Opinions
Category:
Massachusetts
The complaints eventually reached the state level, prompting DEP sound tests. Eventually, both wind turbines were shut down at nighttime. ..."There is no energy technology out there of any real consequence that doesn't have environmental and social impacts that need to be carefully studied and addressed. Just by using a renewable fuel, does not eliminate that responsibility, that challenge."
Also filed under [
Impact on People|
Energy Policy]
Unbiased inquiry into the facts of Cape Wind do not support any value to the project other than its profit to Mr. Gordon. Perhaps the most serious false claim in behalf of Cape Wind is that it will bring jobs to Massachusetts. New Bedford is the unfortunate setting for this claim.
Also filed under [
General]
It took an energy insider this past week to expose the dirty little truth about the future of wind energy - it's too costly, too unreliable and only getting more so because of government subsidies.
Take that, you green zealots.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's wind energy agenda has led Commonwealth communities into expensive capital expenditures. Now, agencies, under his watch, fortify his agenda and turn theirs back on the community. Falmouth is left windburned and forced to fix itself.
Also filed under [
Impact on People|
Energy Policy]
This much is clear: many people who live near these towers believe that the structures are adversely affecting their health. Local officials do not need Falmouth's experiences to understand that there is virtually nothing that will placate people when they believe that their health, and their property values, are suffering. Better to clear the air ahead of time before trying to harness the wind.
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape|
Impact on People]
This piece was written by Mark J. Cool, a resident of Falmouth, Massachusetts. Mark lives 1500 feet from one of the two wind turbines installed by the town. He provides a detailed look at the history and impacts of the decision to site the towers so close to where people live.
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
These problems were predicted before their construction, but wind developers persuaded future neighbors that there would not be any problems. Now, as more turbines are built near residential areas, post-installation problems are emerging, causing precisely the problems that wind turbine opponents said would happen.
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
In this piece by Steve Ryack and Bill Lattrell, two members of the Heath (Massachusetts) Renewable Energy Committee, explain the research and analysis conducted by the committee in recommending turbines be limited to 100 feet in height.
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
Several longtime residents complain of headaches and dramatic reductions in quality of life.
"My quiet, peaceful, serene world and home has been turned into a reality of grief, unending noise, annoyance and constant dealing with those in charge to help us," said Michael Fairneny of Florida.
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
"Wind energy has so much potential, and the completion of this project will be a big step forward in reducing our reliance on volatile, foreign fossil fuels," boasted Gov. Patrick this past December upon the completion of the Hoosac turbines. If wind energy does indeed have such potential, it should not be reliant upon the government for its business. Until wind energy, or any new source of energy, can exist without government intervention, it is obviously not suitable for popular consumption.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
The Massachusetts Departments of Public Health and Environmental Protection continue endorsing noise guideline and noise sampling protocol tools which, both agencies admit, do not adequately address, nor properly mitigate the unique noise characteristics associated with Industrial Wind Turbines (June 30, 2011 letter from MassDEP to Falmouth Selectmen & Health Agent).
Also filed under [
Impact on People|
Noise]
Just as we blame the poor for their poverty, we seem compelled to blame the victims of Big Wind for their own illness. Apostles of the wind industry, like Dr. Dora Mills, Dr. Robert McCunney and Australia's Professor Simon Chapman, are only too happy to furnish the tacit explanations needed to justify blaming these victims for their own plight. These typically include psychosomatic causes, hypochondria, delusions, and other forms of mental illness.
Also filed under [
Noise]
The impetus for the escalation of health concern is born from inadequacies of zoning regulations recommended by wind energy promoters. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-state agency focused on renewable energy development, has authored a state supported Wind Turbine Model Bylaw for municipalities considering wind energy projects. This is heralded as the state standard, yet more and more local boards of health are in a quandary.
Also filed under [
General]
The expulsion of a communityʼs people; The writing of Falmouth history
January 13, 2013 in Firetower Wind
January 13, 2013 in Firetower Wind
Only so many words can describe the harm inflicted by Falmouth's wind power plants. In a few words, the problem remains a matter, not of town fiscal debt or global warming, but rather of only basic acceptable health and living conditions for your neighbors. The history of every place is normally more complicated than what we are lead to believe. Falmouth has the opportunity to keep it simple - value the
resident more. Great moments, in the writing of Falmouth's history, are born from great opportunity.
Also filed under [
Noise]
If you don't have a suitable site for a wind turbine, it is folly to investigate which unsuitable site might be the best. ...Cramming one wind turbine into an inappropriate space on shore is not going to do anything meaningful toward the creation of a renewable energy future.
Also filed under [
Impact on People|
Noise]
Many in Falmouth town government have been inclined to ‘down-play' the devastating health plight of local residents. Town official chose to promote the turbines for their financial and ‘green' benefit. The required night time curtailment protocol has nullified those expected benefits. The justification from Town Hall for the turbines has dramatically changed. The benefit has mistakenly become a liability. Simply stating the town's case -- "it's just not possible to afford not to operate them."
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
Far from offering residents any real protection, this latest proposal will have the likely outcome of inviting smaller turbines, in larger numbers, that can still be legally sited in very close proximity to residents. Current zoning bylaws in Fairhaven permit citing turbines in every type of zone as a so-called municipal project.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning]
The privately owned WEBB/ NOTUS/TELEDYNE turbine, identicle to the other 2, runs unabated, 24/7 full time and without investigation or much mention in the news. It gets just as many complaints. It has driven me out of my home and others out of their jobs in the tech park. Unfortunately, I know why they skate through untouched. Money talks loudest in Falmouth.
Also filed under [
Impact on People]
It is unfortunate for the citizens of Massachusetts generally, and likely devastating to many residents of Florida and Monroe specifically, to witness the ill-conceived commitment of Gov. Deval Patrick and his administration to industrial wind turbines.
Also filed under [
General]
There will also be a panel composed of people who live near wind turbines here in Southeastern Massachusetts. I consider them the true experts in this matter, for they have accumulated many hours of exposure and can speak to its adverse effect on their health. I think everyone in the state of Massachusetts needs to listen to what they have to say.
Also filed under [
General]
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