Falmouth Wind Turbine 5M Federal ARRA Loan/Grant Scandal

The Town of Falmouth installed two Vestas V-82 type megawatt wind turbines each generating 110 decibels of noise. Falmouth Wind I complete in 2010 and Falmouth Wind II complete in 2012.

The Town of Falmouth received notification in August of 2010 from Vestas reminding the town they, the town, had previously been warned the turbines each generate 110 decibels of noise.

The town received $5 million in State Reserve Fund loans for the Wind turbine II project. The money was allocated by the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The ARRA federal funds can not be used if they create a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the implementation or use of ARRA recovery funds.

The Town of Falmouth also had a study done in 2005 by KEMA Inc that a 103 decibel General Electric domestic wind turbine would break state noise guidelines. Subsequently, GE a United States company refused to build a single wind turbine because of ice throw and residential setbacks. The KEMA Inc. noise map in that study shows any megawatt turbine is too loud for the surrounding 200 homes.

The award term and condition implements Section 1605 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) requires that all iron, steel, and other manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States unless the product is not available domestically. In that case, a federal waiver is required to purchase a foreign made wind turbine.

The Town of Falmouth received noise complaints as soon as the first foreign made Vestas wind turbine, Falmouth Wind I, began to spin in 2010. Documentation of noise maps from 2005, emails, memos and an August 2010 letter show the noise was well known.

# A single Vestas 110 decibel wind turbine on the decibel scale is twice as loud as a single 103 decibel General Electric wind turbine

To build the second wind turbine Falmouth Wind II the town filed a federal waiver to borrow 5 million in federal ARRA funds. In that waiver, the town states there is no domestic wind company that would provide a megawatt wind turbine. The town left out the fact General Electric the domestic wind turbine company had access to the 2005 KEMA INC noise map and refused to build because of residential setbacks and ice thrown.

The town had no noise map or projection of what the addition of a second wind turbine, Falmouth Wind II, would have on the surrounding 200 homes.

In the federal waiver, the town mentioned that Special Permit 240-166 would be filed to install Falmouth Wind II. No Special Permit was ever filed and no noise map predictions were ever made of two 110 decibel Vestas wind turbines operating at the same time.

Massachusetts officials have been warned and advised by outside legal counsel that Wind II is subject to specific provisions of ARRA and applicable federal regulations and guidelines ("Federal Law") in addition to the terms and conditions of the Project Regulatory Agreement ("PRA") and the Loan Agreement associated with the funding of Wind 11.

Under Federal Law and the PRA and Loan Agreement, the Town must maintain Wind II as an "energy efficient" project, as described in EPA guidelines dated March 2, 2009, in order to benefit from the financial subsidy provided by the Trust under ARRA and the Trust's Clean Water State Revolving Fund program.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty agreed with the Falmouth Zoning Board issued the order to shut down Falmouth's Wind 1 and Wind 2 on June 21, 2017. The Falmouth Zoning Board determined the turbines are a nuisance.

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