Falmouth Wind Turbine Legal Decision As Soon As 10 Days Away

Board of Selectmen Meeting Monday, July 10, 2017, Selectmen's Meeting Room 7:00 PM

Select Board members: Douglas C. Brown, Megan English Braga -Vice Chairman, Samuel H. Patterson, Susan L. Moran-Chairman, Doug Jones, Town Manager Julian M. Suso and Assistant Town Manager Peter Johnson-Staub

Between 2010 and 2012 the Town of Falmouth installed two Vestas V-82 commercial 1.65-megawatt wind turbines each generating 110 decibels of noise equal to a hard rock band playing 24/7. The neighbors to the turbines started to complain as soon as Falmouth Wind I began to spin.

In November of 2010 Falmouth Town Employee Acting Town Manager and manager of Falmouth Wind I Heather Harper told Brewster officials: "We took on a huge risk and I think we were successful but we’re a large community and I think we can take on that risk.”

The acting Town Manager, Heather Harper was employed under the Falmouth Town Charter and was implementing the goals and carrying out the policies of the Board of Selectmen. The statement makes clear the acting town manager and select board were aware of the risk and in addition had information that later showed exactly how big of a risk to health and financial well-being of the town. Much of the information was released through, FOIA, Freedom of Information Act requests after the town-wide vote in 2013 to take down the wind turbines.

In 2012 the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center financed $139,0000.00 worth of negotiations for one year between the town and the wind turbine neighbors. The purpose of the Falmouth Wind Turbine Option Analysis Process (WTOP) is to engage in an open, transparent, and collaborative exploration of the range of options for the long-term future of the Town’s two Wind Turbines – Wind I and Wind II. The neighbors went through a year on negotiations.

It is also worth noting here that all the one year of WTOP -CBI meetings between the town and neighbors were shown to the public on local TV. The public has never been told September 12, 2012, video that discussed the Falmouth 5 million dollar ARRA stimulus loan was "lost " and never shown to the public. Why was the public never told the videotape was "lost" and never shown to the public.Doesn't leaving out information edit all the other information?

Stacie Smith from the Consensus Building Institute was facilitator of the negotiations. The Town of Falmouth withheld a Vestas warning letter from August of 2010 that the turbines generate 110 decibels of noise. The town has shown it has never been open and transparent in any negotiations.

Today through FOIA, Freedom of Information Act requests and court action by the neighbors the warning letter, emails, maps and a memo from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in 2013 all show the turbines should never have been built.

General Electric a domestic wind turbine company refused to build a single wind turbine because of ice throw and residential setbacks. The Town of Falmouth went forward buying a second foreign made wind turbine, Falmouth Wind II, borrowing 5 million in ARRA stimulus funds. The town got a federal EPA waiver in which stated a Special Permit was required to build the turbine. The town never went through the Special Permit process despite the 2005 KEMA Inc report that stated a Special Permit is required.

The 5 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act loan through the Massachusetts Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds for Falmouth Wind II should never have been granted in the first place.Today in 2017 no one knows if the 5 million is a grant or a loan it's a tough question?

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center provided the town with one million in advance to buy the turbines and later renegotiated the renewable energy contracts for an additional 1.8 million. The Town of Falmouth through Falmouth Town Meeting is spending up to $300,000.00 every six months on wind turbine litigation.

The current Falmouth Select Board want to negotiate with the neighbors after two Massachusetts Superior Court judges have shut down both wind turbines as they are a nuisance. The Select Board has not included the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in the negotiations with the neighbors ?

On November 7, 2013 Barnstable Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse agreed with a compromise from the town and neighbors in a verbal agreement.One week later the Falmouth Select Board refused to honor the agreement because the town said the representatives ( town attorney and Selectboard member) didn't have the authority to make the agreement and it was not in writing. The Falmouth Select Board reneged on the agreement. Keep in mind the neighbors spent one year negotiating with the town in 2012 and now one year later the town pulls the rug out from under them again. The town wants to negotiate?

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in April of 2013 in a memo to the Town of Falmouth admitted there were " mistakes" in the original acoustic noise predictions. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center was the original owner of Falmouth Wind I and had all the documentation including the decibel specifications. In May of 2013, Nils Bolgen the wind turbine program manager at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center changed setbacks to megawatt wind turbines to 2000 feet after the Falmouth fiasco.

The Cape Cod Commission ultimately changed their model wind turbine setbacks to 10 times the rotor diameter which would require around 3000 feet to residential homes for the Falmouth turbines.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative now the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in 2005 warned of two distinct types of noise from wind turbines. Those are noise measured in "decibels" and "human annoyance" aka infrasound. The warnings were dropped from the Falmouth preliminary studies. The 2005 KEMA Inc study for Falmouth did say around 99 residential homes could be affected by wind turbine noise. There is no acoustic noise study for Falmouth Wind II or both turbines operating together.

The citizens of Falmouth need to call or talk to the Select Board Members and ask why the 110 decibel Vestas warning letter was never made public?

The Select Board should be aware that the KEMA Inc map from 2005 five years before the installations showed noise levels above 50 decibels on Black Smith Shop Road why was this overlooked?

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has notified the town the wind turbines are out of state noise compliance regulations.

In May of 2013 in a town-wide election, Falmouth voters were asked to take down the wind turbines. The town at that time had the warning letter, emails, maps and the April 2013 memo from the MassCEC about "mistakes" in acoustic noise mistakes. Why did town officials withhold all negative documents from the voting public?

The Falmouth Select Board should not be negotiating with neighbors but with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to take the turbines down and pay off the balance of any outstanding loans.

Did the Town of Falmouth withhold a 110 decibel noise warning letter from the Falmouth Wind Turbine Option Analysis Process (WTOP) which was to engage in an open, transparent, and collaborative exploration of the range of options for the wind turbines and did the town withhold this information and additional documents from the 2013 town-wide election to take down the turbines ?

Filing Special Permit 240-166 as suggested by the 2005 KEMA Inc study to install the wind turbines would have required additional notifications to the wind turbine neighbors and additional studies done by the Falmouth Zoning Board. The neighbors never got the additional notifications required by the Special Permit process.

The Falmouth Special Permit process would never have allowed the building of the turbines.

Falmouth citizens need to demand answers. If you don't think this is the truth go to a meeting, call or email the Select Board.

Falmouth Select Board email: selectmen@falmouthmass.us

Phone: 508-495-7320