Falmouth Wind Host Community Agreement Value 30 Pieces of Silver

According to the Town website February 23, 2023, the Select Board directed Town staff members to work with legal counsel and a consulting engineer, selected by the Town, to evaluate the impact of the proposed project within Town borders. Town staff has an ongoing dialog with the offshore wind company representatives to understand and evaluate the proposal. The Town is evaluating the proposed landfall locations of between 400 and 800 megawatts of electric cables and the high voltage direct current electric substation up to six acres.

The town website shows staff members are members of every board in Falmouth.

The offshore wind company has asked the state of Massachusetts to bypass Falmouth Bylaws. If the state allows the offshore wind company to bypass Falmouth town bylaws the Select Board is negotiating a Host Community Agreement, HCA, from behind the eight ball.

Falmouth’s Wind Energy Systems Zoning Bylaw 240-166 is very defining It defines the Wind Energy System’s components in Falmouth to be subject to provisions of this local bylaw. It absolutely captures offshore wind projects. The wind turbine bylaw was involved in as many as eleven lawsuits over the nuisance of the two town-owned wind turbines removed in 2022.

The town bylaws enacted by Town Meetings are for health and safety to assure that town residents and resources will be allowed legal land use protection.

The Host Community Agreement in other towns is around one million a year for 20 years or less than one percent of the Falmouth town budget each year.

These “host agreements” usually require the town to waive the right to contest the companies in court or sue for damages at any future date and bypass local zoning regulations as they are partners in the Host Community Agreement.

Critically, the Falmouth Host Community Agreement negotiations for three years have transpired behind closed doors. The only public meeting was on June 8, 2022.

Town Meeting Members need to ask if it's worth less than one percent of the town budget for twenty-five years to waive all the town rights and bypass zoning regulations to partner with an offshore limited liability corporation.

Why sell a residential vacation and boating destination for thirty pieces of silver?

The phrase “30 pieces of silver” is a proverb in many languages. It refers to a group or individuals who have without knowing the real values sold out for almost nothing in exchange for what they think is an important cause.