HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1398        FILED ON: 1/16/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2048

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Sarah K. Peake

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying resolve:

Resolve to establish a commission to study the health impacts from wind turbines to protect the health of the citizens of the commonwealth.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1398        FILED ON: 1/16/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2048

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

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Resolve to establish a commission to study the health impacts from wind turbines to protect the health of the citizens of the commonwealth.

Resolved, SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be a special commission to investigate and study the incidence and impacts in the commonwealth of adverse health impacts from wind turbines.

The commission shall consist of 19 members: 1 member of the senate appointed by the senate president, 1 member of the senate appointed by the senate minority leader; 1 member of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, 1 member of the house of representatives appointed by the house minority leader; the commissioner of the department of public health or a designee; the commissioner of the division of health care finance and policy or a designee; the director of the state laboratory institute or a designee; the state epidemiologist or a designee; 8 members appointed by the governor as follows: one shall be a physician who has written a peer-reviewed journal article in an internationally recognized journal on the effects of industrial wind turbine noise on sleep and health; one shall be a NIH researcher with a PhD specializing in the field of otolaryngology; two who are physicians considered experts in the treatment or research of adverse health impacts of wind turbines; two members of local boards of health from different regions of the commonwealth where industrial wind turbines are sited and complaints of adverse health impacts have been registered with local officials in those communities; one member of the executive committee from the wind energy advocacy organization Wind Wise-Massachusetts; one member of the board from the wind energy advocacy organization Wind Wise – Cape Cod; and 3 members of the public who live within 5,000 feet of an operating wind turbine and who have registered health-related complaints with his or her local officials, one of each to be appointed by the regional planning agencies of Barnstable, Berkshire and southeastern Massachusetts.

Said study shall include, but not be limited to, a cost-benefit analysis of: (i) conducting a wind turbine adverse health impacts public health clinical screening study in high risk regions; (ii) developing educational materials and training resources for detecting signs and symptoms of adverse health impacts and illnesses in at risk populations including school-aged populations, to be used by clinical providers and school health personnel; (iii) statewide surveillance and testing for adverse health impacts in the proximity of wind turbines, and (iv) educating the medical community about research on all aspects of adverse health impacts of wind turbines, both acute and chronic. The commission shall also investigate the availability of grants and federal funds for the study of adverse health impacts from wind turbines to determine if future action is feasible and warranted to support adverse health impacts from wind turbines research in the commonwealth.

Said commission shall report to the senate and house of representatives the results of its investigation and study, together with drafts of legislation, if any, necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, by filing the same with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, who shall forward the same to the joint committee on public health and the house and senate committees on ways and means by May 1, 2014.