Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Falmouth Ma. Offshore Wind Turbine Cables Lack U.S. Health Studies

This concerns five states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island

No federal standards limiting the general public to HVDC transmission

Massachusetts

This includes 5 states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island

Offshore wind contractors met with Falmouth town officials for almost two years holding its first public forum meeting on June 8, 2022. The proposal was to place four underground cable ducts through miles of congested residential neighborhoods and build a power substation to get power to Boston.

The emails and public comments from the forum to the Falmouth Select Board were overwhelming against the project.

On July 29, 2022, the offshore wind company "temporarily" suspended its petition to the Massachusetts Energy Facility Siting Board to place offshore wind cables through Falmouth. Contractors state they will be back.

As of August 1, 2022, offshore wind contractors have proposed placing a four-duct cable system through the Town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island using HVDC, high voltage direct current cables. There are up to five other offshore wind companies looking to use those cable ducts to get to the old Brayton Point power station being rebuilt as a power substation for offshore wind.

Each cable duct in Portsmouth and/or Falmouth could hold a set of HVDC offshore wind cables equal to 800 megawatts of power each for a total of 3200 megawatts in each duct system. To put it in perspective the old Cape Cod nuclear power plant had a total output of 680 megawatts. The offshore wind power buried through residential streets would equal over four times the nuke plant.

The main issue for residents living along these underground cable routes is no U.S. federal standards limiting general public or occupational exposure from HVDC transmission lines. No health studies exist in the United States as there is only a hand full of HVDC projects.

Offshore contractors contend international health organizations have health studies for HVDC cables that can be found online. On the other hand, the Town of Falmouth installed two land-based commercial megawatt wind turbines with wind contractors in 2010 and 2012. The turbines were demolished on September 26 and October 5 as the Massachusetts courts and Falmouth zoning board determined the turbines a health nuisance in 2015 and 2017.

There was a questionnaire sent by post and distributed by campaign groups in 1980 to people living near a 400,000-volt HVDC overhead power line in Minnesota, followed up by telephone calls. The survey was called the "Minnesota Landowner Health Perceptions Survey."

Up to 35% of the respondents said they had suffered adverse health effects that they attributed to the HDVC power line.

An epidemiologic study was not conducted on the residents as there are so few high voltage direct current lines in the USA.

Many residents think they are helping to advance Green Energy by allowing offshore wind companies to place cables through their local towns. The simple fact is the land route saves ocean contractors millions of dollars by avoiding placing expensive submarine high-voltage direct XLPE cables underwater to the large cities.

These land routes through residential neighborhoods could all be avoided with the use of ocean submarine cables directly to the power destinations such as Boston.

On September 1, 2022, five states Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are seeking an RFI, Request for Information, particularly for offshore wind cabling. The RFI is to leverage federal funding for ocean wind submarine cables. Comments are due by email on October 14, 2022.

The RFI: "New England Requests Information on Electric Grid Upgrades To Integrate Offshore Wind" is looking for the benefit of offshore transmission lines, including high voltage direct current submarine cables, and consider environmental justice concerns as electric infrastructure decisions are made

The bottom line is the five states and the federal government could help offshore wind companies finance expensive submarine cables to large cities using funds from legislation already approved. This would avoid health issues such as the threat of childhood Leukemia along buried underground residential cable routes through local neighborhoods.

The legislation already approved to possibly fund the ocean cables is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Welcome to
Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Sign Up
or Sign In

U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service