Wind turbines and tornadoes in Oklahoma–the precautionary principle

June 3, 2013

In risk communication, an overarching guiding framework is called the precautionary principle. If an activity appears likely to cause harm to humans and/or the environment, even in the absence of evidence to prove it, the decision should be to err on the side of precaution and avoid even the possibility of likely harm I guess no one was thinking about  that when theydecided to put wind turbines close enough to a school that one of the blades could fall off and land on the school. See the story here–listen for a bit to get to the wind turbine event:   http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/deadly-tornadoes-strike-oklahoma-19306599

If there is a place where wind blows enough to generate energy from wind turbines, perhaps it is tornado alley. I don’t know. I haven’t reviewed those stats. But several things are certain. Wind turbines are huge. They come in different sizes but on average, 3 blades weigh about 40 tons, so one blade weighs 13 plus tons–26,000 and some pounds. Yikes.

Wind turbines are manmade. They have a lifespan. Even in the best situation, a blade will come off eventually. So why on earth would someone place a turbine near enough to a school that a falling blade could land on it. Were they counting on children being out of school at the time? It is this type of risk decision-making that requires some precaution.

Author: Roxanne

I have always loved to learn. After years of trying to pick a major as an undergraduate, I met a professor who guided me to graduate school. And from graduate school, I learned that I could always go to school and keep on learning. And so I have... View all posts by Roxanne