January 10, 2014
Letters, Massachusetts

Wind mitigation plan fails on several points

January 10, 2014 | www.southcoasttoday.com

On Monday, Jan. 6, board of Health Chairwoman Jeanine Lopes and member Peter DeTerra voted to accept the November 2013 Fairhaven Wind Mitigation Plan. By doing so, they continue to ignore the growing body of scientific evidence on industrial turbines and human health.

This plan fails to give meaningful relief to the 60 families who have lodged 624 unanswered complaints with the Board of Health. It is wrong for the town to accept any mitigation plan that does not allow everyone to get a full night’s sleep. According to the National Institute of Health, children ages 5 to 10 need approximately 10 to 11 hours of sleep a night.

Shutting the turbines down from 12 to 4 a.m. is not enough to give anyone a good night’s sleep, but it is a real concern for school-aged children and newborns.

And I have said it before, but I will point it out again – the DEP only tested between 12 and 4. That does not mean the turbines are only out of compliance during those hours. Those are just the hours that they tested.

Fairhaven Wind is counting on our lack of understanding of the process and our misinterpretation of the results.

Moreover, this plan was negotiated behind closed doors and voted on without any public hearing or testimony from the Fairhaven citizens who are being harmed. They continue to be shut out of the process. Meaningful participation in decisions that affect their health and well-being should be a right for every citizen in this town, this state, and this country.

Where is the independent investigation into the 624 unanswered complaints? Where is the independent acoustic analysis of Fairhaven Wind’s mitigation plan? Doing nothing is no answer, and it leaves the town wide open for further legal action.

Louise Barteau

Fairhaven


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/01/10/wind-mitigation-plan-fails-on-several-points/