Falmouth Lied By Omission Wind Turbine Mediation

Town of Falmouth withheld Vestas noise warning letter from $ 139,000.00 Wind Turbine Negotiations

Lying by omission, otherwise known as exclusionary detailing, is lying by either omitting certain facts or by failing to correct a misconception.

The Town of Falmouth allowed taxpayers to spend $139,000.00 on mediation and withheld information from a process they agreed to.

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.

http://www.cbuilding.org/falmouthwind
The tasks of the WTOP are to:

• Clarify the range of potentially acceptable long-term options
• Identify the questions that would need to be answered about each of those options in order to evaluate their feasibility, costs, and benefits
• Determine legitimate methods for gaining answers to those questions
• Jointly review and interpret the data that comes back, and
• Evaluate the options based on the new information.

Email below from Stacie Smith, Consensus Building Institute the facilitator of the WTOP confirming the Town of Falmouth withheld the Vestas noise warning letter.

The Town of Falmouth owes taxpayers an explanation why they withheld the Vestas noise warning and allowing $139,000.00 be wasted on 24 meetings over one year.

The Town of Falmouth has always known the Vestas turbines installed were dangerously to loud per a 2005 noise study map.

The Town of Falmouth withheld the noise warning letter for five years from the public

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-----Original Message-----From: Stacie Smith <stacie@cbuilding.org>

To: Fnhaggerty <Fnhaggerty@aol.com>

Sent: Mon, Oct 6, 2014 10:54 amSubject:

Re: Falmouth Hurt Families & Knew About Wind Turbine Noise From Day One

Hi Frank,

I appreciate you bringing this to my attention - I also had not seen this letter before.

Can I ask that you remove the email addresses of all the other staff people at CBI from your distribution list? (not me, I would like to continue to receive your messages - just all the other cbuilding addresses - they had no involvement in this project).

Also, just for accuracy, you sent a message earlier saying that CBI was paid almost a million dollars for our assessment - in fact, it was under $139K, for an assessment; designing and convening the process; preparing for, traveling to, facilitating and documenting 24 meetings (including all expenses); and writing and revising a final report, over the course of 13 months. You can confirm this with MACEC.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Stacie
___________________
Stacie Nicole Smith
Senior Mediator, CBI

Director, Workable PeaceConsensus Building Institute
238 Main Street, Suite 400
Cambridge, MA 02142
(617) 844-1124
www.cbuilding.org

On Oct 6, 2014, at 8:59 am, Fnhaggerty@aol.com wrote:

Falmouth Massachusetts

Industrial Wind Action Group
Click on link to download file
http://www.windaction.org/posts/41357-vestas-raises-concerns-about-turbine-noise-letter#.VDCRCrlMvIU

- August 3, 2010
DocumentVestas raises concerns about turbine noise (Letter)

Bruce Mabbott Impact on People Noise Massachusetts

After noise complaints started coming in following the erection of WIND 1, the first Falmouth turbine at the wastewater treatment facility, Vestas required confirmation that the Town of Falmouth "understands they are fully responsible for the site selection of the turbine and bear all responsibilities to address any mitigation needs of the neighbors." WIND 2 would not be released to the town for erection until the letter was signed. The letter explaining the situation is provided below and can be accessed by selecting the link(s) on this page.

August 3, 2010
Mr. Gerald Potamis
WasteWater Superintendent
Town of Falmouth Public Works
59 Town Hall Square
Falmouth, MA 02540

RE: Falmouth WWTF Wind Energy Facility II "Wind II", Falmouth, MA
Contract No. #3297

Dear Mr. Potamis,

Due to the sound concerns regarding the first wind turbine installed at the wastewater treatment facility, the manufacturer of the turbines, Vestas, is keen for the Town of Falmouth to understand the possible noise and other risks associated with the installation of the second wind turbine.

The Town has previously been provided with the Octave Band Data / Sound performance for the V82 turbine. This shows that the turbine normally operates at 103.2dB but the manufacturer has also stated that it may produce up to 110dB under certain circumstances. These measurements are based on IEC standards for sound measurement which is calculated at a height of 10m above of the base of the turbine.

We understand that a sound study is being performed to determine what, if any, Impacts the second turbine will have to the nearest residences. Please be advised that should noise concerns arise with this turbine, the only option to mitigate normal operating sound from the V82 is to shut down the machine at certain wind speeds and directions. Naturally this would detrimentally affect power production.

The manufacturer also needs confirmation that the Town of Falmouth understands they are fully responsible for the site selection of the turbine and bear all responsibilities to address any mitigation needs of the neighbors.

Finally, the manufacturer has raised the possibility of ice throw concerns. Since Route 28 is relatively close to the turbine, precautions should be taken in weather that may cause icing.

To date on this project we have been unable to move forward with signing the contract with Vestas. The inability to release the turbine for shipment to the project site has caused significant [SIC] delays in our project schedule. In order to move forward the manufacturer requires your understanding and acknowledgement of these risks. We kindly request for this acknowledgement to be sent to us by August 4, 2010, as we have scheduled a coordination meeting with Vestas to discuss the project schedule and steps forward for completion of the project.

Please sign in the space provided below to indicate your understanding and acknowledgement of this letter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.


Sincerely,

(Bruce Mabbott's signature)
_______________________
Bruce Mabbott Gerald Potamis
Project Manager Town of Falmouth


CC: Sumul Shah, Lumus Construction, Inc.
(Town of Falmouth's Wind-1 and Wind-2 Construction contractor)

Stephen Wiehe, Weston & Sampson
(Town of Falmouth's contract engineers)

Brian Hopkins, Vestas
(Wind-1, Wind-2's turbine manufacturer, and also Webb/NOTUS turbine)