Former Gov Deval Patrick - Falmouth Wind Turbine Loan Now Due

Ten years no one has answered why the MassDEP did not upgrade noise regulations for commercial wind turbines.

The answer simple. It was Governor Deval Patrick as the chief executive of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Residents living near wind turbines have suffered symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and sleep disturbance since 1985 in Boone, North Carolina. The noise problems including interference with the line of sight communications are well documented by NASA.

The Town of Falmouth ground zero for poorly placed wind turbines and twenty-one other Massachusetts communities suffered the same noise nuisance fate. That is two distinct types of noise from the wind turbines measured in decibels and human annoyance or what is called low-frequency infrasound same as Boone, North Carolina over 30 years ago.

For ten years no one has answered why the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has not upgraded noise regulations for commercial wind turbines.

Looking back on commercial wind turbine projects today it's reasonable to assume the reason the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has dragged its feet on new noise regulations is that they financed the horrendous wind turbine noise and shadow flicker problems taking health and property rights.

MassDEP is stuck in regulatory capture. MassDEP is the state agent who brokered the loan on the Falmouth Wind II turbine couldn't very well turn around and enforce its own noise regulations on the turbine shutting down the turbine resulting in Falmouth paying back the 5 million loan.

The main problem is the town and state had been warned in advance these turbines generate 110 decibels each and as state officials have stated for years you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. The state knew the residents around these turbines were collateral damage to the so-called war on fossil fuels.

Simply follow the money and a commercial wind turbine agenda gone horribly wrong under the direction of former Governor Deval Patrick the chief executive of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Under the direction of Patrick, the MassDEP provided Falmouth a PRA, Project Regulatory Agreement which required that the Falmouth wind turbine remain operational or the town owes 5 million plus interest on the power production agreement.

MassDEP brokered the loan and its use of federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 should not have been used to harm the health and safety of residents around the turbines

The Global Warming Solutions Act requires that Massachusetts cut its greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. To achieve the renewable energy goal the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection helped finance wind turbines to have the state reach a renewable energy goal of 2000 megawatts of wind turbine renewable energy by the year 2020. ( Taking the health and property of the citizens around the turbines )

The Falmouth wind turbine project at the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Facility (“Wind II”) was funded with money provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”).

Records indicate finances brokered through MassDEP and the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust today known as the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust issued the Falmouth Wind II loan from federal funds derived from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Massachusetts Courts curtailed the operation of the wind turbines in 2013 due to noise and shut them down completely in June of 2017.

The Falmouth Select Board and Town Meeting recently agreed to spend 2.5 million to remove the turbines.

There is NO energy audit for these turbines as required by ARRA.

The 5 million loans according to the PRA, Project Regulatory Agreement, are due plus interest.