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

Staples to test wind turbine plan 

FRAMINGHAM – Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … a wind turbine?

If Staples officials have their way, they’ll soon be allowed to erect a tower that’s twice the town’s height limit of 80 feet in an effort to cut their energy costs by 20 percent a year.

Peter Barbieri, attorney for Staples, last night unveiled some details to the Zoning Board of Appeals of the office-supply giant’s plans to construct a 159-foot wind mast that would test the feasibility of a turbine behind its headquarters for a year. The board must approve the height variance.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative will pay for the feasibility study and part of the permanent construction, he said.

If the testing goes well, said Barbieri, Staples would build its permanent turbine – topped with three 77-foot-long blades that would put the maximum height at almost 240 feet – on the 30-acre site at 225 Crossing Boulevard.

Reaction at last night’s meeting was mixed, with most in the audience saying they support the concept of alternate energy sources, but had hoped to at least see drawings. Barbieri promised those for the next hearing Dec. 11.

“You’re asking us to guess,” said Town Meeting member David Marks. “It may not be as ugly as some of us think.”

Despite the height, said board member Karl Thober, most turbines are “almost totally silent.”

Barbieri noted that the turbine would be at least 1,000 feet from the Massachusetts Turnpike and 1,800 feet from any Framingham residence, but could be as close as 800 feet from homes in Ashland and Southborough.

Most people in the audience didn’t believe Barbieri’s assertion that the turbine wouldn’t be seen from homes.

“This will be seen for 10 miles,” said Precinct 10 Town Meeting member Bill McCarthy. “This town has enough issues with properties being negatively impacted by what’s in the neighborhood.”

Fellow Town Meeting member Dennis Paulsen agreed.

“You’re going to see this thing from the Weston (state) police barracks,” he said.

Precinct 1 Town Meeting member Kevin Crotty, though, believes Staples’ years as a good corporate neighbor should count for something.

“They should be commended for doing something positive,” he said.

By D. Craig MacCormack/Daily News staff
GateHouse News Service

The MetroWest Daily News

14 November 2007

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