Australia has outlined plans to appoint a commissioner to crack down on windfarms.
The country’s government is also backing further research into whether windfarms damage people’s health, Environment Minister Greg Hunt said today.
People have “concerns over the localised impacts of wind-energy and they deserve a right to be heard,” he said, adding: “This is where the role of a commissioner comes in.”
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously described windfarms as ugly and noisy, and has shown only limited enthusiasm to join the US and China in a broader global fight against climate change.
His government axed a price on carbon emissions and is negotiating with lawmakers over reducing renewable-energy targets.
Championed as a tool to cut greenhouse-gases in nations as diverse as Scotland, Spain and China, windfarms have become contentious in Australia – a country with 9% of the world’s black coal reserves.
“Up close, they are ugly, they are noisy and they may have all sorts of other impacts which I will leave to the scientists to study,” Mr Abbott said about windfarms on June 12.
His treasurer, Joe Hockey, has called them “appalling” and “utterly offensive.”
But Mr Hunt rejected claims the government is involved in a sustained attack on the renewable-energy industry. The proposed commissioner is a person who can hear concerns and complaints, he said.
In a report released in February, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council said there was no consistent evidence that windfarms caused adverse health effects in humans.