LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

State agency weighs new turbine regulations 

Credit:  By Sean Teehan | Cape Cod Times | www.capecodonline.com 22 May 2012 ~~

State environmental officials may introduce new regulations to avoid placing wind turbines that exceed the state’s acceptable noise threshold near residential neighborhoods.

But ideas for possible new rules are far from concrete and have not yet been fully explored by officials at the Department of Environmental Protection.

“It is under consideration, but there’s been nothing written,” said Ed Coletta, a DEP spokesman. “Everything is still under review.”

DEP Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell did not have time on Monday to speak with a Times reporter, Coletta said.

DEP officials are exploring rules that would require turbine manufacturers to provide estimates of turbine noise levels and would require towns to consider the topography surrounding them, what kind of weather conditions they would likely face and how far they would be from the nearest homes, Coletta said.

DEP officials have not officially proposed any of these ideas, he said.

Falmouth Selectman Mary Pat Flynn said she had not had any communication with the state about possible new regulations.

The DEP started kicking around ideas to increase vigilance during the planning phase of turbine projects after a state-appointed panel in January found no evidence that noise and shadow flicker from turbines directly affect abutters, Coletta said.

Several residents decried the January report when it came out. But Falmouth residents who oppose wind turbines felt vindicated last week when the DEP announced a separate study of noise created by “Wind 1” – one of Falmouth’s two 1.65-megawatt turbines at the wastewater treatment plant on Blacksmith Shop Road – found it created more sound than allowed under state law.

State law limits turbine noise to 10 decibels above ambient noise in an area. For example, on the study’s first night, ambient noise at 211 Blacksmith Shop Road was measured at 29 decibels. The sound from the turbine reached just under 41 decibels, which meant the sound was about 2 decibels higher than the extra 10 decibels allowed. In light of the study, Falmouth’s selectmen agreed to shut off Wind 1 for 30 days while DEP officials test the turbine’s decibel level during the day.

Malcolm Donald, a turbine abutter and outspoken opponent of the turbines, said state officials and manufacturers should take greater steps to avoid building turbines that disturb neighbors. He said turbines in Fairhaven and Kingston that recently began spinning should also be studied for possible excessive noise.

“The people in Fairhaven are actually closer to their turbines than we are to ours,” Donald said. “How on earth they didn’t think it was going to be a problem over there when it was a problem here is beyond me.”

The state may conduct sound studies at turbines in Fairhaven and Kingston if they receive enough complaints, Coletta said. The DEP received some complaints from turbine neighbors in Kingston but not from Fairhaven residents, Coletta said. However, Coletta said, they have no immediate plans to test decibel levels at either site.

The DEP isn’t the only state agency looking into turbine regulations. Next week, the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives will receive a bill that would direct the DEP to establish statewide turbine siting standards. The standards would not be regulations, but could be used by communities as guidelines for the turbine building process.

The bill marks a stark change from a previous bill being considered by the state Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee that, in addition to creating siting standards, would have also expedited the permitting process for turbines in an effort to encourage more green energy. That bill was killed by the committee in January to allow standards to be set before permits are streamlined, according to committee staffers.

Coletta said the DEP does not currently review turbine projects before they are built unless they are being constructed on landfills or wetlands.

“In those cases we have to review and give them a permit for building on those locations, but that review isn’t concerned with sound,” Coletta said. “We are mainly looking at if the landfill can support the weight of the turbine or if the wetland will be damaged in the construction process.”

“There is nothing on the books that says we have to review turbines for sound or infrasound or flicker,” he added. “A bill from the state Legislature would give us more rights to do that.”

Ariel Wittenberg from The Standard-Times contributed to this report.

Source:  By Sean Teehan | Cape Cod Times | www.capecodonline.com 22 May 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon