Falmouth Select Board Executive Session Wind Turbine Meeting June 26, 2017 - 6 PM

TOWN OF FALMOUTH BOARD OF SELECTMEN

Julian M. Suso Town Manager Phone: 508-495-7320

Select Board : Phone : 508-495-7320

MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017 – 6:00 P.M.

SELECTMEN’S MEETING ROOM
6:00 p.m. OPEN SESSION 6:00 p.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION
1. M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 21(a)(3) Wind turbine litigation – discuss Sup. Ct. decisions in Town of

Falmouth v. Falmouth ZBA and Funfar, Funfar v. Falmouth ZBA and related cases
OPEN SESSION

1. Open session discussion of executive session business, at discretion of the Board

Falmouth Select Board members:
Susan L. Moran, Chairman, Megan English Braga, Vice Chairman, Doug Jones, Samuel H. Patterson and Douglas C. Brown.

In 2010 Falmouth wind turbine manager and assistant town manager Heather Harper told a group of 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,”

Today under the most recent court-ordered operating schedule, the two municipal wind turbines are no longer operating and not paying for themselves. The prediction was made at Falmouth Town Meeting years ago.

The second turbine to be shut down recently by the courts erected in 2011, known as Wind 2, was funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, through the Massachusetts State Revolving Fund for water pollution abatement projects.

There are still questions how an EPA waiver was granted to buy a foreign made wind turbine after General Electric a domestic company refused to build even a single turbine.The federal EPA waiver also referenced a special permit needed to build Falmouth Wind II.

According to a former assistant town manager, the town is required to repay the 5 million dollar grant if Falmouth Wind II ceases operation.

The Town of Falmouth was denied a special permit from the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals to keep the turbines spinning after the Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled that the town had needed a special permit before erecting Wind 1.

In 2013 the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center augmented the operational costs of the turbines with 1.8 million renewable energy certificates (RECS) prepayment or what was a restructuring of the original agreement. The MassCEC also granted $500,000 to be placed in the turbines reserve account for unplanned failures.

Also in 2013 a Barnstable Superior Court order that stated the turbines were a nuisance to neighbors, who maintain the turbines produce ill health effects.

The turbines generate power to run the wastewater plant which was supposed to save the town $120,000 per year. The costs of outside law firms to defend multiple lawsuits has far exceeded any savings for the future.

Please note # on November 15, 2016 Town Attorney Frank Duffy on local TV during Falmouth Town Meeting.

See Article 18 request for $ 440,000.00 for litigation at 23 to 27-minute mark-- $ 260,000.00 for wind turbines.

Will the town prevail on wind turbine lawsuits? Town Meeting is approving up to $300,000.00 every six months for wind turbine litigation and the turbines today are shut down.

Falmouth Local Community TV -- 23 to 27-minute mark - Courts holding up wind turbine litigation
http://www.fctv.org/v3/vod/town-meeting-fall-2016-night-two-111516
Article 18 -- Nov 15, 2016 --$260,000.00 more for wind turbine litigation

June 2017 : The Massachusetts Superior Court has shut down both turbines.

There are two more lawsuits scheduled in September of 2017 and multiple lawsuits still to be scheduled by the Massachusetts trial courts

Time to stop the insanity! Make the call ....

Julian M. Suso Town Manager Phone: 508-495-7320 email : townmanager@falmouthmass.us

Select Board : Phone : 508-495-7320 email : selectmen@falmouthmass.us