Falmouth Town Meeting Talks Turbine Again

There will be a brief report from the Wind Turbines Options Process at the beginning of Town Meeting. Articles 3, 35, 41 and 42 are all turbine-related, on a warrant of 57 articles. Article 42 is succinct: Shut down Wind I and Wind II–it is also, unfortunately, non-binding.  Article 3 is the new wind turbine zoning article.  While the noise and complaint section is lacking, Falmouth turbine opponents recommend supporting this article.  They recommend opposing Article 35, which adopts the State’s model turbine bylaw. Article 41 would support the Selectmen and WTOP.

Mark Cool knows what he’s talking about when he says, “Stop Feeding the ‘White Elephants.'” He’s lived with, been sleep-deprived by, and opposed continued operation of Falmouth’s two town-owned turbines.

Falmouth could validate its wind turbine moratorium by passing a zoning article at Tuesday’s town meeting, but passing it would conflict with relocating the two turbines to a less harmful location. This is according to Sean Teehan’s article in the Cape Cod Times.

Zoning requirements under the new bylaw would prevent Falmouth from moving two 1.65-megawatt town-owned turbines — “Wind 1” and “Wind 2” — at the wastewater treatment plant on Blacksmith Shop Road to a spot about two miles away from Camp Edwards on the Massachusetts Military Reservation.