Latest Property Loss Study is Garbage In, Garbage Out
The MassCEC commissioned and funded a newly-released study, “Relationship between Wind Turbines and Residential Property Values in Massachusetts.”
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.
Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts 
This would be a study for the ages………….”The relationship between the Wind Industry, Government Agencies, and the Political influence used in the production of Fraudulent Studies.” It would probably be a several thousands page read. The interviews with former employees and biased media representatives would be especially enlightening.
This is just a rehash of prior studies by Ben Hoen and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the wind industry go-to hires when you want a study with this result. There are more than four obvious problems The studies they’ve done look at homes within a radius of from 10 – 50 miles, when the impact is on a much smaller radius, thus enabling averaging of unaffected homes into the equation. Sales of homes that were bought out by wind developers at their pre-wind turbine market value are factored in at their buy-out price, bolstering their conclusion. Homes that won’t sell due to the close proximity of wind turbines cannot count as sales and that skews the results their way too. Here’s are a few links that offer a glimpse at the other and more truthful side of this issue:
1) http://www.windturbinepropertyloss.org/
2) http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/wind-turbines-hurt-property-value-zb0z1303zpit.aspx#axzz2RXdV2YLi
3) http://www.ens.dk/node/2021 (Denmark mandates wind companies compensate homeowners)
4) http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1151369/ontario-court-allows-lawsuits-against-wind-company-and-landowners-just-a-matter-of-time
It would be interesting to get an overview critic of the CEC’s report from the Mass association of Appraisers… since this study speaks directly to their job.