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Kingston: Hurry up and wait on wind turbine study impact
Credit: By Kathryn Gallerani | Wicked Local Kingston | Posted Feb 01, 2013 | www.enterprisenews.com ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
KINGSTON – The Board of Health has received a response from Kingston Wind Independence to its request that company officials consider taking action to mitigate the noise and flicker concerns of residents.
The letter (attached to this post), reviewed by town counsel Monday, essentially says that while willing to meet with the town about possible mitigation, the Independence turbine owners prefer to wait for the results of a sound study they have commissioned from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
In the letter to Town Counsel Jay Talerman dated Jan. 28, attorney Alan Shoer writes that the KWI owners “are committed to working with the town to engage in meaningful discussions concerning the ongoing success of the fully licensed, permitted wind turbine project, under the existing contracts and site lease with the town of Kingston.
“We know that there is an ongoing study being performed by the Mass CEC, concerning the measurements of acoustics in the region near the KWI turbine. We all look forward to the results of that study to inform the town and KWI in response to certain complaints from residents in the town. Once this Mass CEC study is completed we will have an opportunity to evaluate the results with you.”
It’s not the kind of response Board of Health Chairman Joe Casna said he wanted from the town’s business partner in the turbine project. The town leases the land for the turbine and receives an economic benefit from its operation.
“I wish that the commitment was more aggressive in terms of working toward mitigating measures,” he said.
Leland Road resident Doreen Reilly said it’s obvious from their inaction that the owners of Kingston Wind refuse to acknowledge the nightmare she, her family and other residents are living due to noise and flicker from the turbine.
“It’s so discouraging,” she said. “I’m really disappointed. They’re saying, it’s a business, they need to make their money. They don’t care about us.”
The Board of Health was scheduled to meet earlier this week to discuss the scope of the sound study, but that meeting has been postponed to 6 p.m. this Monday, Feb. 4. The CEC did not have the scope of the wind study ready as had been expected.
Reilly cannot believe the delay. She said CEC has been committed to doing a sound study since July or at least since last fall.
“I believe that the CEC is trying to wait out the winter, because it’s not a good season to be studying sound if you want it to come under compliance,” she said.
She wonders how KWI’s attorney can say the study is ongoing when it hasn’t even started yet, when the scope hasn’t been presented to the Board of Health.
“Are these people even communicating with each other?” she asks.
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