Falmouth Massachusetts Article 15 Wind Turbine Testing

Article 15 lacks a definition of the amount of time that equals "only temporary access." The wind company was previously given a significant amount of time to test by the Select Board.

Article 15 references "siting facilities" which could mean a noisy high voltage direct current electric substation to change high voltage direct current power into high voltage alternating current. The power electric substation is six acres or more.
Note: Sulfur hexafluoride - SF6 gas is used to insulate certain high-voltage electrical equipment called gas-insulated switchgear (GIS). SF6 is a strong greenhouse gas (GHG), with a global warming effect nearly 24,000 times greater than carbon dioxide. Companies and municipalities that own, lease, operate or control gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) that contains SF6 and is located in Massachusetts are required to comply with 310 CMR 7.72.

Article 15 leaves out reference to abiding by town zoning bylaws including the wind turbine bylaw 240-166. The wind turbine bylaw regulates all aspects of wind turbines including electric transmission cables and noise from power plants or electric substations in town. If the article is passed as written at a later date could be interpreted to bypass current town bylaws.

Early in 2020 the Falmouth Town Manager, Select Board, and as of July 14, 2020 minutes show the Falmouth Energy Committee had contacts from the offshore wind company. The total meetings were ongoing for the last three years.

The Falmouth Conservation Commission in October 2020 and then Falmouth Select Board in November 2020 approved a temporary right-to-entry agreement with the ocean wind company allowing for soil samples and drilling tests to be conducted. The temporary agreements have expired after two years.

The ocean wind company informally plans to build an approximate six-acre HVDC electric transformer site and place HVDC power cables in the megawatt range of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant output buried through the residential streets of Falmouth.

The wind company has asked the state to bypass Falmouth Wind Turbine Bylaw 240-166 which was approved by Falmouth Town Meeting and Massachusetts Attorney General. Bylaws are for health and safety.

No public committees were appointed and no public meetings were held with Falmouth citizens until June 8, 2022, The Falmouth Select Board held a meeting at the Lawrence School with the offshore wind company and the citizens of Falmouth. The audience of over 200 was overwhelmingly against the project.

At the June 2022 meeting, the wind company announced it was changing all the plans and studies in the past two years and said residents would get their questions answered soon. To date, the offshore wind company put all its plans on hold at the Massachusetts Energy Facility Siting Board and Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. The questions remain unanswered. The company appears to be changing cables from HVAC, high voltage alternating current to HVDC, high voltage direct current. No formal plans have been introduced.

There are no health or peer-reviewed studies in the United States for buried underground HVDC, high voltage direct current cables in relationship to residential communities. Researchers have failed to document the public health impacts of HVDC transmission because it's not used in the United States. Falmouth residents would become pioneers again after the removal of the two town-owned wind turbines was determined a nuisance by the Massachusetts Superior Court.

The Falmouth Select Board which is the chief policy-making body of the town on December 19, 2022, voted 4 to 1 not to allow the wind company access to town property to study landfall sites for offshore electric cables.

There are alternative onshore sites such as the Pilgrim Power Plant or placing ocean submarine cables to the cities where most of the power would be used.

Bypassing the Town of Falmouth would not deter the state of Massachusetts from achieving "net zero" emissions by 2050.

Falmouth is a heavily congested residential oceanfront community and vacation destination along with a large boating community. The electric cables and electric substations are industrial projects.

A group of Falmouth citizens opposed to the Select Board vote of 4 to 1 is offering Article 15 at Falmouth Town Meeting to bypass the vote of the chief policy-making board of the Town of Falmouth.

The Falmouth Select Board will vote on article 15 Monday, February 27, 2023, prior to Town Meeting.