BCCRWE Calls for Dismissal of Health Director Chua Xiong’s Determination Concerning Shirley Wind
On 10-14-14 the Brown County Board of Health declared the 2.5 MW wind turbines at Duke Energy’s Shirley Wind project in Brown County, Wisconsin, to be a “human health hazard”. That declaration was based on the Board of Health’s five years of experience, research, and review of the evidence. On 12-15-15, Chua Xiong, now-resigned director of the Brown County Health Department (a separate entity from the Board of Health) declared that the Shirley Wind turbines are not a human health hazard. That declaration came after being in her new position as Health Director for only ten months, and after she conducted an extremely exclusionary review of the evidence and research submitted to her.
Shirley Wind has received global attention, and as such, Chua Xiong’s determination has global health consequences. Wind energy proponents are already using, and will continue to use, Chua Xiong’s determination to justify the permitting of more irresponsibly sited wind projects like Shirley Wind. Health Director Xiong’s misguided determination will be responsible for widespread harm to public health if not challenged and ultimately dismissed as lacking validity.
Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy (BCCRWE) has produced a document (click here to download it) for the purpose of providing evidence that demonstrates that Chua Xiong’s conclusion regarding wind turbines and health concerns lacks validity and that her conclusion was based on a very flawed process by which submitted evidence was selectively reviewed and inconsistently weighed, or ignored altogether. The document demonstrates that Xiong’s evidence-review process was fraught with a multitude of failures of due diligence and that her resulting conclusion is without merit.
This document was presented on May 18, 2016, to the Brown County Board of Supervisors, along with the following formal request for action by the Board. A decision is anticipated within the next several weeks:
“BCCRWE formally requests that the Brown County Board of Supervisors review the facts presented and take the necessary steps to have former Health Director Chua Xiong’s determination regarding Shirley Wind officially dismissed, and to take action to protect the health of adversely affected Shirley Wind residents.”
BCCRWE is requesting that you, the reader, participate in this effort. If, after reading BCCRWE’s document, you agree that the evidence presented demonstrates that former Health Director Chua Xiong failed to carry out her due diligence, and that her determination was based on a very flawed process and needs to be officially dismissed, please share your thoughts via email with the following Brown County officials. Please also ask these officials to share your email with their fellow board or committee members:
- Troy Streckenbach, County Executive (top county official who will hire the new Health Director, now that Chua Xiong has resigned): streckenbach_tj@co.brown.wi.us
- Patrick Moynihan, Chairman, Brown County Board of Supervisors: moynihan_pw@co.brown.wi.us
- Eric Hoyer, Chairman, Brown County Human Services Committee (the committee that the Health Director reports to): hoyer_ew@co.brown.wi.us
- Dr. Jay Tibbetts, Chairman, Brown County Board of Health (the Board that declared the Shirley Wind turbines a "human health hazard"): jaytibbetts@att.net