A Pinocchio (Gov. Patrick) Paradox
Mark Cool | Falmouth Patch | June 12, 2013 | falmouth.patch.com
Kingston – acoustical testing finds three wind turbines out of compliance with state noise regulations.
Scituate – conducting a noise study due to numerous noise complaints.
Fairhaven – the Board of Health unanimously voted to shut down the town’s two wind turbines between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m due to state noise violations. The Board of Selectmen voted to put the turbines’ developers on 30 days notice because the turbines violate the contract between developers and the Board of Selectmen.
Falmouth – acoustical testing finds one tested turbine out of complience with state noise regulations. The Zoning Board of Appeals declares town turbines a ‘nuisance.’ Town wind turning a municipal dollar deficit.
Towns across south eastern Massachusetts are wrestling with their community’s “wind-bust.” Their once eagerly anticipated “wind-rush” prospecting has died at the hands of political blow-hards and deceit.
The Nugget
Noise studies provided to the communities by the developers did NOT accurately assess the impact on the communities from noise (in Falmouth’s case – consultants sponsored by the State’s Clean Energy Center). The studies, rather, enabled developers or town officials to easily obtain “building” and “use” permits (in Falmouth’s case – the town itself was in the conspicuous capacity of being both developer and permit grantor)
“Going green” has become the new ‘gold rush’ anthem, hawked by political and wind industry salesmen. Volunteer boards, committees and town residents all across our region were told, and we all believed – we’d be rich!
The Shaft
A deeper secret becoming apparent is that by providing false and misleading estimates to “prove” that the wind energy projects would be in compliance with applicable noise standards, developers were regulated by noise standards that did not adequately regulate. The current noise limit standards are seemingly not at all effective at either protecting residents or predicting accurate noise impact from ‘real-time’ wind turbine operation noise. Which begs the question – could it be the the regulators and policy makers knew about this problem well before all these commercial megawatt turbine installations went up in our south shore communities?
The Claim-Jumper
Mark Twain once wrote ~ “Ours is a useful trade, a worthy calling. With all its lightness and frivolity; it has one serious purpose, one aim, one specialty: the deriding of shams—the exposure of pretentious falsities, the laughing of stupid superstitions out of existence. And that whoso is, by instinct, engaged in this sort of warfare is the natural enemy of royalties, nobilities, privileges and all kindred swindles and the natural friend of human rights and human liberties.”
More appropriate to the context of the story, it’s said “a gold miner is a liar standing next to a hole in the ground.”
It’s time to start drawing conclusions about who are the new miners and who’s doing the lying in the land based wind energy boondoggle! Who’s nose grows with each new mega-watt wind energy installment too close to people. Governor? Your thought?
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/06/13/a-pinocchio-gov-patrick-paradox/