October 17, 2012
Massachusetts

Scituate: Board of Health defers action on wind turbine health issue

By John Penny | October 17, 2012 | 95.9 WATD-M

The Scituate Board of Health met Monday night to address the complaints of neighbors regarding what they claim are detrimental health effects caused by the town’s wind turbine.

Residents have been complaining about headaches, nausea and sleepless nights caused by the town’s new wind turbine near Driftway.

Gordon Dean, the President of Palmer Management, which manages the wind turbine, told the board that they’re willing to work with them on the issue.

“If you’d like we can help you visit resident’s homes to experience what the impact is. We’ll walk around at 3 o’clock in the morning with you if that what it takes, to help understand what people are hearing and what the possible impact could be,” Dean said.

The Board of Health agreed to meet in two weeks, to determine if a consultant should be hired to conduct a noise study, to see if Scituate Wind is in violation of their permit and to determine the feasibility of operating the turbine intermittently, until the impact on neighbors can be determined.

Tom Thompson lives about 3,000 feet from the wind turbine and said he’s skeptical about the board delaying action on the issue.

“I’ve been in business since 1983 and have been involved in community groups and organizations similar to this in other communities I’ve lived in and there’s a consistent pattern and it’s usually to defer, delay, to study, to analyze and not make a decision, because in some respects it’s the easiest thing for these folks to do and we’re going to hold their feet to the fire!” Thompson said.

Neighbors have asked the Board of Health to make a decision on the issue within the next 30 days.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/10/17/scituate-board-of-health-defers-action-on-wind-turbine-health-issue/