Town of Fremont NY filed unsuccessful legal challenge with Public Service Commission
Read the public comments made by residents in Fremont, Arkport, Cohocton, and Hornell
By Sonya Ellison, drone photo by Josh Rampulla
The Town of Fremont NY hired Wisniewski Law and filed an Article 78 petition challenging the NYS Board on Electric regarding the Baron Winds farm in Steuben County NY. The installation of wind turbines has resulted in a “exceptional” number of complaints about the impacts of wind turbine sickness. The petition was filed in late 2025 and the court ruled in favor of the NYS Board of Electric.
Fremont residents like Tom Flansburg and his partner, Mary McManus say their health has been affected by wind turbine sickness in the Village of Fremont since late December, when the newly-built Baron Winds LLC wind farm became operational.
The Baron Winds project in
-Americas.RWE.com
Fremont NY consists of 26 turbines,
Across 12500 acres,
Maximum capacity is 117megawatts
“That’s when we’d start noticing these symptoms….” says Flansburg. “Both of us would wake up feeling dizzy and nauseous, feeling sick. We started to wonder ‘What’s going on here?’”
On January 20th, 23 complaints were made with the state DPS’s Division of Materials Management(DDM.) Case 15-F-0122 lists complaints like nausea, dizziness, vertigo, insomnia, tinnitus, anxiety, panic attacks, loss of concentration, changes in pet behavior, and more.
Several residents reported interruptions to land lines as well as cellular and Wi-Fi service, mentioning dropped calls and weakened data and Wi-Fi connections.
“I’ve had a terrible time with sinus issues too. Some other people also complained about that or with their ears popping.” Mary McManus shared. “I’m not making this up. This really has affected me!”
Energy companies and skeptics maintain there is no statistical evidence for the phenomenon of wind turbine sickness. Some chalk up the reported experiences to the “nocebo” effect.
“They don’t live near them is all I can say… every day I’m nauseated.” McManus says.
Residents comment to Public Safety Commission
However, multiple studies over the past four decades found turbines emit infrasound- which is not always audible but the low frequency noise, or LFN, affects the small hairs within the inner ear. When infrasound reaches a hearing threshold, it creates a sound pressure level that causes a myriad of physical symptoms. Read more about that research.
“They always want to fall back on the decibel level and how there’s no statistical proof that the decibel level affects people. But really, it’s the infrasound.” Flansburg told The Hornell Sun.
“Most of the people in Fremont won’t be affected. It’s where the turbines are concentrated like where we are.” says McManus. “I mean if there weren’t so many of them around us….Every window I look out of them, they’re everywhere. We’re where they are concentrated.”
“It’s like an invisible pressure wave.” as Flansburg describes it.
Studies around the world have found a small subgroup of the population is sensitive to infrasound and LFN.
Wind turbine sickness sufferers also describe symptoms similar to motion sickness.
In fact, recent research also suggests those who experience motion sickness tend to be more likely to suffer from wind sickness symptoms.
“If you go down in the basement it isn’t quite as bad. But, if you’re upstairs, it really seems to be worse with the nausea and dizziness.” McManus says. “I’m up until two in the morning because of that wave of nausea. When I wake up in the morning I have to be careful I don’t fall because I’m so dizzy.”
“I understand going green and being eco-friendly is vitally important for our society but if in the process you cause detrimental effects to many, there must be a better way.” pleaded another Fremont resident, who was among the almost 2 dozen complaints filed.
In 2021, a couple living in France was even awarded a €100,000 settlement in court as compensation for health effects from living about a half mile from a wind turbine farm.
Globally, very few countries have limits on the infrasound and LFN levels caused by wind turbines. Neither the federal government or NY State have established limits on these emissions.
Currently, Denmark is the only country that has set and regulated limit values for infrasound and LFN waves to protect public health and safety.
The Hornell Sun asked if Baron Winds, LLC had any comment on the 23 complaints filed under Case No. 15-0122 on NYS DPS’s DMM website as well as if they planned on monitoring, regulating and setting limits on infrasound.
In a statement Baron Winds LLC told The Hornell Sun:
“The Baron Winds project will generate much-needed electricity for New York while bringing over $1.2 million every year in new tax revenue to Steuben County. Throughout our extensive planning and permitting process we have engaged with local leaders and residents to ensure the project is thoughtfully sited, minimizes any impact on the community, and is built and operated in compliance with New York State Department of Public Service Article 10.
Baron Winds has also conducted extensive sound and flicker analyses as part of the Article 10 process, and those documents are all publicly available. The project is in compliance with all testing requirements and regulations under Article 10 and will adhere to all state regulations and permit conditions throughout the lifetime of the project. We are committed to addressing any community concerns and encourage anyone experiencing issues to utilize our established hotline phone number or email. We have followed up with each of the individuals who have submitted complaints and are working to gather additional information and address their concerns, consistent with our protocol.”
The turbines were shut down back on January 14th for a few days with one Fremont woman posting on the Concerned Citizens of Rushford Facebook page sharing her headaches, dizziness and anxiety had subsided after day two of no turbine operation.
“I couldn’t believe how much better I felt.” Mary McManus also remarked. “We’re not paying any less for this green energy. It’s more like dirty electric.”
Tom Flansburg says Baron Winds LLC told him they are updating the aviation detection lighting system for airplane safety to eliminate shadow flicker from the constantly blinking lights. The new system’s red lights will turn on for a certain amount of time when a plane is detected nearby.
“Everybody seems to complain about the flashing lights all night which come through the curtains and into the walls.” he says. “I think the last thing they need to do to is bring by a plane for a final check.”
Still, Flansburg feels more regulations are needed to protect those affected by these wind farm projects that come to rural communities.
“I’ve worked in construction for over 30 years where there seems to be rules and regulations for everything. But when it comes to windmills, the same rules and regulations seem to be thrown out the window.” Flansburg shares.
Based on his experience he has some advice for anyone being approached with a lease agreement:
“People need to research the Good neighbor agreements. Most of them have a leaseholder nondisclosure. That’s a red flag really.”
Sonya Ellison is a seasoned Steuben County reporter based in Fremont NY. You can contact her anytime about this story or her next big scoop! ms.sonyann@gmail.com
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From The Baron Winds LLC Project: map of the wind farm area.
