Selectmen to Shut Down Wind 1 at Night; Board of Health to Hold Emergency Hearing

At its meeting Monday night, the Falmouth Board of Selectmen voted to shut down Wind 1, one of the town's 1.65-megawatt turbines off Blacksmith Shop Road, from 7pm to 7am daily, beginning in about two weeks. 

According to the Cape Cod Times, selectmen chair Mary Pat Flynn said that the partial ceasing of Wind 1's operation is a compromise between the town and the turbine's abutters, many of whom have long complained of adverse health effects as a result of the turbines running so close to their homes. 

Last November, the Board of Selectmen voted to shut down Wind 1 in the midst of complaints from abutters in the Blacksmith Shop Road area that the turbines were causing adverse health effects. At Town Meeting last month, residents voted in favor of both an article to shut the municpal wind turbines off until November, as well as an article that would allow selectmen to adopt mitigation strategies with regard to the turbines' operation through the end of the year.

Also on Monday night, the Falmouth Board of Health voted to hold an emergency hearing on the health effects of the wind turbines on May 24. The board will accept oral testimony from abutters affected by the turbines, as well as written testimony, within ten days of the hearing. The board will subsequently decided whether to order an emergency shutdown of the turbines.