Best of Cape Cod

Commercial Wind Turbines To Close To Residents

by Frank Haggerty
(Mattapoisett,massachusetts)

The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens. The state through its semi quasi state agency and the cities and towns along with the agenda of the current governor are creating a second class group of citizens with the poor siting of commercial wind turbines.

The wind turbine fray is sparking class warfare. Time after time the blue collar section of town after town has been selected to lose their property rights for the good of all the others in town.

We feel bewildered and betrayed by our own government, which is maliciously trying to steal our land through the poor siting of commercial wind turbines. We have lost our democratic rights and have become second class citizens, facing the theft of our land through regulation. Massachusetts State law forbids the creation of second-class citizens

Comments for
Commercial Wind Turbines To Close To Residents

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Mar 23, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Efficent Energy
by: mattlbuss@comcast.net

If only the whole country can be self sustaninable. This is a small fraction on what the big picture should be. Have you gased up your car lately . All the Tree Huggers etc put a stop on pipe line.
Dec 17, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		DEMOCRACY REQUIRES WORK
by: BARRY FUNFAR

Those sitting quietly on the sidelines while the current fray over industrial wind turbines (IWTs) goes on in Fairhaven are the lifeblood of the things gone wrong in your community. So often no one is watching the fox as he runs free rein. It is high time to put some tabs on your town officials.
I do not need to read a peer reviewed medical journal to know that I and others who I personally know have been severely adversely affected by the proximity of an operating industrial wind power plant (aka wind turbine). Eighteen months of being tortured has taught me a great deal. I know what experiencing these sounds has done to me. Do you enjoy continual stress and anxiety, irritability, anger, ringing in your ears, depression, headaches, inability to concentrate, palpitations, panic attacks, etc? Then if you live within 3000 feet or so feet of Fairhaven’s turbine project, you are in luck. Not everyone is bothered by the various noises emitted by IWTs, but your chances are better than good.
Please make yourself heard BEFORE the turbines are up.

This is a case where you do not want to learn by experience.
At least two abutters of Falmouth turbines have closed their home businesses.
Many of us often leave our homes just to get away from the noise.
Would you rather live in your home’s basement?
Do you enjoy gardening? That well may change as you become sensitized to the turbine noise and suicide becomes an option.
I guarantee you it can be that bad.
Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Say it loud - I'm NIMBY and I'm proud!
by: Bill Heller

Wikipedia defines NIMBY or Nimby as “an acronym for the phrase ‘not in my back yard.’ The term (or the derivative Nimbyism) is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them.” The trouble with that definition is that we entrust our local governments with the task of being NIMBY on our behalf in many of the decisions they make all the time. Hopefully, strip clubs are kept away from schools, shopping centers are sited only in commercial zones with roads that can handle the traffic, new construction must conform to height limits and predetermined structural codes and aesthetics, and more. Homeowners associations are even stricter in the limits they set. This is essential to preserving property values, quality of life and the environment for all our communities. Nobody wants something that will negatively impact his hometown, and therefore NIMBY is the rule, not the exception.

These gigantic industrial wind turbines with a blade span the size of a Boeing 747 will not only scar the scenic beauty of area, they will present a noise pollution hazard as well as fast-moving lengthy shadows several feet wide (shadow flicker) sweeping across the landscape and at times into people’s homes. IWT noise is loudest in the low frequency and subsonic ranges. The world over, many folks living close to these machines complain of lost sleep, elevated blood pressure, vertigo and other symptoms resulting from constant exposure to the sound. Although wind developers try to deny this, industrial wind turbines rob homeowners living nearby of tens of thousands of dollars in equity. Denmark, with thousands of wind turbines, has learned the lesson. They made it the law that power companies compensate homeowners for loss of value. At least that’s somewhat fair. If a homeowner wants to move, he or she can walk away angry, but not any poorer. The Fairhaven proponents will never have the decency to do that.
http://www.ens.dk/en-us/supply/renewable-energy/windpower/onshore-wind-power/loss-of-value-to-real-property/sider/forside.aspx

And so, to all of you who have called us that word, I say “Thank you!” We’re proud of the label and we are NIMBYs because we love our homes and our towns and will fight the good fight to protect them. Most importantly, before you point a finger at us, you need to know what NIMBY really means. It means, “Next It Might Be You.” If that happens, I hope you defend your homes, too, and wish you success.
Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fairhaven Wind Turbines
by: Tuco

The WT's will be located 900 ft to the nearest residence. That area is heavily populated. Within 1500 ft is a new regional elementary school that will be built with in 2 years. The Fairhaven town officials are calling the negative health effects of wind turbines mythical and blown out of proportion. The town is heading toward disaster with the new revalations about WT's.
Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wind Turbine Sickness at 3000 feet
by: Bill Carson

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111216/OPINION/112160308


Your View: Some thoughts for those who live in Fairhaven

var isoPubDate = 'December 16, 2011'By SUE HOBART
Sue Hobart lives in Falmouth
December 16, 2011 12:00 AM

I worry for my friends in Fairhaven. Last week I had a visit from some nice gentlemen in fear. The wind turbines seem to be coming, in spite of all that continues to be learned about these things. The green sales pitches and grant money are once again overruling common sense. Oh politics, what a shaky basis on which to live.

When this project began, health impacts were not as well known. The residential turbines studied then were easily one-third the size of what is being proposed in Fairhaven and what is already up in Falmouth. Size matters. The bigger they are, the more energy they collect and spin off into your neighborhood.

Hearing about the new school so close to this project makes my skin crawl. I can bet you that at least 25 percent of those children will have difficulty learning. The school will fail to educate well and make some children sick simply because of the environmental stressors created by the turbines. Google "infrasound" for the effects.

You will hear talk of sound levels and ambient noise. This is not about noise, but air pressure. Turbines effect the human vestibular and inner ear system. How the environment is perceived is not entirely through the senses but also through the skin, ears and body. The unnatural and widely variable vibrations produced when the wind changes are magnified many times when thrown off by these big turbines.

The body perceives this as a danger and reacts with a fight or flight response, among others. Being in that state, even on a minor level, creates ongoing and cumulative stress to the system that degrades concentration, focus, spacial perception, and many other elements of basic physical well being.

No sales pitches, pre-construction models, studies or assurances can protect you: too many variables. This happened to me, and my life here in Falmouth is over as I once knew it. I will not be holding my son's wedding in my beautiful yard, bringing grandchildren here to visit (if so blessed), be enjoying the stars from my back deck, lounging in my hot tub or working in my garden. I cannot even sleep upstairs in my bedroom.

I am in the basement hiding from the Webb Turbine. My home-based business is now closed. Cannot work here, sleep here, relax here or count on having a nice day in my home. It's all about the turbine and it respects no set schedule.

What about the element of cost effectiveness and emissions benefits? Truth? Wind can't be stored. It has to be used immediately. We want constant electricity available so back up plant needs to be ready and able to go at any minute. No coal, hydro or nuclear facilities have ever been replaced by wind turbines. Not anywhere.


Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Nimby Save The Day
by: Bill Kelly

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111216/OPINION/112160307


Your View: NIMBYs have served Fairhaven well in the past

Text Size: A | A | A
Print this Article Email this Article ShareThis


var isoPubDate = 'December 16, 2011'By HENRY FERREIRA
Henry Ferreira lives in Fairhaven.
December 16, 2011 12:00 AM


Fairhaven town officials have again mindlessly jumped on the next new thing. Our executive secretary and his board are always ready and willing to offer up the people they represent as guinea pigs. In years past it was a regional dump, then regional sludge plants, one of which burned demolition debris. Now it's two massive turbines beside a pristine marsh next to homes and a school.

As before, they proclaim they've met all of the legal requirements and there will be no negative impacts. Led by Jeff Osuch, they've come close to destroying what's left of this town's character and sense of place. As before, they have ignored the neighbors, they've ignored the health impacts and have worked behind closed doors. They know opposition will be determined and multiplied exponentially by proximity. As always, they pit one section of this small town against another.

Brian Bowcock, the selectman pushing this project, brands the opposition NIMBYs. I'm a NIMBY. I've been one for a long time. We and other NIMBYs have fought off projects, including Bio Safe, Netco and Azurix. We are a safer, healthier, better town because of the NIMBYs.

Now it's two Chinese-made industrial turbines. Bowcock says everything was done in full light. As with all the other projects, the facts appear to contradict him. No abutters notified, project kept under wraps until after the Wood/Rogers School vote, the clearing done over Veterans Day weekend and erection of the turbines due to begin during Christmas.

Bowcock says there are no negative impacts, health or otherwise. He says one of the most vocal critics is not even one of the non-notified abutters. Bowcock writes in a letter to the Fairhaven Neighborhood News, 12/8, "You live more than a mile away," "The turbines pose absolutely no health hazard to you and your wife."

One can assume from his statement, he feels setbacks do make sense and he inadvertently admits there are health hazards for those within a mile. He writes in this letter, he was honoring our nation's veterans while the developer ripped out the trees along the bike path to make way for Fairhaven's Chinese turbines.

He's quite a patriot, however one might think buying an American-made turbine built by veterans would be a good way to honor them. But those pesky setback rules are problematic. The American made turbines come with setback regulations from the manufacture, the Chinese turbines don't. As always, with this selectman, when expediency trumps honor. The setback distances protect the company against lawsuits. Who will protect the town if these Chinese turbines are erected?


Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wind Turbine Safety setbacks -illness
by: Mary Murphy

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111216/OPINION/112160304
Your View: Falmouth turbines will cost more in the long run
Text Size: A | A | A
Print this Article Email this Article ShareThis


var isoPubDate = 'December 16, 2011'By BARRY FUNFAR
Barry Funfar lives in Falmouth.
December 16, 2011 12:00 AM


The back of my home is 1,662 feet from Falmouth's first industrial wind turbine, which started operation in March 2010.

I am certain that many, if not most people, have not a clue as to how "affected" with anxiety, stress, palpitations, panic attacks, depression, even suicidal tendencies some of us experience. Many others have only headaches, high blood pressure, irritability, anger, migraines, etc. It becomes worse as exposure time lengthens. I need to avoid the turbine, to stay indoors at my property, and to take frequent trips away from my home.

I could hear the Wind I turbine under nearly all wind speeds and directions, and I know that it makes varying noises depending upon a huge number of factors.

To subject myself to what is torturous for me is no longer going to happen. I have learned all I need to know about living too close to an industrial wind turbine. If I were the only person affected I would simply move, as all of my medical providers have suggested, but I am far from being alone, so I chose to fight. I intend to continue to live where I have for the past 32 years. But that can only be without the turbine.

I really do not understand why so many people find the problems with wind turbines so complex. What difference does it make just why some people living to closely are so adversely affected? Dr. Malcolm Swinbanks explains the difference in human perception of sound quite clearly. Dr. Alex Salt's research shows that "what you do not hear can hurt you" (infrasound). Dr. Michael Nissinbalm's recent epidemiological study in Vinalhaven, Maine, clearly shows the clustering of medical ailments of populations living close to industrial wind turbines. Many studies have determined that no one should be subject to living within 1.24 miles (6,547 feet) of an IWT. Some countries have adopted that standard. Most importantly to me, is that I know first hand what living 1,662 feet from Falmouth's Wind I has done to me.

The town of Fairhaven has the unique opportunity to see exactly what has happened in the town of Falmouth with its failed wind project. The two 1.65 megawatt machines are now inoperative after Town Meeting (which had voted them to be built several years ago) was about to vote them out. In Falmouth, health is more important than money. The select board, in a great effort to save face, decided they would shut them down instead of allowing Town Meeting to do it. There will be another Town Meeting vote in the spring unless the selectmen permanently close the turbines down before that.

Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		NOT EXACTLY JUST FALMOUTH
by: NOUTSNEIGHBOR

Of the 2 mothballed turbines,one of those was bought by falmouth and the other by Dan Webb and is now called the NOTUS turbine .. which is a private for profit business ..also assisted by grant money.
Wind 2 was purchased later with stimulus money... just for clarification. Also wind 2 was granted a waiver because GE would not site a turbine of that size so close to 28 for safety reasons..

so "governmental" logis prevails... whatever that might be to best provide profit to the developers.

THE notus turbine is also causing health problems but those neighbors have no recourse since the town is not involved...It requires suing a multimillionnaire at their own personal expense....so thats fair enough..right?
Dec 16, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fairhaven - Wind Turbine Education to Little to Late ?
by: Frank Haggerty

Fairhaven - Wind Turbine Education to Little to Late ?

This past week, the Town of Fairhaven released a twelve pound box of e-mails sent and received by commercial wind turbine contractors/investors over the past year. The town plans to install two 400 foot turbines.

The emails were made public this week through the Massachusetts Public Record Law (MPRL). The documents were handed to representatives from windwise .org, a local group at a cost of six hundred dollars. The plan is to make the documents public.

The Fairhaven wind turbine group against the poor siting of commercial wind turbines has turned into a consortium of citizens from Falmouth to Mattapoisett. The main goal is to inform the public about the science and the truth of commercial wind turbines.

Wind energy is too costly for the taxpayer; too inefficient to keep its promises to generate electricity at the level claimed; and too destructive in its impact on the people and the environment in the vicinity of the turbine installations
Sep 13, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wind Turbines Violating Constituional Rights and Federal Laws
by: Anonymous

Article 97 0f the Massachusetts State Constitution states that the people have the right to clean air, clean water ,theright to view natural vistas, etc. All of this is being taken away from us because of politics and greed. It is also against the law to kill migratory and endangered birds as outlined in the Migratory and Endangered Species Act. It is a Constitutional violation to use taxpayer dollars to give to private developers for their benefit. Above all, it is a violation of our Constituional Rights to Lfe, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Lawmakers do not have the right to force these machines on anyone; lawmakers WORK for We, The People, not the other way around.
Sep 13, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Falmouth Wind Turbine -Stimulus Funds
by: Bill Carson

Is this misuse of federal stimulus funds ? Buying 2004 commercial wind turbines with 2010 stimulus funds ?


How to purchase something twice in Massachusetts using a semi quasi state agency !

How in the world did the Town of Falmouth buy two turbines in 2010 valued at 5.2 million each through the MTC ? The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative bought these two turbines in 2004 and kept them in a warehouse at $3300.00 per month until the politically embarrassing turbines were sold to the Town of Falmouth through some Beacon Hill backdoor deal with our federal funds in 2010.

How did stimulus funds get used for two turbines that were so old they had NO warranty left on them ? These turbines were sold like a used car !

The federal prosecuters need to probe this whole deal !

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-9751.pdf

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL?9142?5]
Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the Town of Falmouth, MA

AGENCY: Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a waiver of the Buy America requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the authority of Section 1605(b)(2)[manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality] to the Town of Falmouth, Massachusetts for the purchase of a foreign manufactured wind turbine to be installed at its existing wastewater treatment facility
site.

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2008/08/04/weekly7-MTC-puts-mothballed-wind-turbines-on-auction-block.html

Friday, August 8, 2008

MTC puts mothballed wind turbines on auction block

As a result, the two turbines, originally purchased in 2005 for $5.2 million each went on sale last week

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Cape Cod Stories

XML RSS
What is this?
My Yahoo! RSS button
add to my msn
Add to Google
 AddThis Social Bookmark Button