Not admitting mistakes
The Falmouth Enterprise | December 23, 2017 | www.capenews.net
No one in this town is sicker than I over this never-ending controversy and litigation of wind turbines. I wish someone would write and publish an accurate account of this lengthy ordeal and finally put the subject to rest.
It really is so simple. A wind turbine was proposed. The size would have worked out perfectly fine at the wastewater treatment facility. Then a major mistake was made to substitute a turbine 2 1⁄2 times larger than that originally proposed. Very few people knew about this switch, for which the Massachusetts MTA/CEC was involved. The town ignored the turbine manufacturer’s warning of the likelihood of excessive noise and also failed to issue a special permit as required by town bylaws. Then town officials would not admit to their mistake and have dragged us through year after year of litigation.
Now, after the courts have ruled the turbines a nuisance and shut them down, the Friends of Falmouth Wind are saying that “much has changed technically, financially, legally, and politically since the failure of the Wind Turbine Options Process to find middle ground.”
I say nothing has changed. For this sized turbine there is no location on the WWTF property that affords a proper setback.
We neighbors attempted to use the democratic process of Town Meeting to correct the turbine problem. A Town Meeting member yelled us down and told us to use the courts. That we did and here we are today with inoperable wind turbines. And seemingly, at least from my observations, town officials still have not admitted to their mistakes.
Barry A. Funfar, Ridgeview Drive, Falmouth
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/12/24/not-admitting-mistakes/