National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Latest property loss study is garbage in, garbage out

This study is an embarrassment to the Patrick Administration and a complete waste of tax payer dollars. The methodology is flawed and much of the findings are very questionable.

Instead of paying researchers in California and Connecticut to determine the value of properties near wind turbines, the Mass CEC could easily have interviewed realtors, appraisers, and homeowners near the turbines.

Or they could have even looked at a previously published study by a nationally recognized appraiser that showed that, in Falmouth alone, homes near the turbines decreased by an average of 27 per cent.

The same independent appraiser, who has conducted more than 20 appraisals of homes near existing or proposed-land based wind turbine projects, has estimated that home values near the turbines plummet by 15 to 40 percent.

There are four obvious problems with the report commissioned by the Mass CEC:

Neither of the researchers are licensed appraisers, so they have no expertise in assessing the value of property.
There is no way to accurately compare the impact on the value of homes a few thousand feet from the turbines to those five miles away – which is what the study does.
There is no evidence that they visited any community in Massachusetts.
The Mass CEC is not exactly a disinterested party as that agency is a strong proponent of wind turbines in Massachusetts.

Patrick Cassidy, reporting for the Cape Cod Times issued an article today, “Study: Wind turbines don’t hurt home values.”