noises and thought they could live with it. It wasn't until they lived with it 24 hours a day before they realized they didn't like it.
"Now we're affected in one way. In two years, could something else happen. We don't know," says Dave Hulthen.
So the Hulthens are in Adams County to share their concerns with the residents here. They say they have nothing to gain, they were not paid a salary to come here, they just believe people need to do their research first to make sure everyone associated with a wind farm is happy in the end.
The Hulthens do have a daily blog about living on the wind farm.
They say not all days are bad, but a majority of them are.
They also blog about the good days too.
If you'd like to read their blog posts, you can click here.
There is also a question and answer session with the Hulthen Tuesday at the Quincy Senior and Family Resource Center from 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon.
The Adams County Board is voting on its newly revised draft ordinance Tuesday night.
You'll remember an original ordinance was past earlier this year.
This new draft addresses some of the concerns of residents and a wind energy company.
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KHQA spoke to County Board Chairman Mike McLaughlin, he says this new draft addresses the issue of shadow flicker.
"My board's biggest concern is to take care of the health and safety of the residence of Adams County. We don't want to bring in something that's going to harm anybody. That's obviously not our intent," says McLaughlin.
McLaughlin says Adams County is working with a different company than the one that operates the wind farm in DeKalb County.
He adds there could also be other issues, such as elevation, that affect properties differently.
As far as some benefits to a wind farm in Adams County, it could be a big boost on the economic front.
McLaughlin says a lot of the county's taxing districts, like schools and libraries, would benefit a lot from the development.
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