Regarding The Wind Farm...

[Dave]

I noticed on my way home tonight that the red light atop of one of the turbines wasn't working, anyone know where or who you'd report that too? Good thing its just one light on one of those turbines, would hate to see what would happen if more then one wasn't working or one in a bad spot was out and someone not familiar with the area that was flying in ran into one. Bad enough that birds fly into the turbines and get killed (oddly, the government doesn't seem to care if a turbine kills a bird but if your an owner of say a fossil fuel company, they will fine you up the wazoo if a bird dies), wouldn't want to see a person die from hitting one of those.

[Dave]

By the way, the turbine was the 2nd one from the south west end of the wind farm.

[XLFD]

I have read the County's Zoning requirements for these wind systems, and the only note about lights and lighting is on page 6, where it say that any lighting on the turbines shall be the lowest intensity and pulse required by the FAA.  Checking out FAA regulations on wind farm sites, they summarize, and later show a picture of the Blue Canyon site:

So maybe this turbine didn't need an obstruction light on it.  Has it been lit up before?

[Dave]

As far as I can remember, it always has had a light which is probably why I noticed something looked different on my way home last night being there was a light missing.

[XLFD]

Continue monitoring the situation, if you could.  The FAA would probably be the agency you would contact for action if you or another of our readers believe it to present a problem.  BTW, the blinking red lights are mentioned in the complaint filed by the LWEF neighbors in their lawsuit for causing possible health problems, so they may think it's an improvement.

[Dave]

Looked tonight on the way home and the light was still out of commission. I'll give it another day or 2 and if it isn't running by then, I'll see if we can't figure out for sure who to contact for it.

[Dave]

Looked again tonight while on my way home and still no light atop of the above mentioned tower. It has the housing atop of the tower for the light by the way.

[Willy]

What I find odd is the red lights are located on top of the generator housing which holds the power plant. When the turbine blades are in motion the height of the tower is extended another 100 ft due to the blade protruding above the generator housing. What's to prevent an aircraft from hitting one of the blades when flying above the towers because there are no red lights on the tips of the blades. Of course most of the pilots will steer clear of that area but I'm sure there are numbskull pilots who don't have both oars in the water just like some of the boaters who set their GPS for inside the harbor then proceed to run into the breakwater while aiming for that GPS point.

[XLFD]

Can you imagine what the kaleidoscope/hypnotic effect that would happen if you put the lights at the end of the blades and had all 57 of them synchronously blink?  It would be disconcerting to say the least, and the lights would blink at different points throughout its rotation.  Sometimes it would be at the high point, but it would be just as likely to go off at the low point of rotation, or anywhere else. 

If you unsynchronized the lights so that lights only go off when they are at the top of rotation, you then get other problems, detailed in the first link I put up.

If this current setup is giving some area residents vertigo and insomnia, just imagine what chaos would erupt with year-round fireflies in the skies?  

[AQUAMAN]

I think that's a keen observation there Willy, and should be duly noted to the FAA and Consumer's as well. Btw, when I return from south of town at night, and see all those blinking red lights, it reminds me of something from a twilight zone episode where alien ships had landed and were taking over the earth. This area, if not already, should be declared a no-fly zone below 500 feet, or whatever is the acceptable norm for this type of project. One thing's for sure, every time I go by these eyesores, I either see them rotating very slowly, or at a standstill, reflecting that little elctricity if any is being produced, making the project look mostly useless at best. Has anyone in this area seen their electric bill decrease? As promised again?