Falmouth Took "Huge" Risks Gambled With Wind Turbines

Heather Harper: “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,”

Falmouth Town Meeting Members backed the wind turbine gamble. " A huge risk." The only problem was the gamble was a game of Three-card Monte a confidence game. Town Meeting was tricked into betting millions on wind turbines.

Town Meeting Members never saw all the cards "aka" the hidden letters, warnings, memos and documents.

The town hid the 2010 Vestas 110 decibel noise warning and the 2013 memo from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center the original noise tests for Falmouth Wind 1 had major acoustic noise mistakes. To make matters worse the federal government should never allowed a 6 million dollar stimulus loan on Falmouth Wind II until the town had Special Permit 240-166 as stated in the federal EPA waiver.

Credit: By Staff reports, The Cape Codder, www.wickedlocal.com 10 September 2010 ~~

“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,” observed Falmouth assistant town manager Heather Harper.

https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/09/11/brewster-officials-take-a-wind-turbine-tour/

Credit : Cape Cod Times Posted Apr. 6, 2013
Assistant Town Manager Heather Harper was assigned to manage the project in 2005 after the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative — now the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center — commissioned a financial analysis and feasibility study. The collaborative determined the wastewater treatment plant was suitable and safe for a 1.5-megawatt to 2.5-megawatt turbine.

http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20130406/NEWS/304060327

Commercial megawatt wind turbines were supposed to be the shining star of Governor Deval Patrick’s renewable energy program.

The Town of Falmouth used public funds to make large wagers on commercial wind turbines. Local officials gambled they had the knack for picking a winner.

Falmouth made the big bet for the sake of their future on two town owned Vestas V-82 commercial megawatt 1.65 wind turbines.

Falmouth officials today are aware losing and gambling go hand in hand, and using taxpayers’ dollars to bet on megawatt turbines is as irresponsible as it would be to “invest” those dollars at the blackjack table.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center convinced local government officials were that their betting system was sure to win.

Can’t the Town of Falmouth learn from its own mistakes ?

Falmouth gambled with public funds — funds that could have gone to legitimate public services.

This was poor economic stewardship. It’s a public taxpayer rip off, and it ought to end.

Hidden Documents :

Town knew about 110 decibels of noise 2010: August 3, 2010 Mr. Gerald Potamis- 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.

http://www.windaction.org/posts/41357-vestas-raises-concerns-about-turbine-noise-letter#.Ve9oyhFVikp

Town knew in 2013 about failed noise tests :

“Falmouth Wind 1 was one of the earliest municipally-owned megawatt scale wind turbines installed in Massachusetts. Even though the original MTC-commissioned feasibility study for Falmouth over-estimated the likely acoustic impact, that study did not include a detailed acoustic analysis based upon sampling of ambient acoustic conditions (as is our current, more rigorous practice) which might have identified a potential exceedance of the 10 decibel limit,” the memo reads.

https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/03/details-on-masscecs-april-2-memo-on-falmouth-turbines/