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Falmouth Wind Turbines and Stimulus Funds

by Bill Carson
(Centerville,Massachusetts)

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 .

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 !


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

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Falmouth Wind Turbines and Stimulus Funds

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Oct 26, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Do You Trust Beacon Hill
by: Frank Haggerty

Wind Energy Siting Reform Hearing A Question of Trust

A hearing was held to discuss the proposed Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. The WESRA some say takes local control away from cities and towns. The state feels the local governments can't be trusted to site commercial wind turbines.

The public needs to look at how wind legislation and siting has already been handled by the state. Here are some examples;

A semi quasi state agency bought two turbines made in Europe in 2004 for 5.28 million dollars, stored them in a warehouse at $3500 a month until 2010. The turbines were repurchased with stimulus funds and installed in Falmouth where 50 residents are sick as a result of the poor siting.

The former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives met with wind turbine contractors in October of 2007 and then slipped an 11 page amendment into the 2008 Oceans Act without telling the members of the house of representatives. The document slipped into the legislation helped wind turbine contractors.

A local state representative failed at a wind turbine business and agreed to pay a fine negotiated with the Attorney General in 2009 . The fine was never paid.The state representative moved to Hawaii!

State officials have used email pseudonyms like "Sally Reynolds" in negotiations with private wind turbine contractors. How do we trust the proposed WESRA?
Sep 29, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Two Types Of Turbine Noise
by: Bill Carson

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative appear to one in the same.

http://masstech.org/Project%20Deliverables/Comm_Wind/Mattapoisett/Tri-Town_ORR_Preliminary_Site_Analysis.pdf

Please see page 14 under noise. The MTC has been aware of two types of wind turbine noise for a long time.

The two types of noise are A. Regulatory compliance and B. Human annoyance.

I have attached a copy of page 14 as a pdf file and the URL above shows the full knowledge of two types of noise. This is the study done Mattapoisett,Marion & Rochester just prior to the Falmouth award of the two commercial wind turbines. The study was done between 2004 and 2007 .


The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is the state's economic development agency for renewable energy. The MTC at the time of this study for Mattapoisett had two Vestas V 82 commercial wind turbines in storage in Texas at $3500.00 per month until they were installed in Falmouth , Massachusetts, The time frame runs from 2004 to 2010

The turbines were installed with stimulus funds in 2010 . The turbines had been owned by the MTC since 2004 .

Sep 13, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Wind Turbine Siting
by: Frank Haggerty

Study finds wind turbines can sometimes be tough on neighbors' property values ! Try selling a house with a 400 foot commercial wind turbine behind it!

The governor's office, which is pushing WESRA, has claimed repeatedly that the legislation does not override local denials of a permit. That is not true. Under current law, if a project of any type requires both local and state permits, it cannot be constructed without both sets of permits. That is not the case under WESRA. Under current law, there is an exception for some large power plants, but those can seek an overriding state permit only after demonstrating every effort to obtain local approval first, and all rights of participation in the review process and appeal by neighbors, municipal officers and boards, and other interested parties still apply. Not so under WESRA.

WESRA completely re-writes the rules for a single industry, and regardless of your opinion about the value of wind turbines in your municipality, ceding control to an appointed state agency over the location, size, and operation of a wind facility, roads, and transmission corridors ought to be of concern to every local public official. After all, if the wind industry succeeds in carving out special privileges for itself in state law, every other powerful industry will seek the same benefits.

Keep in mind that WESRA will affect not just development of wind projects in your municipality, but also all other development because wherever massive wind turbines are erected you can be sure residential and commercial development will avoid those areas.

I am opposed to the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. The bill opens the door to the Commonwealth overruling the decisions of local officials, even in communities that have a green vision for energy and have demonstrated progress and results.

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