To the editor:
The town of Oakfield is on track to become the second town in Aroostook County to host a large commercial wind farm with 34 turbines of 1.5 megawatts capacity each. Oakfield, like many small towns, has no ordinance in place to control or regulate this type of large commercial development and thus the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) is the only official reviewing authority.
MDEP has recently completed a review of the First Wind compiled data required for permitting of the Oakfield project. The DEP permit was issued on Jan. 21. There is no doubt that production of electrical power from wind turbines can have a future in many Maine communities and also in Oakfield, but there are aspects of the current development approach that are extremely troubling. One does not have to look very far to see glaring examples of errors made in wind farm development, errors that we as a state seem determined to keep repeating.
The Mars Hill wind power project was an MDEP reviewed and approved project. Once operational it demonstrated a level of turbine noise that even today continues to disrupt lives for some residents. This is noise that also can potentially cause serious health issues for some people. Seventeen legal actions in Mars Hill citing noise and shadow flicker clearly testify to a seriously flawed review and permitting process.
The turbine setback distances in the Mars Hill project were not adequate to protect downwind residents. Close inspection of the turbine setback distances approved for Oakfield show that they are disturbingly similar to Mars Hill. Rather than significantly increase setback distances in Oakfield over what was used in Mars Hill, it appears that the developer instead chose to obtain noise easements from property owners and thereby limit any future legal action. Turbine noise issues are also evident in Freedom and Vinalhaven, Maine and Cohocton, N.Y. to name a few.
Inadequate setback between turbines and homes is clearly causing numerous noise and shadow flicker complaints, lawsuits and even serious health issues for some people in our state. Yet Maine stubbornly persists in using the same flawed permitting criteria that was shown to be inadequate in Mars Hill and inadequate in Vinalhaven. After the turbines are installed and the noise starts, the means for rectifying the negative impact on nearby residents are limited. Turbines that are nearly 400 feet tall and solidly anchored on the high ridges are not easily movable.
Clearly, the time to address setback issues is prior to installation. Although the number of Maine communities experiencing severe noise issues after turbine installation is steadily increasing, our MDEP and Legislature remain on the sidelines.
We know that low frequency noise is generated by wind turbines. We know that low frequency noise is attenuated less over distance and by structures such as the walls of homes. We know that low frequency noise can cause secondary vibrations within structures. It is also becoming alarmingly clear that high levels of low frequency noise can have serious impact on health for some people.
In spite of this knowledge, Maine continues to limit noise with only an antiquated dBA criteria, a criteria and measurement that basically ignores low frequency noise. Why? The science is straightforward and the same instruments that measure dBA levels can measure dBC noise levels.
Evidently only increased public awareness and public demand for action will result in essential regulatory changes being made. A Google of “Dr. Nina Pierpont” or “Wind Turbine Syndrome” is suggested as one of many readily available online sources for pertinent, in-depth, peer reviewed information and concrete recommendations for adequate turbine setback distances.
The current practice of making homes unlivable and property unusable in order to develop wind energy is not right and is not necessary. The solution is as simple as providing adequate setback from homes in the development stage of the project. The ball is in the court of the MDEP and they have yet to respond to a need that becomes ever more clear with each new wind power project.
The MDEP should immediately call a halt to this critically flawed permitting process. All pending wind turbine projects should be frozen until the permitting process is updated and the restrictions on noise levels is adjusted to meet World Health Organization recommendations, as a minimum. Noise measurements using the dBC weighted scale should become common practice for industrial size wind power projects and safe levels of low frequency noise established and included in site development rules.
Does it not seem entirely reasonable that Maine citizens should expect environmental protection from our Department of Environmental Protection? The situation now is that each small rural town must hire lawyers and noise experts to develop protective covenants or suffer the consequences.
