September 16, 2017
Letters, Massachusetts

Hawley, too, has reason to worry about turbines

Letter: Hawley, too, has reason to worry about turbines | The Berkshire Eagle | September 15, 2017 | www.berkshireeagle.com

I live in Hawley and on Aug. 24 I attended a hearing in Savoy. The stated purpose of this meeting was changing Savoy’s wind turbine bylaw to allow for larger blades on turbines that Minute Man Wind and Palmer Capital Corp. plan to build in Savoy. However, it became clear that many Savoy residents have doubts about living with these massive machines.

Lindsay Deane-Mayor, project manager for Palmer Capital Corp., and John Tynan, chairman of the Savoy Select Board, fielded most of the questions and concerns expressed. Ms. Deane-Mayer dismissed concerns about infrasound impacts, saying that there is no consensus about it. Meanwhile, there are more than 700 documented complaints about the turbines her father, Gordon Deane, built in Scituate and Fairhaven, but she does not seem to have heard of noise problems. She could give no information about the route that would be used to bring these huge blades into town. She said that they would not know until after the turbines were purchased.

An Eagle article stated that some townspeople complained that there were too many people from out of town at the hearing. The turbine site is right on Hawley’s border, so I felt that I and others had a right to be there. Michael Fairney and Nancy Shea spoke with feeling about their experiences with living near wind turbines. Nancy said that she was supportive of turbines until she lived with them. She and her husband have abandoned their home in Florida. “We need to hear this,” said a man behind me when attempts were made to to stop her from speaking.

I find complaints about people from “out of town” being at the hearing ironic. No people could be farther out of town than representatives of Minuteman Wind and Palmer Capital Corp. They won’t live with these industrial machines.

Kathryn (Trina) Sternstein,

Hawley


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/09/16/hawley-too-has-reason-to-worry-about-turbines/