Falmouth Wind Turbine II Email Shows US EPA Waiver NG

Falmouth Wind Turbine II Email Shows Bogus EPA Waiver

US EPA ARRA Waiver created a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety

April 2005 - Noise study for GE turbine & Special Permit

The Town of Falmouth in 2005 has a study done by KEMA Inc to install a single General Electric megawatt wind turbine. The study warns that noise considerations should be taken into account for up to 99 homes because of the type of terrain in the area. The study also states a town Special Permit 240-166 is required to place a wind turbine.

General Electric a domestic wind turbine company refused to build a single wind turbine due to residential setbacks and ice throw.

Early 2008 to 2009 construction of the first Vestas turbine

The Town of Falmouth purchased a single Vestas V-82 type 1.65 megawatt foreign-made wind turbine that started construction in 2009 and was completed in March 2010. Vestas warned officials at that time the turbine generates 110 decibels of noise. On the decibel scale, this is twice as loud as the General Electric wind turbine. The town had no noise study for a 110-decibel wind turbine and did not file Special Permit 240-166 to place the single wind turbine.

Within days of the completion of the single town-owned wind turbine known as Falmouth wind turbine number one, Falmouth Wind I, hundreds of written certified noise complaints were made to Falmouth officials.

June 2009 Falmouth Special Town Meeting second Vestas turbine

In June of 2009 Falmouth Town Meeting Members in a rare summer, Special Town Meeting voted to accept 5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds brokered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust clean water and drinking water state revolving funds to build the second town-owned turbine Falmouth wind turbine number two, Falmouth Wind II. Aka the MassDEP project regulatory agreement, the turbine has to remain an energy-efficient project using ARRA funds or pay back the money plus two percent interest.

The ARRA loan agreement for Falmouth Wind II requires that it remain energy efficient or the balance of the loan is due at 2 percent.

The five million dollar ARRA stimulus funds for the second Falmouth turbine, an identical Vestas V-82 foreign-made wind turbine were dependant on the US Environmental Protection Agency providing a waiver to bypass the Buy American requirement to purchase a domestic made wind turbine. ARRA funds also can not be used if they create a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the implementation or use of covered funds which is exactly what happened.

April 2010 US EPA Waiver Approval

The US Environmental Protection Agency through an application process by April 19, 2010, had granted a waiver of the Buy America requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the authority of Section 1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality] to the Town of Falmouth, Massachusetts for the purchase of the second town-owned foreign-manufactured Vestas V-82 wind turbine to be installed at its existing wastewater treatment facility site.

May 2010 Email No sound study one month after EPA waiver approval:

In an email Brian Hopkins of Vestas the manufacturer of the Falmouth wind turbines asks Stephen Wiehe and others, carbon copied, do you have the decibel mapping for Falmouth. In the email, Brian states the Vestas V82 turbine ( Falmouth Wind 1 & 2 ) produces greater decibels beyond the International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC standards

The conclusion from the email is there is no decibel map of Falmouth Wind Turbine ll and no decibel map of Falmouth Wind I and II operating together. To date, no one has ever produced a decibel map of Falmouth Wind II prior to its installation or working with Falmouth wind turbine number one.

August 2010 Warning letter four months after EPA waiver approval:

Vestas sends a letter to the Town of Falmouth reiterating that the town had been warned with the first turbine Falmouth Wind I that the turbines generate 110 decibels each: "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."

April 2013 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center memo

A memo written by Massachusetts Clean Energy Staff and approved by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Board of Directors sent to the Town of Falmouth in April of 2013 admits the original commissioned feasibility study for one wind turbine underestimated the acoustic impact around the Falmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant. In 2013 this Massachusetts state agency admits each of the turbines installed is too loud.

June 2017

Massachusetts courts shut down both foreign-made Vestas V-82 wind turbines I & II as they are a nuisance.

Today 2019

Town of Falmouth owes a balance of 5 million dollars on US EPA approved ARRA loan of Falmouth Wind II at two percent as it is no longer energy efficient. This is according to the project regulatory agreement brokered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Note # In the application process to the US Environmental Protection Agency for the waiver to use 5 million in ARRA funds April 19, 2010 documents were omitted:

The Vestas wind company 110-decibel noise warnings known since the installation of the first wind turbine were omitted from the application.

The application states there were no domestic wind turbines available but left out by omission General Electric refused due to residential setbacks and ice throw.

The May 2010 Vestas email one month after the waiver approval shows each turbine noise exceeds the IEC noise standards and there is no study of the noise from both turbines at the same time. ( each turbine generates up to 110 decibels of noise)

The commercial operation date of Falmouth Wind II was February 14, 2012, almost two years after the Vestas email was omitted.

The omissions all had to do with safety and health in which case the neighbors of the turbines spent their life savings protecting their health and property from their own government officials.

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The Vestas email :

Fri 5/28/2010 1:48 PM
Brian Hopkins brhop@vestas.com

RE: Sound / Feasibility Studies

TO: Wiehe, Stephen,

cc Duijvesteijn, Olle; Yanuskiewicz, Francis

"Steve, I don't believe I saw a feasibility study for Falmouth other than Site Plans.

Was a sound study updated with the additional turbine?

Does the information I provided in the octave band data support the conclusions that you are conservatvely within MA state sound regulations?

The table highlights the fact that V82 produces greater decibels when it reaches its stall regime beyond the IEC design standard at 95% capacity.

The table also helps recognize the effects of shear on the sound levels experienced at receptors which should also be considering with the sound study.

My email was lost from the time we did the first turbine so I don't have a great record of information but do you have this decibel mapping for Falmouth?"