Falmouth 2.5 Million Later Embarrassing Wind Turbines Remain

The Massachusetts court system through as many as eleven lawsuits in June of 2017 shut down the 110-decibel each wind turbines that the town knowingly took health and property rights.

Estimates to tear-down cost of a single old Vestas gear-driven wind turbine 400 feet above the ground are around $200,000.00

November 2019, Falmouth Town Meeting voted ten times the amount to take down the turbines 2.5 million dollars.

Falmouth town administration planned since 2017 to issue a request for proposal, RFP, related to the town’s two wind turbines at the wastewater treatment plant site.

As of 2020 four years later, there is no RFP : Request For Proposal Was A Stall Tactic

The Falmouth Town Manager and Select Board members warned Town Meeting if they did not vote the 2.5 million the town would have to pay back the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust for the original grant for Wind 2, the remaining amount of approximately $3.5 plus 2 percent interest.

According to the Federal EPA waiver to buy the foreign-made wind turbine II in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection project regulatory agreement the state used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds specifically designated for only Green Energy and Wastewater Treatment Plants.

The MassDEP project regulatory agreement is a power production agreement requiring Wind 2 to be operated as an energy-efficiency project. The loan is overdue.

The town has dragged its feet for years not paying back 3.5 million plus 2 percent interest and has used the ARRA stimulus money for other projects that have nothing to do with the environment. The money was supposed to go back to the State Revolving Fund where it revolves back to other Green projects. Massachusetts gets an "F" for corruption on Beacon Hill.

Falmouth Town Meeting meets twice a year in which case for years every six months the town administration asked for hundreds of thousands of dollars for litigation that was supposed to be a "slam dunk." The town has a warning letter prior to the construction of the wind turbines from the manufacturer each turbine generates 110 decibels of noise. There was no way the town could win any lawsuit.

The legal fees, meetings and neighbors litigation cost exceed the wind turbine original purchase price of 2.6 million each.

Building Commissioner Rod Palmer issued an order to dismantle and remove Wind 1 from its current location in December 2017. In January (2019) , selectmen voted not to relocate either wind turbines within the town. Why the stall?

So what is the 2.5 million for if it only cost $200,000.00 to get a crane and takedown each wind turbine?

The town has been paying the same engineering firm that installed the wind turbines in 2010 and 2012 and they are certainly in no rush to kill the cash cow.

We know with certainty the life span of old gear-driven wind turbines is 20 years if you're lucky. These turbines need gearbox replacements at 5 years and blade replacement at 10 years. It's cheaper to buy a brand new direct-drive state of the art larger turbine.

Falmouth taxpayers forget the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center put these Vestas turbines out for auction in 2008 and no one bid on them. The MassCEC had to give Falmouth one million in advance just to take one Vestas turbine.

Who in their right mind 12 years later want these dinosaurs in their town.

The town needs one million dollars each to get someone to take them off their hands.

Massachusetts Clean Water Trust & Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection ARRA Funds Used To Danger Public Health & Safety

Massachusetts: Corruption In The State Revolving Funds