May 29, 2013
Letters, Massachusetts

DEP data show turbines must stop

May 29, 2013 | www.southcoasttoday.com

The results are in. The Fairhaven Industrial Wind Turbines have been found out of compliance with state noise regulations. The state Department of Environmental Protection and the developers, Fairhaven Wind, have been quick to try to minimize the findings.

Take a look at the numbers.

The turbines have been on most days and nights for just over a year. The DEP tested only nine nights out of 365.

On four out of those nine nights, the turbines were found to produce sound levels 10 decibels above ambient. Almost half.

The most significant number remains the more than 400 complaints made by the people who live in the 701 homes within 3,000 feet of these two turbines. These are the same people who waited patiently for over a year while these compliance tests were performed.

And now that the data is in, the owners of Fairhaven Wind and the DEP are quick to say that the turbines are only a little bit out of compliance.

Isn’t that like being a little bit pregnant? I don’t think it works that way!

I understand why Gordon Deane, Jim Sweeney and Sumul Shah want to minimize these findings. Fairhaven Wind makes money when the turbines are on.

But why is the DEP minimizing its own findings? Just who does the Department of Environmental Protection protect? I bet if we asked the folks who live near the turbines if they are feeling protected they would tell us, no, not so much.

The DEP has found what anyone who lives near these turbines knows already: These industrial turbines are too big, too loud and too close to too many people. They need to be shut down. Period. And the fact that the DEP knew this in November and didn’t tell the citizens of this town until May is pretty shocking. And even then they told the developers first.

Louise Barteau

Fairhaven

Editor’s Note: While the Fairhaven Board of Health reports that the hundreds of complaints have come from 56 homes, it will not release data on how close those homes are to the turbines.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/29/dep-data-show-turbines-must-stop/