Photo: AFP Contributor/AFP/Getty Images President Trump has long despised wind power. He has repeatedly blamed wind turbines for killing birds (which they do at a lower rate than other energy sources) and for allegedly causing electrical power to halt when the wind stops blowing (in fact, electricity grids using mixed power sources and battery storage have solved this problem). In a speech tonight to House Republicans, Trump claimed that wind turbines cause cancer. “They say the noise causes cancer,” the president of the United States asserted. Wind turbines do not cause cancer. Some people blame the noise for causing a variety of other health ailments, but these charges have zero scientific validity. Cancer is not caused by noises of any kind. A power source that does cause many health problems, including cancer, is coal, an extremely dirty fuel Trump loves and has attempted to bolster, with almost no success. Aside from costing more to produce than other sources of power, and in addition to enormous air pollution side effects, coal also emits greenhouse gases in large amounts. Though this, of course, is another aspect of science Trump rejects. In the same speech, Trump urged his fellow Republicans, “Hey, you gotta be a little bit more paranoid than you are. We have to be a little bit careful, because I don’t like the way the votes are being tallied.” Trump subscribes to wild fears over systematic Democratic voter fraud, a belief — like climate-science skepticism — that is extremely common inside his party. The Republican affinity for kook pseudoscientific claims helps explain why his allies didn’t run screaming from the room in existential terror when they heard the most powerful person in the world assert that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer. “Wind turbine noise causes cancer,” the assembled members of Congress immediately intuited; it is simply another completely insane notion that Republicans are now expected either to promote or to quietly tolerate. “Someone’s gonna leak this whole damn speech to the media,” Trump worried aloud. It was a valid fear, given that reporters were in the room and C-SPAN cameras were covering the speech live.<doc-sep>In April 2012, he tweeted a story in which an epidemiologist testified before a county zoning board in Illinois, arguing that “people who live up to 2 miles away from the turbines develop such things as sleep, stress and mood disorders once wind farms go up.” That story was featured on an anti-wind-energy site that, at another point, argued that people working in the wind industry had been subjected to “numerous serious illnesses and, yes, many deaths, mainly from unusual cancers.” Perhaps needless to say, this is not grounded in any robust evidence. Any negative effects, in fact, appear to be psychosomatic.<doc-sep>President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE on Tuesday stepped up his attacks against wind power, claiming that the structures decrease property values and that the noise they emit causes cancer. “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer,” the president said while delivering remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual spring dinner. He offered no evidence to support the claim. ADVERTISEMENT The president also said wind turbines are a "graveyard for birds." “If you love birds, you never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a sad, sad sight," he said, though the Department of Energy has noted that bird deaths from the structures are rare. Yes, Trump did just say windmill noise causes cancer https://t.co/QyvLMXjIfk pic.twitter.com/eFeAV9C0s9 — Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 3, 2019 Trump was making the comments while talking about his 2016 presidential opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillary Clinton takes on conspiracy theories on Borat special Top general: Russia, China will look to expand influence in Middle East as US pulls back We have a chance to halt climate change if we stop destroying carbon sinks and cut methane MORE, who had proposed investing in wind power to lower carbon emissions. Trump has previously voiced his disapproval of wind power. He said at a rally in Michigan last month that wind power doesn't work because the wind doesn't always blow. "If it doesn't blow, you can forget about television for that night," Trump said. " 'Darling, I want to watch television.' 'I'm sorry! The wind isn't blowing.' I know a lot about wind," he added.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump is a climate change denier and renewable energy hater. That much has been clear for a long time. But during a speech on Tuesday evening, he took the flawed arguments he’s been making against wind energy to new levels of absurdity. Addressing the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Trump claimed that sounds made by wind turbines cause cancer. “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value,” Trump said. “And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, okay? Rerrrr rerrrr!” TRUMP during NRCC speech: "If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, okay? Rerrrr rerrrr!" pic.twitter.com/lYmx84Yxk1 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 3, 2019 There is no evidence, however, that any sort of sound — including the low-frequency ones emitted by wind turbines — causes cancer. After all, as Philip Jaekl wrote in the Atlantic in 2017, if it were the case that wind turbine sounds could cause cancer, you’d expect evidence of the connection to emerge among residents of countries that have lots of them, like Denmark. But it hasn’t. From Jaekl’s piece: [I]nfrasound from wind turbines is no different than infrasound caused by other harmless, common sources. “Everyone is surrounded by infrasound every day. It’s emitted by natural sources like the surf, storms, wind itself, our own heartbeat and respiration. We also are exposed to it in cars, from ceiling fans, motors, and urban noise,” says Simon Chapman, a professor emeritus at the University of Sydney. “If wind turbines were harmful to nearby residents, entire cities and small nations would be stricken across much of Europe, where we see the highest density. Copenhagen is surrounded by turbines but my Danish colleagues are not seeing queues of sick people.” While there is no evidence that wind turbines cause cancer, chemicals and particulates emitted during the processes of extracting and burning fossil fuels have been linked with numerous health ailments, including cancer. Trump’s claim that windmills drastically decrease property values is also false. As CNN detailed in a recent fact-check of Trump’s comments about wind energy, “[w]hile some properties can see a decrease in value when turbines are planned and constructed nearby, several major academic studies found no statistically significant decrease in the average property value due to wind turbines in the US.” Trump has a long history of making bogus arguments about wind turbines Tuesday evening was far from the first time Trump has pushed misinformation about wind energy. During a speech in Michigan last week, he decried that the unreliability of wind means it’s impossible to watch TV on evenings where the wind isn’t blowing. “If Hillary got in … you’d be doing wind,” Trump said. “Windmills. Weeeee. And if it doesn’t blow, you can forget about television for that night. ‘Darling, I want to watch television.’ ‘I’m sorry! The wind isn’t blowing.’ I know a lot about wind.” TRUMP: "If Hillary got in... you'd be doing wind. Windmills. Weeeee. And if it doesn't blow, you can forget about television for that night. 'Darling, I want to watch television.' 'I'm sorry! The wind isn't blowing.' I know a lot about wind." pic.twitter.com/tGsUIoUmUQ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 29, 2019 Trump’s comments betrayed ignorance of how batteries work and of the idea that wind is just one part of a broader renewable energy system. Asked about Trump’s remarks, Michael Mann, a professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, told Newsweek they amounted to “malicious ignorance.” “The truth is that a combination of wind, solar and other renewables, along with battery and smart grid technology, can provide continuous and abundant electricity,” Mann said. During previous speeches, Trump has baselessly suggested wind turbines make easy targets for terrorists, and claimed they are especially dangerous for birds. In fact, fossil fuel power plants lead to far more bird deaths than wind turbines. Trump’s NRCC speech — one in which he also pushed baseless claims about Democratic voter fraud — came at the end of a day in which he seemed to have a particularly tough time with basic facts, even by his standards. During an Oval Office event with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday afternoon, Trump falsely claimed his father was born in Germany, and later seemed to have a hard time speaking. Along similar lines, he fretted aloud to his NRCC audience about the possibility that “someone’s gonna leak this whole damn speech to the media” — despite the fact it was being recorded for television broadcast by C-SPAN and other outlets. The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump raised eyebrows with a series of wild claims about wind turbines at a Republican fundraiser in Washington, DC. The president cited a long-discredited theory that says the renewable-energy source causes cancer. He went on to assert that wind turbines are responsible for the deaths of birds. Trump has a history with wind turbines. He campaigned furiously against a wind farm being built near his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, but ultimately lost. President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched his latest wild attack on wind turbines, an energy source that has long attracted his ire. "They say the noise causes cancer,” the president said of the turbines at the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser in Washington, DC. Trump linked the technology to his former presidential rival Hillary Clinton, saying she “wanted to put up wind.” “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations your house just went down 75% in value. And they say the noise causes cancer, you tell me that one, OK?" Trump said, imitating the whirring noise made by the turbines. He went on to express concern for the effect of turbines on wild-bird populations. “The thing makes so much noise, and, of course, it’s like a graveyard for birds. If you loved birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill again,” Trump said. Scientists have long rejected the decades-old claims of those who say that wind turbines cause a variety of illnesses, including cancer. Simon Chapman, a professor in public health at the University of Sydney in Australia, in a 2012 article reviewed stories of people who had illnesses they blamed on turbines. He suggested that the illnesses — which were real — were not attributable to the turbines but instead were “psychogenic,” which means they were caused by anxiety and unrest. In February 2019, Trump lost a legal battle with the Scottish government over a wind farm near his golf course. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images It is true that many birds are killed by flying into wind turbines. However, far more are killed by flying into cellphone and radio towers, or by being mauled to death by cats. In February, Trump lost a long-running legal battle with the Scottish government over a wind farm near one of his golf courses. Before the 2016 US presidential election, he launched the battle over an offshore farm near his golf course in Aberdeenshire in northwest Scotland. He lost and had to pay legal bills for himself and the Scottish government. Last week, Trump attacked wind power at a rally in Michigan, saying that if the wind doesn't blow, televisions and other electronic devices will lose power. In fact, turbines can store the energy to be used in times of calm.