Falmouth Wind Turbines Need More Money Pronto

In June of 2017 Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty agreed with the Falmouth Zoning Board the wind turbines are a nuisance and shut them down. They will never operate again in their present location. The Falmouth Select Board voted not to appeal the decision.

July 10, 2017 Susan Moran, the chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said:“It's time to put the matter behind us and move forward.”

The Town of Falmouth now will hire a consultant for up to $20,000.00 to figure out how to comply with an order to dismantle and remove the Wind I turbine which was shut down for improper permitting. While Falmouth Wind I will never operate again the consultant will consider the possibility of moving Falmouth Wind II.

Falmouth residents need to ask questions about what they are not being told. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center wind director admitted in 2013 the turbines were installed Ad Hoc. The MassCEC now considers 2000 feet their setbacks from residential property.

The Cape Cod Commission in 2012 adopted the updated Model Bylaw which requires 10 times the rotor diameter for standard wind turbines to residential property. Former Select Board Member Mary Pat Flynn voted in favor of the Cape Cod Commission Model By-Law wind turbine setbacks.

In 2013 the Town of Falmouth through a FOIA, Freedom of Information Act request released a warning letter the turbines are twice as loud as standard wind turbines in their class.

The re-installation of Falmouth Wind II a Vestas V -82 type 1.65 megawatt chest pounding 110-decibel wind turbine will need a complete study done similar to Falmouth Wind I at an additional cost to Falmouth taxpayers.

The second Falmouth wind turbine known as Falmouth Wind II was installed with no preliminary study. After a wind turbine consultant determines the possibility of moving the turbine a complete study will be needed. Today there is widespread enthusiasm for siting industrial wind turbines which establish limits for noise and other potential hazards.These new studies are used to determine where wind projects can be located in communities, which are predominantly rural and often extremely quiet during the evening and people work outdoors during the day.

Proponents of moving the wind turbine would have you think it's like moving a Chess piece on a board game.

The special crane to take down a wind turbine is $150,000.00 for a three-day minimum and $50,000.00 for each additional day past day three. The re-installation fee is the same formula.

When the turbine comes down a blade inspection needs to be made. Repairs, if needed, can be made on the ground. Blades lose around 2 percent of their ability to produce power each year. New blades are around one million each and if needed all three would be replaced.

The wind turbine would need a new foundation and underground electric cables.

The other issue is there are still outstanding future lawsuits over Falmouth Wind II. The suit is over the Doctrine of Laches. Laches is a type of equitable defense wherein a plaintiff is prevented from bringing a claim because they delayed too long in filing it.

The residents living around the wind turbine claim the Spoliation of Evidence Doctrine. Spoliation of evidence is the negligent destruction, withholding, or altering of evidence. The spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. The Town of Falmouth hid emails, warning letters, memos and maps showing the turbines generate 110 decibels of noise and should never have been built near residential homes.

Former Selectman Brent Putnam was on the board in 2010. At Falmouth Town Meeting November 10, 2015, Brent told Town Meeting this about residents around the turbines:

"And they’re going to continue to fight this. They’d been fighting this when I was a selectman, they’re fighting this now and I’m not a selectman. They have a vested interest in this, ladies and gentlemen, that most of us don’t. And they, as just pointed out, they’re continuing to spend their own money and their own energy and their own time to fight this, and guess what? They’re winning."

"When I was on the Board, we were given legal advice and, quite frankly, looking back on it
-- because hindsight always is 20-20, isn’t it --we were told,“No problem, slam dunk”, and then we lost.“Oh, no problem, slam dunk”, and then we lost. And then we lost and then we lost."

"And right now, Folks, we’re looking at several articles here that are asking us to spend more money. One article that’s asking us to retroactively rezone the property so we can win a battle that we’ve lost. This is really getting comical, if not, as one recent writer pointed out, absurd."

Folks, Eight years later no one in Falmouth is winning. The courts have shut the turbines down. The residents around the turbines have spent their life savings trying to protect their health and property rights while town officials have for eight years told residents the wind turbine lawsuits are a " slam dunk."

( The only ones making money today are the Beacon Hill law firms )

WARRANT FOR THE APRIL ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2018 AT 7:00 p.m.

ARTICLE 19: To see if the Town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to pay for the Town’s obligation pursuant to the Mass CEC agreement relating to the Wind Turbines, to determine how the same shall be raised and by whom expended. Or do or take any other action on the matter. On request of the Board of Selectmen.