Neighbor News
Massachusetts Wind Turbine "Dooms-Week"
Falmouth is ground zero for poorly placed wind turbines in the United States. As many as 21 other communities !
Massachusetts Wind Turbine “Dooms-Week”
Doomsday is believed to be the last day of the world’s existence. Generally a time or event of crisis or great danger.
Its been six months since Governor Patrick left office and there is a new administration. Coining the phrase “ Dooms-Week” sounds good for this upcoming week.
This upcoming week could very well go down as a Dooms-Week for the commercial wind turbine industry in Massachusetts.
A. The incomplete 113 million dollar New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal a total financial fiasco going into a costly phase two.
B. The Chinese MV Thorco Svendborg wind turbine mystery ship that dropped off a few small parts and is now parked in Vineyard Sound for two weeks
C. The Falmouth wind turbine zoning board of appeals wind turbine permitting catastrophe
D. The Plymouth wind turbine project along with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal with the gang that couldn’t shoot straight !
Massachusetts over the past eight years under the former Governor Patrick administration has seen the poor placement of commercial megawatt wind turbines. Falmouth is ground zero for poorly placed wind turbines in the United States. As many as 21 other communities face the same noise issues described as torture.
The father to the Massachusetts Green Communities Act former Speaker of the Massachusetts House Sal DiMasi remains in federal prison convicted of federal corruption charges.
The Patrick administration started by losing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on projects like Evergreen Solar and ended losing hundreds of millions on the New Bedford Marine Terminal an incomplete ocean wind turbine port.
The former administration chalked off the loss of residential health and property rights as collateral damage in the war on fossil fuels.
The dangers of commercial wind have been know for almost thirty years in a report prepared for the US Department of Energy in Boone , North Carolina.
Its evident over the past eight years state and local officials are guilty of withholding and omitting negative information about commercial wind turbines. State and local boards of health have ignored complaints from citizens over the adverse impacts of commercial wind turbines and have followed the state administration agenda that was only self serving to the administration.
The Falmouth wind turbines are unique because Vestas wind company notified the town in writing prior to installations the turbines were louder than the specifications. The town hid the letter from public view for years.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center the original owner of the Vestas wind turbine sold it to the Town of Falmouth. They were aware of the noise warnings they owned it !
The MassCEC admitted in an April 2013 CYA memo it had made acoustical noise “mistakes” in a noise report for Falmouth. The wind turbine known as Falmouth Wind 1 couldn’t be sold at auction and the MassCEC had to give Falmouth a millions dollars in advance to take the turbine off their hands. The MassCEC has changed its setbacks to 2000 feet from property lines today.
The MassCEC has since given Falmouth 1.8 million to help pay related litigation costs over the turbine. Trying to outspend the neighbors in court to make them go away !
To add insult to injury Falmouth officials having all this knowledge avoided the special permitting process hid the negative information and installed the wind turbine. The Massachusetts DEP found the turbine broke state noise guidelines. The Massachusetts Supreme Court found Falmouth broke the law in the permitting process.
The Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals is holding a hearing July 23, 2015
Now comes the Plymouth wind turbine project. Four massive 2 megawatt Gamesa 97 commercial wind turbines 25 percent larger than the Falmouth wind turbines.
The news media announced the turbines were unloaded at the incomplete 113 million dollar New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal on July 6, 2015. it appears that they were misled or mistaken. To date there has been no follow up story. Why ?
Many believe the news media is only producing good wind turbine news and omitting all the bad news. Today the news media is controlled by one or two large corporations who may have renewable energy investments in which their investments come before our health and property rights
The 400 foot long 63 foot wide Chinese cargo ship MV Thorco Svendborg left New Bedford after leaving a few small wind turbine parts at the New Bedford South Terminal after a brief stay at the terminal. Since then the MV Thorco Svendborg has remained anchored for nearly two weeks about 20 miles South of Providence, Rhode Island. The ship that brought them to the port is currently anchored about 20 miles offshore for reasons unknown.
The Plymouth wind project affects two other towns Wareham and Bourne. The total number of residential homes is around 250 in all three towns.
It’s not clear if the Town of Bourne Board of Health is aware of who owns the Plymouth wind project and what if any assurances have the Bourne residential home owners have about noise, shadow flicker ,ice throw etc.
The Falmouth project residents whose homes are very close to the project undoubtedly suffered serious adverse impacts.
The Bourne Select Board meets Tuesday July 21, 2015 at 7 P.M. to consider the movement of trucks weighing 140 tons packed with wind turbine parts.
The board is going to be asked for easements for the transportation of the parts .
The citizens of Bourne need to attend this meeting and make their concerns known. Who actually owns the Plymouth wind project ? If there is a new owner what kind of assurances have been passed on to the new owners ?
“Dooms-Week” July 19- 25 2015
