An Interview with Jane Wilson, registered nurse and healthcare writer

April 23, 2025

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Jane Wilson a retired registered nurse and former healthcare writer and editor. Jane has worked for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.  Since 2011, she has been president of Wind Concerns Ontario. Knowing that she has done intensive review on the impacts of large-scale industrial wind turbines (IWTs), I wanted to learn more about her research discoveries. 

Question: Jane, how did you get involved with researching Industrial Wind Turbines and the impacts associated with them?

I knew about the impacts of wind turbines because two of my three sisters were living in communities where projects were proposed, and I had visited the initial wind turbine sites in Ontario. Then, a large project was proposed for my own rural village. I hadn’t known about it. I went to our local farmers’ market and saw a map---my house was to be the closest to a wind turbine! I started my research then and learned a lot about sound and its long-term impacts. 

Question: What did you learn that made you believe there was a connection between IWTs and negative impacts?

It’s really quite simple at one level: the audible sound and the low frequency sound can disturb sleep. Over time, this can result in serious health impacts for some people. The effects of sleep disturbance (we’re not talking about deprivation, which is different, but disturbance) are very well known in health literature but somehow, the wind power lobby has quashed any connection between wind turbine sound and sleep disturbance. Instead, they blame the people, citing caffeine use, anxiety, etc.  Wind Concerns Ontario had a psychologist speaker at one of our annual meetings and conferences who is an expert in sleep disturbance. He was very clear on the link. 

Question:  Could you tell us more about the published article you co-authored with Carmen Krogh and Paula Peel,  Déja vu and Wind Turbines: A Review of Lived Experiences after Appeals of Ontario Industrial-Scale Wind Power Facilities? What things stood out with your research?

That article came about as a result of the frustration we all felt as a result of people’s concerns being dismissed in Ontario by the Environmental Review Tribunal. In that process, which was frankly diabolical in its foundation and structure, people had to prove absolutely that health impacts were going to occur. Well of course, that is very difficult to prove---there aren’t independent, reliable field studies on this. What the lawyers for our government and the wind power developers put people through, the witnesses who came forward with their own experiences, was frankly unconscionable. So, we decided to follow up on the communities that had undertaken such appeals to see what happened after the wind power projects went up. It was clear: almost everything people said might happen did happen. 

I learned later, preparing another paper, “No action likely” that the government is deficient in its role as a regulator and there is more than a suggestion of a cozy relationship or bias with the wind power developers whom the government refers to as their “clients.”  

Question: Vacating our home due to the negative adverse health effects we believe are associated with living in the vicinity of an IWT project, I am interested in learning more about the experiences of others. Could you highlight some of the reports you reviewed of people living near IWTs? Were there any common themes with these complaints?

The very first tranche of documents we received under Freedom of Information legislation was for the period from 2006 to 2014, noise complaints or Pollution Reports/Pollution Incident Reports received by the Ontario government. I’ll be honest: the first time I read through those documents I had to stop after a day or two, the content was just heartbreaking. In the main, you could see that people had thought maybe wind turbines were a good thing, they believed the hype about a cleaner environment and cheap power (not proven to be true we know now), and they believed the government when the Premier said, if there are any issues, we’ll address them. In reality, the entire system from regulations for setbacks and noise limits, approvals, to noise measurement and response to citizen complaints was set up with guidance from the wind power lobby. It is practically impossible to get anywhere. We did in subsequent document releases see well meaning staff try to do something, but the upper management had directed them to not respond. In fact, management had told field officers that under no circumstances was wind turbine noise ever to be identified as “tonal,” even though it was. There is one project where more than 30 wind turbines are in a bad location for noise emissions. The siting was based on incorrect calculations by the developer. Nothing was ever done, and of course, people left their homes. 

As to common themes, I would say, sleep disturbance, feelings of anxiety, pressure in the head and chest. Over the years these observations became linked to cardiac symptoms such as rapid heart rate, high blood pressure etc. Almost every time you ask someone who lives near wind turbines to describe what they are experiencing, they make a fist with their hand and place it on their chest, even without saying anything. The pressure is what they are feeling. Over time, the lack of sleep becomes impossible to live with, and the anxiety grows.  

The wind industry then and still today insists that audible noise is the issue, and they have taken great care to avoid any recrimination. They maintain wind turbine noise is like a “quiet library” or at worst, a refrigerator. The fact is, they engineered the measurement protocols so that only averages are taken, and a very narrow range of sound is captured. This has been very well thought out by the industry, and not with the goal of a benign, helpful power source.  

Question: With your research, what were you able to determine regarding citizen concerns about large-scale industrial wind turbines?

In the beginning, although wind power developers and others try to distract from the issues by labelling people as “NIMBY” ---that is a particularly nasty form of insult and distraction, and detracts from the fact that people’s concerns are mainly environmental, including that of people’s health. The wind power lobby has spent a lot of money on public relations and fostering so-called “studies” that say people just don’t like the look of wind turbines. That is not the issue for most people. Today, after the 16-year disastrous experiment in Ontario, we know that wind power cannot fulfill any of the promises made for it. It is expensive, unreliable, intermittent, invasive, a low density form of power generation, without real benefit for the environment and climate. Finally, in Ontario we had an independent economist do a cost-benefit study that showed wind is not worth it. He just looked at the economics of power supply and climate benefits, he didn’t even take into account the other negatives such as the impacts on the environment and people. 

Question: If you only had a few minutes to explain the concerns you found with your research and expertise, what would you say to people?

My concern is that wind power developers got a very special pass on employing this industrial land use. If these sorts of health and environmental impacts had been seen in any other product or technology if you will, they would have been shut down and reviewed. Instead, we have an entire construct of industry-dictated rules and regulations, approval processes and finally regulation of any impacts that never show fault. Our former energy minister said in an interview in early 2024 that wind power was an ideological choice, not one based on science. He was right. He is unfortunately gone from that position now, but he was right. I would advise people to look carefully at wind power information---the lobby is extremely well funded and have influenced governments and educational institutions to stifle real research. Someone said to me once as regards research into wind turbines and health impacts, “The people who need the research don’t have the money and the people who have the money, don’t want the research done."

The wind power industry worldwide and certainly in North America uses the Health Canada 2014 paper on wind turbine noise as evidence there is no link between wind turbine noise and health problems. That's just not true. First, the researchers said the results were specific to the power projects involved and should not be used for any other sites, or to determine policy. Having said that, the study DID show health impacts and noted in particular the role of annoyance or distress in health problems, long term. 

Question: Is there anything else you would like to add or share to help others understand the impacts of IWTs?

I would say, don’t give up. Despite the fantastic wealth and influence of the wind power lobby and the fact they have persuaded governments everywhere that this is safe and effective, ordinary people all over the world have been speaking out, and the “jig” may soon be “up.” Keep speaking out, fight for your community and your life. 

Statement: Thank you so much for taking time to answer questions regarding your research and findings. This information is greatly appreciated.