​Massachusetts State Revolving Fund - Corruption Falmouth Turbine

The Massachusetts State Revolving Fund, SRF, highlights a broken system where the state simply has no accountability to anybody even in the aftermath of their own concededly egregious conduct lending five million dollars in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and then ignoring the federal regulations for over two years.

Since 2005 many Massachusetts residents have been horrified and dismayed to learn that the politicians that run the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could simply wash their hands of any physical health and financial liability placing megawatt wind turbines in residential neighborhoods.

For 15 years the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection refused to enforce noise regulations in twenty-one communities over loud commercial wind turbines because they brokered a project regulatory agreement to build the second Falmouth wind turbine number two.

Now MassDEP after ignoring its own noise regulations is ignoring federal EPA finance regulations on the ARRA loan on Falmouth Wind II.

The Massachusetts Clean Water Trust is a state agency that improves water quality at wastewater treatment plants throughout the Commonwealth by providing low-interest loans to municipalities and other eligible entities.

The Trust, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), brokered the Town of Falmouth a five million dollars to build its second wind turbine Falmouth Wind II using federal ARRA funds.

MassDEP provided Falmouth a project regulatory agreement and accomplished this objective by providing a low-interest loan from the monies received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The money was distributed to the Falmouth Waste Water Treatment Plant to build the turbine on-site through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The condition of the PRA loan is Falmouth Wind II has to remain an energy-efficient project or the five million is due plus interest. The turbines were shut down by the courts in 2017.

The balance of the loan 3.5 million plus interest mandated by federal EPA rules to be repaid to the State Revolving Fund to go back out as energy-efficient loans that is why they call it the revolving fund.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds also cannot be used to create "a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the implementation or use of covered funds." The town was aware prior to construction in writing from the manufacturer the turbines generate 110 decibels of noise twice as loud as a domestic turbine. That's why the courts shut down the nuisance turbines.

The Massachusetts courts curtailed the operation of the two town-owned wind turbines in 2013 and completely shut them down in 2017. The Falmouth Select Board and Town Meeting this month voted 2.5 million to take down the turbines.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner has opined in court documents that either a complete shut down or operation of the turbines "only for a very limited period of time each day" would result in a violation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009's requirement that the turbines be operated as an "energy efficiency" project, as defined by the U.S. EPA.

Falmouth wind II turbine has been in violation of the MassDEP project regulatory agreement starting in 2013.

The Mass Clean Water Trust administers the SRF program. the Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs. MassDEP manages project development and oversight while the Trust manages the flow of funds to borrowers.

SRFs receive funding from the EPA in the form of annual capitalization grants such as the ARRA program, supplemented by state matching funds and the repayment of loans.

When loans to local governments are paid back, the funds are then loaned out again, which is how the fund "revolves." Falmouth Wind II turbine has not been energy efficient since 2017.

The Falmouth wind turbines were curtailed in 2013 which appears to a violation of the energy efficiency definition by the federal EPA

The Falmouth wind turbines were shut down by the courts in 2017 is definitely a violation.

The town recently voted 2.5 million to take down the 15-year-old gear-driven turbines with the hopes of selling the antiquated turbines or moving them at least another two or three-year project. Highly unlikely.

Falmouth owes federal taxpayers 3.5 million plus interest