Scituate turbine impacts brought to Board of Health

Dave Dardi makes a point as Joanne Levesque looks on during the BOH meeting. Photo credit: Gary Higgins

In his Patriot Ledger article Neighbors blame windmill on Driftway for headaches, dizziness, Patrick Ronan reported the dilemma for Scituate posed by the Scituate Wind turbine, which has already caused headaches for residents. During the Board of Health meeting (11/14/12), a video clip of the strobing light that assaults the McKeever home on sunny days looped in the background.

Jessica Bartlett’s piece in Boston.com, Scituate turbine to remain on as Board of Health discusses next steps, also described the meeting, where two members would not support Francis Lynch’s motion to stop the turbines at night.

“It was pretty clear that the Board of Health, in not even providing a second to Mr. Lynch’s motion to at least shut it down in the evening, that there will not be any action in terms of a shutdown permanently or temporarily,” Tom Thompson, a Scituate resident and spokesman for the affected neighbors, said after the meeting. “As a community we will be considering how we want to respond to that.”

Instead the BOH voted to create a committee composed of BOH, resident, and Scituate Wind representatives to establish parameters for a new study of the turbines. Meanwhile, residents continue to suffer.

According to Driftway residents Mike and Lauren McKeever, the shadow flicker they experience three hours a day in their home, which is less than 1,000 feet from the turbine, is unbearable.
“You have no idea how difficult it is. We can’t go in any one of our rooms, we have to go in the basement or get out of the house. I’m so furious and so irritated by this. What am I supposed to do? What do you do? I have to leave my house from 1:30-3:30 every day it’s sunny out. That’s wrong… I’m a prisoner,” Mark McKeever said.