Strong Voices Fall on Deaf Ears

There are many, many personal dramas in the battle to restore Mainers' 'quality of life' after a wind facility has been improperly sited. In the previous posting, I shared a letter written by Cheryl Lindgren of Vinalhaven Island. Since that pervasive noise first infiltrated their lives, the Lindgrens and their neighbors have spent countless dollars and hours trying to get the Department of Environmental Protection to enforce already inadequate sound standards so that they can live without the damaging effects of wind turbine sounds. Below is a press release regarding their attempts to regain the peace and enjoyment of their homes. And this link, regarding Art Lindgren, Cheryl's husband, tells a poignant story. A story which may be repeated over and over again--but with different casts of characters and different outcomes--if we do not succeed in forcing wind developers to properly site their developments and comply with noise standards. Please take a moment to visit this link. It's important.

Thank you.
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FOX ISLANDS WIND NEIGHBORS PRESS RELEASE
State of Maine to Wind Turbine Farm on Vinalhaven: Turn Down the Noise
Neighbors of Wind Turbine Farm Stand Their Ground

November 29, 2010
Contact: Cheryl Lindgren, 207-867-4773

(For Immediate Release)

Last week, the State of Maine affirmed that the Vinalhaven
wind turbine farm violates state standards for noise. Neighbors afflicted by the turbine noise are hoping it is a turning point in the year-long dispute between the operation of three 1.5 megawatt GE turbines.

Since the commissioning of the wind turbine project a year ago, the local utility—Fox
Islands Electric Coop and Fox Islands Wind—had denied noise violations. During this
time, neighbors endured excessive noise on a regular and frequent basis. In its finding, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection calls this a “very serious matter”.

The agency undertook a rigorous analysis to determine its position, based on a July 18th complaint filed by the neighbors. Fox Islands Wind has until December 3rd to outline exactly what its intentions for addressing the problems. Within 60 days, the utility is required to implement a noise mitigation plan. On Nov. 6th, the neighbors filed a second official complaint and have more than a dozen additional complaints cued up for submittal.

From its commissioning in November 2009, neighbors were shocked by high noise levels
produced by the turbines. Their efforts to validate noise complaints and the ensuing
disagreement with the wind turbine operator has attracted national attention including front page stories in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and AP.

The Vinalhaven neighbors set out to make sure that the utility conformed to state law. This required a significant effort and investment in understanding acoustics and
measurement metrics and technologies. The efforts of the neighbors prompted the DEP to reexamine the adequacy of wind turbine compliance procedures. There had been no
regulatory mechanism to detect and validate noise complaints from wind turbines. If the Vinalhaven neighbors had not undertaken their own costly efforts, the local operator—Fox Islands Wind, LLC-- could have continued to operate in violation of their license conditions.

After filing numerous complaints between April and June 2010, the state, the neighbors and the local utility finally established a formal protocol requiring acoustical proof of violation. On July 18, 2010, the neighbors met the newly established requirements with a single complaint that was representative of excessive noise that could be measured on a regular basis.