Neighbor News
Skeletons In Closet Haunt Falmouth Wind 1 Turbine
Mass Judge Robert Rufo should have insisted on time frame in permit process or a cease and desist order. The courts have failed the victims.
Falmouth: Skeletons In Closet Haunt Falmouth Wind 1 Turbine
The Falmouth wind turbine deal dubbed a ‘colossal failure’ is taking the health of property rights of its own citizens and now the taxpayers of Massachusetts.
Wind turbine victims describe the noise as torture.
The Mass Superior Court ruled the Town of Falmouth must obtain a special permit for the Falmouth 1 wind turbine, five years after it was erected.
Falmouth Town Manager Julian Suso has requested a special permit from the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals for the Wind I turbine .
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court after an appeal by Falmouth residents who want the turbine shut down failed to issue a cease and desist order or even a time limit on how long the town can spend applying for the permit. Most court decisions specify a time frame but appears to have failed the victims in this case.
The courts left it up to the town to obtain a special permit .
A previous court decision stated that the Wind I turbine could only be used from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week and not on Sundays and holidays.
Most court rulings impose limits at most stages of proceedings. Judge Robert Rufo oddly declined to issue a time frame or limit on how long the Town of Falmouth has to obtain the special permit. The town will continue to obfuscate until the court takes legal action.
It has become evident since the court action last June the town has skeletons in its closet. The town had a warning from Vestas wind company prior to the installations of the turbines they were too loud. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center admitted in 2013 mistakes in the acoustical noise tests. The town never posted the April 2005 site screening study. This information and negative documents were withheld from the taxpayer funded $388,000.00 CBI-WTOP negotiations.
Falmouth Wind Turbine Option Analysis Process (WTOP) was to engage in an open and transparent negotiations between the town and the wind turbine victims. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection found the turbines out of compliance with state noise regulations (310 CMR 7.02) .
The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) is a not-for-profit organization empowering public, private, government and community stakeholders to negotiate in good faith.
The town has no legal choice at this time but to obfuscate and do nothing. The town has financial obligations regarding Wind I, including payments on a bond, and the requirement to pay Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The MassCEC recently gave Falmouth 1.8 million dollars to help pay litigation fees and hire attorneys to outspend the wind turbine victims in court.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has led the state in a massive failure of placing commercial wind turbines too close to residential homes. Recently the incomplete New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal out of control spending has now come into question. The incomplete port has no rail link, no large walking cranes and the legal width at the hurricane gates is 120 feet. Wind turbine specialized “jack-up” barges don’t fit.
The commercial wind business in Massachusetts is in a nut shell ‘colossal failure’
Yesterday the Town of Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals did not hear the request for a Special Permit and postponed the hearing for two months.
There is no reason to believe the hearing won’t be postponed for another two months on October 29, 2015
The Massachusetts Courts, Judge Robert Rufo should have insisted on a time frame in the permit process or a cease and desist order.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
