What follows is a Letter to the Editor which appears in the May 28, 2011 editions of the Morning Sentinel and the Kennebec Journal. Steve and Judy Bennett, along with many of their friends and neighbors, have lived with the effects of industrial wind turbines for approximately three years. They can't get any relief, and few have stood up for their rights. Their health and quality of life have been adversely impacted, and their properties have lost value due to the intrusive sound and shadow flicker which has resulted from the placement of three 40 story turbines near their homes. Please consider contacting your Legislators and asking them to stand up for these citizens. The 'powers that be' haven't helped them, so it's time that everyday citizens (like you and me) take a stand.
MAINE COMPASS:
Freedom wind site neighbors 'not entitled to equal protection'
by Steve Bennett
Steve Bennett of Freedom is a retired teacher. He owns an insurance
and financial services business "Freedom Financial Group" in Unity. At
one time or another, he has been a town selectman and a member of the
town's budget committee and planning board.
Beaver Ridge Wind in Freedom is the only non-regulated industrial wind
site in the state of Maine and the only one not approved by the
Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2008, the DEP decided, I believe, that a three-turbine project in
Freedom was too small to be concerned about. We tried many times to
get the DEP and the state of Maine to do their jobs, but it seemed as
if we were up against too much money and the influence that is gained
by that money.
I continued trying to get someone at the state level to pay attention,
however, and on a sunny September day last fall, I convinced Dr. Dora
Mills, who at the time was director of the Maine Center for Disease
Control, to visit Freedom.
Mills, along with Andrew Fisk of the DEP and John Piotti, our state
representative at the time, came to listen to about 20 Beaver Hill
neighbors talk about our experiences living with the noise from the
turbines and the blade flicker that invades our homes.
Sitting on Jeff and Stacey Keating's front lawn about of 1,700 feet
from the turbines, they also experienced the noise firsthand.
Before that visit, Mills had repeatedly been quoted by wind developers
as saying that because no peer-reviewed reports regarding the ill
effects of industrial wind exist, concerns about the health impact of
noise from wind turbines were greatly exaggerated.
At this legislative session, Rep. Ryan Harmon, R-Palermo, at my
request, submitted L.D. 711, which would have required the noise
control rules within the Site Review Law be applied to Beaver Ridge
Wind. These are the same noise rules that have been in effect in Maine
for more than years, and the same noise rules that apply to every
other wind site in Maine.
At least 20 people from Freedom and elsewhere in the state testified
in favor of the bill at the hearing before the Energy Committee. Many
others, including Mills, testified in writing. Her testimony, in part,
reads:
"While I believe wind power adds an important and needed
diversification of our energy resources, I feel that state noise
regulations should be the statewide minimum for all wind power
projects."
When she visited the site last fall, she said, several homes appeared
to be within 1,700 feet of the turbines, and "from reported
measurements and from the experience we had visiting there, it
appeared the state noise standards, as set by Maine DEP regulations,
are often exceeded." Because of the project's small footprint and lack
of a municipal ordinance, " a simple building permit was all that was
required of the wind project developers."
Mills said she had "visited other wind project sites that are in
compliance with state regulations" and studied the issue. She said, "I
believe all wind projects, no matter how large or small their
footprint is, should be in compliance with the minimum standards as
set by state DEP regulations. I believe L.D. 711 tries to address this
issue. I also hope that the Beaver Ridge project can be included
retroactively."
I thought, given the testimony, that L.D. 711 had a chance. But then
Beaver Ridge Wind requested a behind closed-door meeting, first with a
member of the administration and then with the co-chairman of the
Energy Committee. Pressure apparently was applied, and L.D. 711 was
the first of the committee's wind measures that was killed.
So, once again, we are told that the people in the Beaver Ridge
neighborhood are not entitled to equal protection. Once again, it's
apparent to me that money, not people, has the deciding influence in
Augusta.
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Top photo: Tina Shute
2nd photo: Rick Harris
3rd photo: Kaz
Bottom photo: Steve Bennett
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