June 10, 2013
Massachusetts

Fairhaven wind turbines ordered off at night

ABC 6 | June 10, 2013 | www.abc6.com

Applause broke out the Fairhaven Town Hall, after the Board of Health voted to shut down the Fairhaven wind turbines from 7 at night until 7 every morning, effective immediately.

The Health Department received over 400 complaints.

“What people are experiencing is chronic sleeplessness, being woken up in the middle of the night. They are experiencing headaches. What’s really, really hard for some of the families is that some of the children are affected” said Louise Barteau, a wind turbine opponent.

The decision brought tears to some who’ve fought the turbine battle for years.

Dawn Devlin, a wind turbine opponent said, “It’s enough for now, so that for the people who are affected, can get some sleep and get healthy again.”

ABC6 Chief Political Reporter Mark Curtis said, “For now the shutdown of the wind turbines is a temporary solution, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. But if the developer does not find a permanent solution to the noise problems, they could be shut down for good.”

The developers of Fairhaven Wind – which operates the turbines – attended the meeting, but declined our request for an interview.

In a surprise move the Board of Selectmen voted that Fairhaven Wind had breached its lease because of noise violations, and it has 30 days to fix them.

Dr. Barbara Acksen, from the Fairhaven Board of Health said, “We had been told that if the DEP found that the turbines were in non-compliance, that they would direct the Select Board to shut them down, and I was very surprised that they didn’t.”

Testing showed that the wind turbines were too loud, especially at night.

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URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/06/10/fairhaven-wind-turbines-ordered-off-at-night/