Big meeting tonight at Fairhaven Town Hall.  Fairhaven's Selectmen and Board of Health will be meeting to try to figure out what to do with the town's controversial wind turbines.  The turbines' developers are expected to present their plan for a compromise with upset neighbors who claim the turbines are too loud.  After results of recent sound studies found that the turbines exceeded sound regulations, the board of health had ordered them to be shutdown nightly from 7pm to 7am.

However, over the weekend, the developers of the turbines defied that order twice.  The turbines were spinning past 9pm on Saturday night.  Last night, the turbines were spinning until at least 8pm.  This is the 4th time the turbines have broken curfew.

1.  On Wednesday, June 12th, the turbines continued to spin hours after it's 7pm curfew.  The developer blamed the Boston Bruins playoff game, saying that the big game caused him to forget to shut them down.

2.  Then, the weekend of June 14th, 15th and 16th, the wind turbines spun round the clock.  The developer said that he hadn't received official paperwork from the town ordering the 7pm curfew.

Saturday night was strike 3.  Last night...strike 4.

I have to say, I've remained fairly neutral to the whole wind turbine controversy in Fairhaven.  While I can clearly see the benefit of energy produced by wind...(and I definitely think this is the direction we need to explore for the future)...I can certainly understand why neighbors are upset (particularly if these turbines continue to break sound ordinances).

What I am not neutral about is Fairhaven Wind repeatedly thumbing their nose at the town's Board of Health.  I find it to be in poor form.  However you feel about the turbines, it should bother you that the town's Board of Health is being defied.  What would happen if a restaurant repeatedly defied the Board of Health and continued  to serve food after being ordered shutdown?  Fairhaven Wind has backed the Board of Health into a corner.  If the Board of Health doesn't take action against Fairhaven Wind, they are in danger of losing credibility.  They'll be put on every restaurant owner's "pay no mind" list.  They'll say "Hey, the wind turbine developers didn't listen to the Board of Health...why should I?"

 

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