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Health & Fitness

Maximize Public Benefit from Falmouth's Wind Turbines

The Town has lost $60,000 in six weeks from the 12-hour per day curtailment of the Town’s two wind turbines since the vote not to finance their dismantling on May 21.  This loss of revenue will continue, equaling $500,000 per year, until the turbines resume full operation.  The question now is why has there been this delay in resuming fulltime operation?  Some say that the vote was only about raising $14 million in new taxes to dismantle the machines.  However, clearly by the more than two-thirds majority to keep them, the vote can also be interpreted as a mandate to maximize the financial benefit of the turbines.  This delay shows our Town leaders’ failure to meet their fiduciary responsibility to our citizenry.  Vote results matter.

Complaints about turbine operation have been raised over the past three years that are unfounded by science and local knowledge.  They include the following issues:

Audible Noise.  A Mass Department of Environmental Protection analysis (which was its first using the statistical method for wind turbines) found two nighttime exceedances outdoors at one residence in the vicinity of the wastewater treatment plant with the worst case at 40.9 dBa (equivalent to inside a library).  Moreover, a technical review by sound experts of the DEP study found the study’s conclusions seriously flawed with much higher sound differences noted in the DEP’s findings comparing data sets when the turbines are turned off.  See <http://tinyurl.com/massdepsoundreview>.  Also, no noise violation has been issued by the state over the operation of our turbines.

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Infrasound.  Scientific studies by experts have found no significant impacts to health as a result of infrasound emitted from wind turbines.  See <http://tinyurl.com/turbineinfrasoundexpert>.

Health.  A number of studies have found no adverse health impacts specifically due to wind turbines.  See the review by an independent panel of experts commissioned by the Mass DEP <http://tinyurl.com/massdepturbineimpact> and a letter (www.tinyurl.com/mdwrote) from five local physicians to our Board of Health (BOH) indicating that there are no direct or documented health impacts from our wind turbines.  Moreover, on ­­­­­­March, 18, 2013, our BOH tabled the discussion on suggested health impacts from wind turbines in Falmouth due a lack of scientific evidence.

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Flicker.  Flicker’s very short-term impacts to a few residences are actually not mitigated for most of the year by the 7 PM to 7AM daily shutdown regime now in effect but can be easily addressed when they do occur. 

Property Values.  The perception that our large wind turbines has had adverse impacts on property values  in their vicinity compared to other areas of town was shown to be false by the Town’s Assessor’s Office as reported in the Falmouth Enterprise on May 17, 2013.

More is at stake than just the loss of municipal revenue from electricity generation.  If the turbines are not run as specified in the Town’s current agreements with the state, the Town will need to refund the $2 million advance from the Clean Energy Center; and the loan for the installation of Wind 2 will not be converted to a $4.9 million grant as was also agreed.  What is the justification for the risk of the unnecessary financial burdens and the loss of revenue and thus municipal services to which we are entitled?  There is no scientific or technical justification for curtailment.  Fulltime operation should resume now. 

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