Firetower Wind Predicts Deja-Vu on WESRA

In his post on the wind siting bill (“WESRA: Recycling Bad Legislation” 11/29/13), Mark Cool of Falmouth  anticipates that “December 3rd will likely be deja-vu day on Beacon Hill when state lawmakers hear testimony regarding the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act (WESRA). “ He reminds us of what citizens have said before about wind siting:

It was just over 2 years ago (Oct 20, 2011) when 8 hours of testimony on the same bill proposals (by the same two) was entertained by the same committee at the Barnstable High School.  During the daylong hearing, committee members, joined by almost every member of the Cape delegation, heard from nearly one hundred speakers who either praised the bills for a clean energy future or the horrors of living near large wind turbines.

Neil Andersen of Falmouth told of his experiences [watch the YouTube clip].  (Then and current) committee co-chairman  Sen. Benjamin Downing, (D-Pittsfield), said the committee would ask the state Department of Environmental Protection and the state Department of Public Health to meet with Falmouth residents as part of a review of health impacts from the operation of wind turbines.  Did that happen?  NO.

DEP spokesman Edmund Coletta said to the committee back then, “We have just learned of this request today, and we are looking forward to discussing this idea with the committee.”  When in reality, the DEP had been notified of the Falmouth wind turbine problem as early as March 2011.  The Falmouth Board of Health had dispatched a letter to the DEP requesting urgent guidance regarding the existence of a potential wind turbine nuisance condition.  A side-stepping mischaracterization of the actual truth perhaps?