Falmouth Town Meeting rejects Article 15
Mark Cool, April 11, 2023, mjoecool.wordpress.com
The citizen’s article asked Town Meeting to support soil testing on town land for possible cable landing sites associated with the cable landing necessary for the SouthCoast offshore wind energy project south of Martha’s Vineyard.
Town Meeting members signaled their opposition to playing host to a major offshore wind farm development that could lead to unforeseen and unwanted consequences.
The developer of the proposed offshore wind farm, according to Select Board Chair Nancy Taylor and Select Board member Doug Brown, SouthCoast Wind has not been good partners in working with the town.
The floor discussion included many references to similarities between this project and Falmouth’s previous land-based wind energy folly.
Town Meeting member Jed Goldstone urged Town Meeting to support the article stating that this article was only about collecting “a little more data“. But Member Judy Fenwick captured it best telling Town Meeting that only a few more soil samples was “the snout under the tent“. A metaphor for a situation where the permitting of a small, seemingly innocuous act will open the door for larger, clearly undesirable actions.
Well done Town Meeting! People can, & do learn from earlier mistakes!
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2023/04/11/falmouth-town-meeting-rejects-article-15/