West Falmouth Wind Turbine Abutter Notification

The two Falmouth town-owned wind turbines have been shut down by the court as they are a nuisance. The Town Meeting Members have financed wind turbine litigation for eight years and there is no light at the end of the tunnel as litigation continues.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative commissioned a feasibility study for the Falmouth Wind I turbine that underestimated the likely acoustic impact, that study did not include a detailed acoustic analysis based upon the sampling of ambient acoustic conditions by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. There is no acoustic analysis for Falmouth Wind II and Falmouth Wind I working together. MassDEP notified the Town of Falmouth in May of 2012 the turbines are breaking state noise regulations.

The Town of Falmouth released documents three years after the construction of the turbines they knew the turbines generate 110 decibels of chest pounding noise.

Noise disturbance measured in decibels and human annoyance are two of the major factors considered in the development of wind turbines near work and residential areas, and therefore an accurate estimate of the noise levels generated by wind turbines is required before production and installation.

The Town of Falmouth has hired a firm to plan to take down Falmouth Wind I and move Falmouth Wind II to the East of its current location. On October 15, 2018, the firm gave its report obviously omitting a privately owned wind turbine in the Falmouth Technology Park called the Notus wind turbine. The Notus turbine is identical to the two town-owned wind turbines both Vestas V-82 commercial 1.65-megawatt wind turbines generating 110 decibels of chest pounding noise. The report could only be described as a Dog and Pony show with omissions as having happened in the past.

The study presented without the privately owned wind turbine sets up the original scenario as that of the original Falmouth Wind I and Falmouth Wind II. The study is obviously politically motivated to fit the state wind turbine agenda placing wind turbine installations over the health of citizens and/or the study is just grossly negligent. In any case, it duplicates the original installations they led to years of litigation.

The Town of Falmouth through Special Permit 240-166 has to present the Falmouth Planning & Zoning Board an accurate estimate of the noise levels in decibels three thousand feet from the bottom of both turbines while generating 110 decibels of noise.

The World Health Organization recently acknowledged that wind turbine noise is more than an annoyance and chronic noise contributes to cardiovascular disease; lack of sleep, hearing loss, tinnitus and stress; and increased changes in blood pressure and heart health. The Falmouth study for the movement of Falmouth Wind II contends the Falmouth Technolgy Park is an industrial or commercial location and makes no mention to what happens to office workers or people who spend the day at that location. The Falmouth local boards and town attorney need to be aware of the liability of adding Falmouth Wind II into the acoustic formula at the Park.

The Cape Cod Commission in its most recent update to the model wind turbine regulations suggests setbacks of 3000 feet from a single wind turbine such as those megawatt wind turbines in Falmouth to residential property locations. Noise from wind turbines originates from both mechanical parts and the blades as they pass through the air the sounds get louder as each blade passes in front of the tower. The swoosh - swoosh at high levels is described as a sneaker in a dryer or a jet plane flying over the house all day.

The moderator for the October 15, 2018 movement of Falmouth Wind II told the public officials and concerned citizens they are going to use the old feasibility studies, noise studies, and past representations to move the turbine to save money? These prior studies have led to eight plus years of ongoing litigation.

The reason given to use the old studies is to save the town money in acoustic noise modeling studies. The real reason is to move Falmouth Wind II to sidestep the court shutdown of the turbine and start the turbine all over again ignoring the health and safety of residential homeowners and the workers at the Falmouth Technology Park.

The citizens of Falmouth should demand an acoustic analysis of both Falmouth Wind II and the Notus turbine 3000 feet out measured in decibels. Granted a good sound study could cost as much as 100 thousand dollars but Falmouth Town Meeting in the past was approving up to $260,000.00 every six months for wind turbine litigation.

The town should request that any future engineering firm that provides interdisciplinary design, engineering, and environmental wind turbine services for Falmouth provide a bond or insurance against future litigation based on the feasibility and sound studies using dated material that led to eight-plus years in court costs.

The current Select Board continues following a state wind turbine agenda that puts massive amounts of taxpayer resources in the hands of law firms ignoring the health and safety of the citizens of Falmouth.

Falmouth Board of Health Wind Turbine Syndrome Hearing 5-24-2012

{At this hearing in 2012, the Town of Falmouth never disclosed they were in possession of a warning letter from 2010 that the turbines generate 110 decibels of noise.}

The Falmouth Board of Health received hundreds if not thousands of noise complaints

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rguPxQ93Qc&t=3168s