Falmouth Enterprise 3/29/11 – Board Of Health Takes Step Toward Study Of Noise From Town Turbine
Board Of Health Takes Step Toward Study Of Noise From Town Turbine
Falmouth Enterprise – 3/29/2011
By ELISE R. HUGUS
Falmouth Board of Health will take steps to encourage a study of the health effects that residents say are caused by the town-owned wind turbine on Blacksmith Shop Road. The board will also support Town Meeting Article 8, which calls for a moratorium on the further construction of wind turbines until their impact on residential neighborhoods can be studied.
At its meeting last night, the board voted to ask the Department of Public Health for guidance in conducting a study of the Falmouth wind turbine, a step board members deemed necessary before taking further action. “The first step is to ask for guidance from the state. It’s not necessary to wait for them to do [the study],” board member George R. Heufelder assured residents. With complaints ranging from high blood pressure to a reduced quality of life, residents said the board should do more to protect them. “I don’t understand why my town’s board of health can’t do anything about citizens’ health. I feel like you’re pushing us off,” said Kathie C. Mount of Blacksmith Shop Road.
Mr. Heufelder explained that the board’s responsibility is to make sure regulations set by state agencies and town bylaws are met; and if not, they are enforced. In the case of the turbines, no health risks have been established and noise limits have not been proven to have been exceeded. “The closest parallel to what you have is a noise complaint,” Mr. Heufelder said. “Laws that deal with annoyance are written in clear terms. We don’t have en- forcement capability until that clear and present line is drawn.”
Mark J. Cool, a resident of FireTower Road, said living near the wind turbine is like living next to a loud party. The difference, he said, is that he could call the police to enforce a nighttime noise ordinance, whereas now, he has no recourse for action. “The problem is there is no immediate response to resolving this issue, because it isn’t considered an issue,” Mr. Cool said. The noise becomes a health issue because it disrupts people’s sleep, he added, pointing out that lack of sleep can become a health risk. “We can all agree that sleep deprivation is a health effect. It’s similar to when there’s a potential for bacteria in the water: we get a boil water order,” he said.
Chairman Gail A. Harkness pointed out that drinking water contaminant risks and thresholds “are very well established.” Assistant Health Agent Scott McGann explained that when he investigates noise complaints— for instance, from a restaurant exhaust fan—he turns off the source of the noise in order to get a reading of the background noise level. To do so with the wind turbine would be more complicated, he said.
In addition, the Department of Environmental Protection merely sets a guideline of 10 decibels over ambient sound as a guideline. The board debated whether that regulation is concrete enough to enforce. “We could just request that the DEP enforce their regulation,” Mr. Heufelder said.
About a dozen residents in the audience urged the board to take steps to monitor the noise levels from the turbine, based on a complaint log that Mr. McGann said is soon to be established on the town’s website. Dr. Harkness noted that only the board of selectmen or the town manager has the authority to shut down the turbine. In the board’s recent experience with trying to enforce a solid waste regulation, she pointed out, the selectmen did not respond to requests for assistance. Blacksmith Shop Road resident Brian W. Elder said the burden of proof should be on the town, as owner and operator of the turbine, to determine whether its turbine is exceeding noise limits.
Mr. Heufelder said the best that the board could do is advise selectmen of the noise complaints and the proper procedure for verifying them. He said he would draft a letter asking for advice on how to proceed. “If there is no way to stop it, the board can make some reasonable assumptions,” he said, based on previous studies that determined the average ambient noise in the neighborhood. Mr. McGann said the town would have to purchase a sound meter, because until now, noise complaints were too infrequent to warrant owning one. On a request from Blacksmith Shop Road resident Todd A. Drummey, the board also voted to support Article 8 at the upcoming Annual Spring Town Meeting. “I’m happy to support that. As we talked about, we don’t have the data we need,” said board member Jared V. Goldstone.
