A question of trust
Mark J. Cool, Falmouth, MA
Dear Commonwealth Public Servants,
In Falmouth, legislators and political appointees don’t trust voters when it comes to wind energy development. Why then, should voters trust them?
The State’s Department of Environmental Protection deputy commissioner, advised Selectmen that MA DEP will fund, and staff would collect noise data created by Falmouth’s municipal Industrial Wind Turbine(s).
In Falmouth, regulatory compliance conclusions won’t do anything to address the continuance of documented health problems.
The State’s Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard K. Sullivan Jr. states that the Patrick administration does not believe, at this point, there are major health affects from turbines.
In Falmouth there lives tax paying, red blooded Americans who serve as proof the Patrick administration has come to define the disconnect between State government and citizens concerning Wind Turbine siting and Public Health.
Kenneth Kimmell, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, in the article “MassDEP: on duty and on-guard for the environment”, stated MA DEP continues to; reduce air pollutants (noise is an air pollutant) from industrial sources… The Commonwealth’s investment in MA DEP reaps environmental, public health and economic development benefits that help to sustain our quality of life.
In Falmouth, residents remain vigilant , knowing a 400’ wind energy generator is an industrial source, waiting on the investment in public health to regain our lost quality of life.
Steven Clarke, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Assistant Secretary and the state’s director of wind energy development, said a panel will be created by his office and the Department of Environmental Protection to look for credible studies the state could use to create regulations.
In Falmouth, aren’t the citizens around the turbines good enough for those studies? Aren’t our experiences and physical torments credible enough to conduct an independent epidemiological study?
Former Secretary Ian Bowles, a home-grown son, ignored the noise problems and health complaints in Falmouth when the machines were turned on.
In Falmouth, a townie dismissing concern for his own community’s health and well being goes beyond the pale!
John Auerbach, Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, with MA DEP, moved for an expert panel to review potential health impacts associated with exposure to wind turbines. Important to note that the composition of the expert panel suffers from a limited number of health care professionals.
In Falmouth, neighbors are asking why assemble an expert panel with members not having a MD after their name? If the review is suppose to focus on health effect, who better to make the diagnosis than a medical doctor?
In Falmouth, we use to smell something else from the waste water treatment plant on Blacksmith Shop Road. The turbines are there now, and beyond being a seaside community, there’s something else fishy being blown our way. As evidenced by an incriminating memorandum on wind turbine noise, prepared by the Ontario provincial government, shows that government officials were well aware that noise from Industrial Wind Turbine’s operating, even in compliance with Ontario’s wind turbine regulations, were causing adverse effects on communities.
In Falmouth, why is it so hard to believe this travesty hasn’t played out around Blacksmith Shop Road?
My experiences, the physical impact, as well as the resistance met at every health concern, affirms my reluctance to trust politicians with the interest of my family’s health, especially given that “their” honesty blows like a smelly wind. Evading and elusive, but a whiff could surely kill you.
Politically, it’s easy to campaign for, and support “green” goals. Renewable energy is necessary. However, it’s neither easy, nor necessary, watching my wife weep, day after day, a shell of the person I married, angered at the life lost to the 24/7 “green monster”.
It’s not easy, nor necessary, to get the “bejesus” scared out of me because the lack of a good night sleep has left fatigue to stealing my attention, and two aircraft over Martha’s Vineyard have a near midair collision. What if they had collided? What of the trust the widows and children bestowed upon me?
If politicians and wind decision makers walked a mile of these experiences, only then would they “get it”. They, or anyone else not living the 24/7 nightmare ‘gots no skin in the game’!
Politicians must realize, to do a better job and to make an effective effort to “serve and protect”, they need only ask the fundamental question, as the outgoing Attorney General, now Senator, from the State of Connecticut recently did before arriving at the obvious conclusion, that wind energy is “fundamentally incompatible” with the legitimate societal goals of high standards of health, safety and quality of life in residential development; historic preservation; and conservation.
No question. It remains, a question of trust.
Respectfully,
Mark J. Cool
Husband, Citizen, Air Traffic Controller
Falmouth, MA
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/26/a-question-of-trust/