March 4, 2018
Letters, Massachusetts

Disposition of turbines

Disposition Of Turbines - Letter | The Falmouth Enterprise | March 3, 2018 | www.capenews.net

To the majority of Falmouth residents it is clear that our municipal officeholders made a extremely important error when they decided to accept the sale of Wind 1 that was erected several years ago.

The turbine was secondhand, it was deemed by the industry and the state permitting bureau to need to be a certain distance, because of its size, from residents, schools, locations where people work and who could be affected by the turbine in action. The Falmouth building commissioner and others decided that since the turbine was being bought by the town and not by a private person or company, a permit from the state was not necessary. Later a second turbine was placed near Wind 1 and also too near some of the residents.

Then, several years later, the situation has been deemed unlawful. Still without a permit, the Town of Falmouth was ordered to shut down both Wind 1 and Wind 2 by Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty II in June 2017.

The idea by some few citizens of Falmouth that taking them down would cause a negative opinion of Falmouth and wind power in general is absurd. Conversely, Falmouth would be respected for acknowledging that these turbines have been harmful to human beings in close proximity, as has happened in some incidents worldwide, and would have no negative effect whatever on the belief that wind energy is beneficial to our campaign against climate change. Wind energy is a huge new technology that is acceptable worldwide.

To remove the turbines will be costly, but it must be done as has been ordered by the judge. The cost is entirely the fault of the government of Falmouth, and we must bear that cost and end the problem. It is possible that they could be placed and used to benefit the town in other locations, or sold where they could be erected with permits.

There is a small group of people who would rather not bear the cost of putting this problem behind us, and it is a small minority of the citizens of Falmouth. They do not honor the rights of the residents whose lives and homes have been harmed. All United States citizens have the right under the US Constitution to not be harmed in their homes by their government.

Alison A. Robb, Needles Lane, North Falmouth

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/03/04/disposition-of-turbines/