Falmouth Select Board plans on airing concerns over Mayflower wind at public hearing

Mayflower Wind selected two alternative routes it wants to use to carry electricity from its offshore wind project to the electrical grid, with both options running through Falmouth Heights.

Falmouth Select Board is petitioning the state for the right to intervene in Mayflower Wind’s proposal to run electric cables under Falmouth Heights.

Chairman Douglas C. Brown said the town will suggest alternative routes and may turn down the company’s request to override local zoning laws that would allow the cables to pass under the residential neighborhood.

“We have not reached a conclusion yet on the stance we are taking, but we petitioned the state because we want to make sure we have a seat at the table,” Mr. Brown said after the board met in executive session on Monday, March 14.

Mr. Brown and other board members will participate in an upcoming public session held by the Massachusetts Energy Siting Board. The session will be held via Zoom on Thursday, March 24, and is open to the public. Public officials and members of the public will have an opportunity during the hearing to ask questions and make comments. The siting board will also accept written comments through Thursday, April 7.

During the hearing, Mayflower Wind will present an overview of the project, which is to deliver power from offshore wind turbines to the electrical grid through undersea cables using a connection point in Falmouth Heights. Mayflower Wind is building a 1,200-megawatt wind farm about 20 nautical miles south of the western end of Nantucket.

The plan is running against opposition from Falmouth residents, mostly from the Falmouth Heights neighborhood, who cite health and environmental concerns from the cables.

Mayflower Wind’s planned route is under Falmouth Heights Beach to a connection in the beach parking lot. It then runs underground of Worcester Park and Worcester Court, across Davis Straits, to Jones Road, to Gifford Street, and then either to a Lawrence-Lynch substation or to an alternative substation at Cape Cod Aggregates on Blacksmith Shop Road.

The alternative route is under Falmouth Heights Beach to a connection at the foot of Central Park Avenue. It is then buried diagonally across Central Park ballfield, under Crescent Avenue, to Falmouth Heights Road, to Davis Straits and to Jones Road. From there, the path is the same as the preferred route stated above.

“We will be there to talk about it,” Mr. Brown said, who expressed concern that Mayflower Wind officials filed with the state its preferred route of Falmouth Heights without speaking to the town first.

“I feel like it was done behind our back,” he said. The town preferred a route that would use Surf Drive, but Mayflower Wind said that route is not viable due to the proximity to existing underground and undersea cables in that area that serve Martha’s Vineyard.

Anyone interested in commenting at the hearing can do so in several ways, including by sending an email to geneen.bartley@mass.gov with name, email address and mailing address by Wednesday, March 23.

Those planning to comment by telephone, must leave a voicemail message at 617-305-3529 with name, telephone number, and mailing address by Wednesday, March 23.

The weblink for the hearing is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83351866878. For audio-only participation, attendees can dial in at 646-558-8658 (not toll free) and then enter the Webinar ID: 833 5186 6878.

Written comments on the proposed Mayflower Project may also be submitted. The state siting board says comments will be most useful if submitted by this date.

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 (3) comments
m cool
m cool Mar 20, 2022 11:11am
Many of the state guidelines argued by Mayflower that will protect Falmouth are only guidelines, non-binding guidance unenforceable by law. That’s why, and the primary purpose for the state’s attorney general and state legislature ratifying Falmouth’s code of bylaws (enabling legal recourse). Thus allowing Falmouth government/ a resident/ a complainant - legal and binding zoning protections. Exempting Mayflower Wind from Falmouth’s zoning bylaws essentially remove our community’s legal protection rights. This, by it’s very nature, would be a violation of the law. (IMO)

Giulio Cesare
Giulio Cesare Mar 17, 2022 11:01am
If what Mr. Haggerty says is true then the Town should reject the Mayflower proposal. Why would any town much less a beach town allow such construction where people live and and go to the beach to have fun ?

FrankHaggerty
FrankHaggerty Mar 15, 2022 9:27pm
The Falmouth Select Board in November of 2020 received an EMF, Electric and Magnetic Field Technical Memo prepared on October 28, 2020. The memo shows EMF levels above 500 mg, Milgauss, directly above the cable duct bank in the roadway or park.

The technical memo was based on 800 megawatts since that time the project has been increased to 1200 megawatts. At the present time, it is unknow the actual EMF above the cables in the streets and parks. Buried high voltage electric lines have higher EMF directly above the cables than overhead.

Massachusetts has no laws for EMF levels but uses the guideline of not increasing levels above 12 Milgauss.

Studies since 2005 have suggested an increased risk of childhood leukemia associated with distance and with exposure to high magnetic fields from power transmission lines. The time children play in the park or near the streets has to be taken into consideration.

The only mitigation for these cables is to contain them in stainless steel conduit under pressure using SF6 Gas. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6) or sulfur hexafluoride is a gas that is primarily utilized as an electrical insulator.

The Town of Falmouth has wind turbine bylaw 240 -166 for public health and safety. As many as eleven lawsuits resulted from overlooking this bylaw with the two town-owned wind turbines

Safety First

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