2015 Testimony on H2032–Jim Aylward

The Joint Committee on Public Health heard testimony on July 28, 2015 on H2032 – Resolve to establish a commission to study the health impacts from wind turbines to protect the health of the citizens of the commonwealth, sponsored by Representative Sarah Peake.

Jim Aylward submitted this testimony on July 28, 2015 to the Joint Commission on Public Health.

Good afternoon.  My name is Jim Aylward and I am here from Belmont and Nantucket.

I was a legislative aide to a state representative here in the State House many years ago, and served as Town Administrator for the Town of Boxford for almost five years.  In 1988, I co-founded one of the first GIS mapping software companies in America, which was headquartered in Cambridge and Washington, DC.

I became involved in the wind turbine debate when the Town of Nantucket proposed to build a large turbine too close to where people lived and worked.  I met and spoke with people from across the Commonwealth who were suffering from having turbines built too close to their homes.

I would recommend that the eventual members of this Commission, which I support, should go experience for ten minutes what some people endure for ten or twenty hours every day.  I have, and I was surprised at how loud turbines can be, even from a great distance.

Turbines are more than a nuisance. They are impacting people’s health every day in all corners of this Commonwealth.  Children.  Infants.  Grandparents.  Parents. Students.  Teachers.  Employees.  Employers.  All are impacted by the noise and vibration of turbines that are poorly located.

If we can put behind us the very real issues of turbines being too close to people for public health and safety issues, then communities can have healthy debates about the aesthetics of wind turbines.

There are two sides to every issue – it’s time that turbines’ impacts on people’s health and safety be heard.  I encourage you to advance House Bill 2032.