Not leaping on 'green bandwagon'
COHASSET — The privately funded wind turbine project taking shape on the Graham Waste site will likely be a lucrative project over the long term, placing its private backers firmly in the black.
As residents of our town we should be asking ourselves, what are the true benefits of the project to the town?
On the surface it seems that generating clean, green, renewable energy is an admirable, socially responsible thing to do. So why shouldn’t the town of Cohasset jump on the green bandwagon and proceed with the project? In fact, you might be surprised to learn that there are compelling reasons to oppose this pair of turbines.
After attending meetings and having discussions with the project consultants, several concerns for our town have surfaced. While it’s true the Graham Waste turbines will utilize our plentiful wind resource to generate electricity without generating carbon emissions, it’s the project’s private financial backers who will primarily benefit monetarily from the project. As it stands now our town public buildings are not guaranteed to receive the benefit of discounted power rates. Unlike Hull, the residents of our town are not expected to see any financial benefit at the household level. In fact, beyond an unquantified amount of potential tax revenue, the town is not guaranteed to benefit financially at all.
Our beautiful coastal town, which goes to great lengths to preserve its historical and small-town aesthetics, will forever possess a skyline dramatically altered with two hulking industrial size turbines. Far greater in size than your average water and cell towers, the proposed turbines reach 140 meters (approximately 460 feet) into the air – 40 percent taller than the tallest of the Hull turbines. (By contrast, the Statue of Liberty is only 305 feet tall). In fact, the height of each turbine is the equivalent of planting two 747s, one on top of the other, vertically. The proposed turbine locations are both in close proximity to Route 3A and would be placed at a high elevation. The installations will be clearly visible by all Cohasset residents who traverse nearby roads, live in nearby neighborhoods and support local businesses.
Lastly, new research (accessible at www.windturbinesyndrome.com) by Dr. Nina Pierpont, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reveals that wind turbines built closer than two miles from homes and businesses pose potential adverse health effects. Her findings suggest that low-frequency noise and vibration generated by wind machines can have an effect on the inner ear, triggering headaches; difficulty sleeping; tinnitus, or ringing in the ears; learning and mood disorders; panic attacks; irritability; disruption of equilibrium, concentration and memory; and childhood behavior problems. If just one of our town’s children or residents is afflicted with a health issue as the result of this project, isn’t that one too many? Consider that many businesses, homes and our town’s schools are within two miles of the proposed site.
Let’s not quickly leap aboard the green bandwagon in such a dramatic fashion without fully understanding the consequences. The residents of Cohasset owe it to themselves to carefully consider the impact of this proposed project and share their views with the town planning board, who will be evaluating it at a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m., in the lower level meeting room at Cohasset Town Hall.
In my view, our town should be feeling blue, not green about this project.
Marci Comeau
26 Sanctuary Pond Road
Cohasset Mariner
4 September 2008
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
Blog it:
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
|
