May 25, 2012
Massachusetts

Board of Health holds turbine public hearing

Falmouth Patch | falmouth.patch.com 25 May 2012

The Falmouth Board of Health held a public hearing last night to air residents’ concerns about living near the town-owned wind turbines.

According to the Cape Cod Times, about 30 residents testified at an emergency Board of Health hearing last night that was held to address abutters’ concerns about living near the town’s two 1.65-megawatt turbines off Blacksmith Shop Road.

Speakers were required to submit written testimony beforehand and tell the board how the turbines had impacted their health and well-being. While resident Mark Cool testified that his turbine-induced sleep deprivation nearly caused him to be responsible for a midair collision at his job as an air traffic controller, another abutter, Diane Funfar, told the board that the turbines had caused her husband, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, to increase his alcohol consumption, according to the Times.

The Board of Health will now deliver residents’ statements to the state Department of Public Health in hopes the agency will offer guidance on how to proceed.

Last week, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection released a study that declared that Falmouth’s Wind 1 turbine exceeds an acceptable noise level. And earlier this month, the Falmouth Board of Selectmen voted to shut down Wind 1, one of the town’s 1.65-megawatt turbines off Blacksmith Shop Road, from 7pm to 7am daily.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/05/25/board-of-health-holds-turbine-public-hearing/