Local Control Message to Beacon Hill
Although the headline sounds authoritative (Gov knocks wind farm siting bill fears), WWLP’s Christine Lee’s interviews with wind opponents suggest the “fears” are justified:
“If this bill goes through then there’ll be a state decision… overriding town government and that’s what we really don’t want to have happen, it would be disastrous actually, ecologically, economically and it’s just not a wise choice,” said Nancy Richards Marcus of Berkshire County.
House bill 4112 has been approved by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy and is advancing through the Legislature.
This Sunday Harley Keisch and Lisa Linowes host Wind Wise Radio’s news roundup. They interview Audra Parker, the President and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, about that organization’s call for a federal investigation. They also speak with former physics professor John P. Harrison about turbines aging badly, and in the third segment Wind Wise Radio discusses the Bureau of Land Management’s rejection of wind development on public lands in Lincoln County, Nevada.
In Massachusetts, Freedom of Information Act requests have turned up evidence of the massive political pressure put on the FAA to ignore its own experts who were worried about the danger posed to aircraft navigating Nantucket Sound.
The call for the investigation has been answered. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, who is leading the inquiry into Solyndra sees this as another instance of the Obama Administration pushing a dubious green energy project for political reasons. Since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency are involved in approving portions of this project, the wind farm also comes under the jurisdiction of Stearns’ subcommittee.
Said Stearns, “It appears that an investigation is warranted in the case of Cape Wind to determine if the FAA acted inappropriately due to political pressure from the Administration. I intend to work with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on this issue.
Wind turbines do not age gracefully.
We will speak with John P. Harrison, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Physics Department, Queens University Ontario about research indicating that capacity factors decline as wind turbines get older.
The capacity factor of a turbine is the actual output, measured over time, vs. the “nameplate” capacity claimed by the manufacturer. The capacity factor is determined by dividing the actual output with the maximum possible output.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has rejected an application from Wilson Creek Wind Company, LLC, to develop a wind generation project on public lands in Lincoln County, Nevada.
The proposed Wilson Creek Wind Project would have consisted of up to 350 wind turbines generating up to 990 megawatts of electricity on approximately 31,000 acres of the public lands in the Wilson Creek Range, including Mt. Wilson, Table and White Rock mountains, and Atlanta Summit. We will discuss the project.
Cape Wind FAA Sign-off Under Fire
Cape Wind‘s impact on air traffic has been spotlighted in a series of recent articles in the Boston Herald. A release of public documents has shed light on the fast-tracking of the 130-turbine project, despite concerns about air traffic raised with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
According to Christine McConville and John Zaremba, reporting in the Boston Herald (Cape Wind foes call for probe into pols’ ‘bully’ tactics, 6/20/12), Audra Parker and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound announced they had amassed a “trove of bombshell internal Federal Aviation Administration emails that suggest the agency buckled to political pressure and down-played fears that the 440-foot tall spinning turbines would interfere with radar and ensnare small, low-flying aircraft.” Parker had accused the FAA of “failing its statutory safety-first mandate” and stated in a letter, the “FAA has made decisions based on political factors rather than the recommendations of the local aviation community and even its own employees.”
In a June 15, 2012 Associated Press article in the Herald (Documents show FAA felt pressure to approve Cape Wind), details of the concerns raised by traffic controllers within the agency were noted: “…the FAA was attempting to address concerns shared by local air traffic controllers about radar reflections, or ‘clutter,’ expected from the wind farm’s rotating turbines. The clutter makes it extremely difficult for air traffic controllers to spot planes over the wind farm that aren’t equipped with the transponders that signal their location – usually smaller planes.”
Air Traffic Controller Mark Cool issued a separate statement regarding his experience at the FAA radar facility known as “Cape Approach:”
The clutter, false targets and blind spots make it extremely difficult for the air traffic controller to SAFELY do their job. If this is the condition with only 6 industrial size turbines, the effect would undeniably be worse with 130! If further proof that the CapeWind and on-shore turbine sites are too close to air traffic/military radar installations is necessary, simply google what has happened in Europe. “
Cool cites “a 2-year ‘trouble call’ log denoting controller-reported radar anomalies.” He asserts, “A correlation of evidence, by this log, exists between a higher volume of ‘trouble call’ incident reports and the operation of the 6 big on-shore wind turbines” in Falmouth.
CCT Editorial Supports Review of CVEC and CLC
In its editorial “Toward a full, fair review,” the Cape Cod Times affirms the call for further investigation of the Cape Light Compact (CLC) and the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC). The organizations have cozy interconnections and have been accused of a lack of transparency, especially in regard to financing renewable solar and wind projects. This editorial supports part of the report of the special committee of the Assembly of Delegates representing the Cape communities.
Wind Wise Tells it Like it Is
Thirty members of Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts carpooled to Beacon Hill from all over the state on Thursday 6/14/12 to let legislators know that two bills will wreak havoc on local control, affordable electricity, and human health.
The bills, expected to be released from committee in the last week of June, are highly controversial but to date have maintained a low profile. Wind Wise members, already alarmed at the number of people reporting adverse health effects from turbines in several locations, want their representatives to know that the details of the bills are far from transparent.
In her article Windwise lobbies against renewable energy bills, Ariel Wittenberg reported in South Coast Today that one bill, “‘An act relative to competitively priced electricity in the commonwealth,'” worries members of Wind Wise that
“net metering will actually put pressure on local municipalities to build wind turbines to support the new demand. They also are opposed to the bill doubling the amount of renewable energy utilities must obtain through 10- or 20-year contracts.
“Our concern is that this bill will actually have an opposite impact than the Legislature expects,” said Eleanor Tillinghast, an environmentalist who organized the Windwise lobbying effort. “You have these long-term contracts that lock in high, above-market rates.”
The other bill Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts opposes, H.4112, gives a quasi state agency, the Energy Facilities Siting Board, the power to create regulations for siting industrial wind turbines without any input from towns where the wind power plants would be located.
For more on this, see coverage in Green Berkshires.
The forum organized by Kingston Wind Aware on Thursday June 7, received local press on the 15th from Wicked Local Kingston, including this video, in the piece by Kathryn Gallerani.
Christine Legere, writing in the Boston Globe, captured the health concerns voiced at last week’s Kingston forum in her article, Kingston residents press for wind turbine testing.
According to Dan Crowley’s reporting in Northampton’s Daily Hampshire Gazette, the scenic vistas enjoyed by local residents and tourists alike may eventually be marred by a turbine development to benefit the city of Holyoke’s Gas & Electric Department. This industrial park on what a subsequent Gazette editorial termed “a valuable western Massachusetts resource” would further harm the area The Gazette’s reporting indicates that the Holyoke utility initially planned a 5-turbine development, but the site was vetoed by the FAA. Other options are under consideration.
Shelburne–With 30% of town voters casting ballots, John Wheeler won a seat on the Shelburne Planning Board according to Diane Broncaccio, reporting in the Greenfield Recorder. Wheeler beat incumbent Christopher Davenport’s write-in bid by a 3-to-1 margin. Selectman John Payne was successful in his re-election effort. Shelburne Wind, the coalition of Shelburne and Buckland residents fighting the Mt. Massaemet turbine development proposal, supported the two candidates.
Falmouth–Taking health complaints of 47 residents seriously, the Falmouth Board of Health drafted a letter asking the Mass. Department of Public Health to undertake a turbine impacts study. The action was voted on at their Monday June 11, 2012 meeting. Brent Runyon reported in the Falmouth Enterprise,
“This appeal is compelled by two years of consistent and persistent complaints of health impacts during turbine operation,” wrote board member George Heufelder in a draft of the letter. He also noted that requesting a study on the health impacts of wind turbines is unusual….
Chairman Gail A. Harkness compiled the written testimony of affected neighbors into a spreadsheet and gave an updated tally of complaints. Of the 47 people who gave testimony about the health effects from wind turbines, 40 said they have trouble sleeping, 25 reported an increase in stress, 21 reported mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, 15 reported hearing problems, 12 reported cognitive difficulties, 11 said they have headaches, and 10 people reported increased blood pressure or atypical heart rhythms.
Minnesota — Vermont — California Sun. 6/10/2012 7pm ET
Conflict in Minnesota—Accusations of eagle baiting and harrassment have been thrown around and ended up in court and the news. We will be speaking with Mary Hartman and Kristi Rosenquist about the latest with the AWA Goodhue wind project.
A tongue-in-cheek proposal for a wind “park” in the waters of Vermont’s Lake Champlain has provoked a flurry of media attention and discussion.
In Southern California, the fast-tracked give away of public lands for the Ocotillo Express wind development has attracted at least three lawsuits.
The Ocotillo project is destroying habitat and bulldozing significant native American cultural sites. A 5-day vigil was held by tribe members. We will speak with our contributor, Miriam Raftery, the editor of East County Magazine about the latest efforts to stop this senseless destruction. An open letter to President Obama to meet with tribal leaders has been ignored. The tribes have invited the public to attend another educational event on June 23rd. Meanwhile the destruction continues.
Must-watch Video from Down Under
This news video from South Australia hits all the issues with industrial wind development–and shows the cost of abandoned homes on individuals and a community. A 5-minute follow-up report the next night describes the strong interest viewers had in the initial report.
- They are not environmentally friendly.They do not reduce greenhouse gases.
- In addition to being very expensive, they are an add-on to our system for providing eclectic power .
- They are a drag on the economy.
- The annoyance and ill effects they cause is for nothing in return.
- Large numbers of birds and bats are dying for nothing.
- They cannot and will not replace fossil fuel
- You cannot trade the health of wind turbine abutters for those affected by fossil fuel.
- The money wasted on wind can better be spent researching for real alternatives.
Kingston Forum Meets, Falmouth Wind Neighbors Don’t
A Kingston forum organized by Tim Dwyer of Kingston Wind Aware drew a crowd of 60 to the auditorium on Thursday, June 7 2012. The panel of Eleanor Tillinghast, Dr. John Cowl, Preston Ribnick and Kathryn Elder presented four different aspects of concerns about turbines with the emphasis on health effects.
Audience members included many people who live near or are impacted by the turbines as well as a wind developer and a former town selectman who supports turbines. Wind Aware is trying to bring to the public facts that did not receive an airing in the permitting process because as a “Green Community” Kingston’s wind turbines enjoyed “as of right” expedited siting. Several attendees asked for details about how to bring complaints about noise, sleep disruption, light strobing through the blades, and other concerns. They expressed worry about the well-being of their children, whose school is within a half mile of one or more turbines. From the parking lot, two turbines loomed over the outdoor playing fields as practice was held in the after-storm light of late afternoon.
The Falmouth “consensus-building” process met a hurdle this week when the Wind Neighbors met with the Selectmen’s “Option Analysis” group on June 6, 2012 to explain their resistance to taking seats reserved for them. The Falmouth Wind Turbine Option Analysis Group (FWTOAG) is a state-supported project to find solutions to turbine impacts. The Wind Neighbors insist that the turbines must first be shut down to preserve their health.
A press release and text of Kathryn Elder’s statement follows: Read more…
Wind Wise ~ Massachusetts 