Falmouth Wind Turbine Removal At 2.5 Million Raises Questions

Falmouth, Massachusetts — Wind turbines at wastewater treatment plant are being torn down.

The Town of Falmouth built the two town-owned turbines in 2010 and 2012 in an effort to use more renewable energy.

The turbines were placed at the wastewater plant with no zoning permits. The plant was chosen by engineers who believed it was the best place to generate wind.

It cost the town about ten million. Right after the turbines went up, the neighbors say things went downhill with two distinct types of noise and shadow flicker.

At a Falmouth Board of Health, wind turbine meeting in 2012 neighbors reported a range of health effects from hearing loss, nausea, and sleep disorders to dizziness, blood pressure, tinnitus, and more. The town has documents never seen by the general public that it was well known the turbines generate 110 decibels of noise needing nearly a 3000-foot setbacks for just one turbine.

The turbines generating 110 decibels of noise each are built on a platform of a manufacturer whose units went out of business due to expensive gearbox failures.

Finding parts to repair the turbines designed in the 1990s is nearly impossible and incredibly costly.

The maintenance issues are a big problem. Today you could purchase and install a brand new state of the art larger wind turbine for less money than the town plans to spend taking them down and placing them in storage.

Falmouth owes 3.5 million-plus two percent interest on its second wind turbine called Falmouth Wind II borrowed from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds were used to buy American and put Americans to work.

The caveat with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds is they can not be used if they create: "a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety."

In June of 2017, the Massachusetts court system deemed the turbines a nuisance shutting them down and the turbines have not been energy efficient for three years.

The Falmouth Select Board in November of 2019 convinced Town Meeting Members to spend 2.5 million to take down the antiquated turbines and place them in storage to save not paying back the 3.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds plus two percent interest.

# The ARRA loan was brokered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection with a poorly written federal EPA waiver that needs a major review by the US Justice Department.

Over the past ten years, the town has never divulged the total costs of litigation and multiple engineering studies.

Reliable sources report both the Falmouth wind turbines could be removed for less than:

$ 200,000.00 (two hundred thousand)

Wind Turbine Removal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9F-sAFEt1A