Preliminary Results: Exploring Why Some Families Living in Proximity to Wind Turbine Facilities Contemplate Vacating Their Homes—A Community-Based Study

Abstract

In Ontario, Canada, between 2006 and the end of 2016, government records provided by the former Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change documented that neighbors living near industrial wind turbine (IWT) facilities filed 4574 noise complaints/incident reports. In some cases, these records also included occurrences of adverse health effects being experienced by some of those living near the IWT facilities [1]. The risk of harm associated with living near IWT energy facilities is controversial and reported globally [1] [2] [3] [4]. Some families have been billeted by, or negotiated financial agreements with wind energy developers [2], and some took the step to vacate/abandon their homes [2] [3] [4] while others have felt forced to do so [3] [4]. While the action of vacating/abandoning a family home is internationally reported [1] [2] [3] [4] research about these occurrences is limited. Utilizing the Grounded Theory (GT) methodology, an ethics approved community-based study was conducted to investigate these occurrences. Participants in the study included those who had vacated/abandoned their homes in the past, or at the time of the interview were contemplating to do so, or decided to remain. Between October 2017 and January 2018, sixty-seven (n-67) consenting participants were interviewed. This article presents preliminary results which will be augmented by additional submissions to peer reviewed scientific journals for their consideration for publication.