Massachusetts Court Shuts Down Falmouth Wind Turbines- Maine Next Target ?

Massachusetts has a renewable energy goal of 2000 Megawatts of renewable energy by the year 2020.

The only way to achieve this goal is to place projects in Maine! 

NIMBY--Next It May Be You 

Massachusetts and Falmouth town officials hid a noise warning letter from Vestas wind turbine company that the town-owned wind turbines generate up to 110 decibels of noise. The courts have seen the letter and shut down the turbines -- Falmouth Wind I & II

The public has never seen this warning letter.  The public has to be made aware our politicians are taking our health and property rights for an agenda gone horribly wrong.

 

The 110 decibel Vestas noise warning from 2010 :

August 3, 2010
Mr. Gerald Potamis
WasteWater Superintendent
Town of Falmouth Public Works
59 Town Hall Square
Falmouth, MA 02540
RE: Falmouth WWTF Wind Energy Facility II "Wind II", Falmouth, MA
Contract No. #3297
Dear Mr. Potamis,
Due to the sound concerns regarding the first wind turbine installed at the wastewater treatment facility, the manufacturer of the turbines, Vestas, is keen for the Town of Falmouth to understand the possible noise and other risks associated with the installation of the second wind turbine.
The Town has previously been provided with the Octave Band Data / Sound performance for the V82 turbine. This shows that the turbine normally operates at 103.2dB but the manufacturer has also stated that it may produce up to 110dB under certain circumstances. These measurements are based on IEC standards for sound measurement which is calculated at a height of 10m above of the base of the turbine.
We understand that a sound study is being performed to determine what, if any, Impacts the second turbine will have to the nearest residences. Please be advised that should noise concerns arise with this turbine, the only option to mitigate normal operating sound from the V82 is to shut down the machine at certain wind speeds and directions. Naturally this would detrimentally affect power production.
The manufacturer also needs confirmation that the Town of Falmouth understands they are fully responsible for the site selection of the turbine and bear all responsibilities to address any mitigation needs of the neighbors.
Finally, the manufacturer has raised the possibility of ice throw concerns. Since Route 28 is relatively close to the turbine, precautions should be taken in weather that may cause icing.
To date on this project we have been unable to move forward with signing the contract with Vestas. The inability to release the turbine for shipment to the project site has caused significant [SIC] delays in our project schedule. In order to move forward the manufacturer requires your understanding and acknowledgement of these risks. We kindly request for this acknowledgement to be sent to us by August 4, 2010, as we have scheduled a coordination meeting with Vestas to discuss the project schedule and steps forward for completion of the project.
Please sign in the space provided below to indicate your understanding and acknowledgement of this letter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.
Sincerely,
(Bruce Mabbott's signature)
_________________
Bruce Mabbott Gerald Potamis
Project Manager Town of Falmouth
CC: Sumul Shah, Lumus Construction, Inc.
(Town of Falmouth's Wind-1 and Wind-2 Construction contractor)
Stephen Wiehe, Weston & Sampson
(Town of Falmouth's contract engineers)
Brian Hopkins, Vestas
(Wind-1, Wind-2's turbine manufacturer, and also Webb/NOTUS turbine)

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Comment by arthur qwenk on December 24, 2017 at 5:44pm

There are many adversely affected .

Be it Heath (yes, infra sound is real ;  DbC (not measured in most projects, known as infra-sound hurts people in numerous ways), Property value loss of abutters within miles of these projects,  Scenic loss to  recreational rural  community economies,avian  predator and other  loss such as valued bats for eco balance, disrupted water shed and mountain destruction of huge areas... for a feckless non-dispatchable fickle power trickle.

A few good natural gas generators could replace the whole wind mess in Maine much more safely and in an enviro-friendly way, in a much smaller foot-print,In MASS! Mass , NY. Ct. etc. should satisfy their power gluttony green credit scamming in their own backyard, not Maines. Vt should reopen its nuke.

But Mass doesn't want  wind  turbines near them  REGI at work.. Just look at Falmouth!

Such a waste and "greenwashing " scheme this is, for the "elite "  shysters like Angus King, and Ma. power gluttony, and CO2 nonsense.

Send the Wind Crap to Amherst,Mass, and Enjoy the " Green Power "there!

The Berkshires are waiting for NextEra...

Comment by Robert Powers on December 24, 2017 at 11:48am

MA is not worried...a several years ago, MA was assured that there would be plenty of wind power from Maine. Therefore, MA never planned on all of their wind power goals to come from within MA.  MA wind power projects were window dressing on their goals.  The power lines will be added or expanded under the "Infrastructure" improvements in the new budget bill.

Comment by Frank Haggerty on December 24, 2017 at 11:12am

Falmouth: Resolution of Wind Turbine Litigation Extended 2 Years

"Friends of Falmouth Wind" and a well known Falmouth 501(c) (3) non-profit group have filed an appeal in a January 2014 zoning lawsuit.

In January of 2014, the Town of Falmouth and Zoning Board filed litigation over the wind turbines.
 
In June 2017 Barnstable Superior Court Judge Moriarty agreed with the Falmouth Zoning Board the wind turbines are a nuisance and shut down the turbines. The Town of Falmouth had 60 days to appeal the decision.
In July of 2017, the Falmouth Select Board voted not to appeal the decision. Chairwoman Susan Moran said: "It's time to put the matter behind us and move forward."
On November 15, 2017, five months after the Judge Moriarty decision and three years after the case began the "Friends of Falmouth Wind" and Falmouth 501(c)(3) non-profit group requested to intervene in the case.
On November 20, 2017, Judge Moriarty denied the motion to intervene as the "Friends of Falmouth Wind" and Falmouth 501(c)(3) non-profit group have no standing and the motion is untimely. They had since January of 2014 to ask to intervene in the case.
On December 18, 2017, "Friends of Falmouth Wind" and Falmouth 501(c)(3) non-profit group filed another appeal could take one to two years in Massachusetts Superior Court. While the turbines remain shut down parasitic electricity is going into the wind turbines to maintain the turbines as well as maintenance contracts and routine maintenance as the older gearbox turbines age.
The Falmouth Building Inspector this past week is making arrangements according to Falmouth zoning to remove Falmouth Wind I.
In the past, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center gave Falmouth 1.8 million dollars to help defray the cost of wind turbine litigation and Falmouth Town Meeting Members have been approving up to $300,000.00 every six months for town litigation. The Falmouth Zoning Board will again be hiring an outside law firm to represent them during the most recent appeal.
The Town of Falmouth avoided Special Permit 240-166 as it would have required additional hearings with the Falmouth Zoning Board and notification to the up to 200 residential homeowners around the turbines.
The Town of Falmouth hid an August 2010 noise warning from the manufacturer that the turbines installed generated 110 chest pounding decibels of noise. This noise is equal to a hard rock band playing 24/7.
You can not ask the Falmouth Select Board about the warning letter because the board is listing wind turbine litigation on the agenda every week in order to muzzle the public. The letter has never been posted on the town website as it shows the guilt.
The Town of Falmouth had a map designed by KEMA Inc. in 2005 that showed the turbines installed would generate up to 60 decibels at homes on Blacksmith Shop Road. The noise is equal to large electrical transformers at 100 feet.
The public has never seen the warning letter, emails, memos and maps that show the turbines should never have been built. The courts have seen all the documents. Falmouth had a vote to take down the wind turbines in 2013. The town never told voters about the warning letters, emails, maps, memos and documents that showed a Special Permit was needed. 

Prior to the Falmouth wind turbine installations, boilerplate studies around the state warned of two distinct types of noise: Regulatory measured in decibels and Human Annoyance or what today is called low-frequency infrasound. The warnings of Human Annoyance were discretely dropped from the Falmouth studies. Residents in Falmouth were not warned as residents in other towns.
The Town of Falmouth at one time had eleven ongoing lawsuits over the wind turbines and several are still awaiting court dates. The most recent appeal by the Friends and non profit will place a hold on all current litigation as the turbines remain shut down.
Falmouth Town Meeting Members will be asked on Monday, April 9, 2018, for more money for wind turbine litigation.
Falmouth taxpayers: until further notice, the financial litigation fee beatings will continue until further notice. These two turbines and litigation has given renewable energy in Massachusetts a Black Eye.
This was to be a revenue stream for the town but has become a revenue stream for Beacon Hill law firms at taxpayer expense.
Those that live around the wind turbines are never going to give up their health and property rights for an agenda gone horribly wrong.

 

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/

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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/

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